Medical Update

Mary and I finally arrived home on Tuesday. We have discovered, though no surprise, that God has answered many prayers. You have overwhelmed us with your prayers and words of encouragement. I cannot imagine going through the challenges of life without a church family. God has directed our steps as we have walked this journey of being a cancer patient. There have been moments of questions; moments of uncertainty; even moments of nervousness. But at each of those moments, God’s presence and peace was overwhelming. There was always calmness.

I spent the morning reading through each prayer note and email that I have received the past two weeks. I was overwhelmed with gratitude.

Here are some highlights of my surgery:

• The surgery itself went very well. No complications. Dr. Patel said that my surgery was his most difficult case of that day. (A guy likes to be first in something)
• He was able to completely remove the prostate and save all of my nerve bundles. He was the only surgeon who told me he felt confident that he could accomplish this.
• I had some infection from one of the incisions, but it was quickly cleared with antibiotics.
• The tumor involved 25% of the prostate.
• He removed two lymph nodes for pathology as a precaution because of the size of my tumor. Both were clear of any cancer.
• There are five patterns of prostate cancer. My biopsy showed that I had patterns three and four. The pathology report of my prostate showed that I actually had pattern five as well. Pattern five is the nasty cancer. It is the most aggressive and deadly form of prostate cancer.
• A major God praise is that if I had chosen radiation as my first treatment, radiation cannot kill pattern five cancer when it is in the prostate. Therefore I would have still had cancer growing in my body. When you have radiation as your first form of treatment it is nearly impossible to surgically remove the prostate.
• Clean margins are what you want to have in the pathology. That means all of the cancer is contained within the prostate. There was one area that the pathologist could not say for certain that I had clean margins. Cancer cells were on the edge but he was not sure if any had escaped the gland. This will be my faith journey… trusting that there is no cancer left.
• My surgeon does not want to do any other treatments at this point. I will have PSA testing done every six weeks for awhile, then every three months. When the prostate is removed, the PSA testing is more reliable. This will determine if any cancer was left behind and is growing.
• If that does occur, then I would most likely have radiation treatment. The good news is that pattern five cancer can be destroyed by radiation if it is not within the prostate gland.
  

For right now I have another five weeks to full recovery from the surgery. I can return to work at the end of next week and then return to full activities in five weeks. God has directed every step in our journey. Dr. Patel is literally the best in the world in the robotic prostate surgery. I am thankful that God opened that door.

My focus is now fully on being the pastor of Gateway. Many people of prayer at Gateway have been saying the same thing… “God is doing something at Gateway.” I believe this is true. He is going to do many things that will amaze us. So get ready!!!

Thank you for loving Mary and me with your prayers, notes, words of encouragement.

Medical Update

Over the past few weeks Mary and I have talked to multiple surgeons, medical centers, radiation oncologists, prostate cancer patients and friends who are physicians. Mary has read every medical book she has gotten her hands on dealing with this issue. After much research and prayer, Mary and I have determined that God is leading us toward surgery, with prayer, as the plan of attack for the prostate cancer. The two go hand in hand. I believe God can completely heal me without a physician. But I also believe He may choose to heal me through a physician. I will be praying for the Lord to guide the hands of the one who is doing the cutting. Also that God will guide his eyes to not miss anything.

Of the three options of surgery, we have chosen robotic surgery. My urologist recommended Dr. Patel in Orlando, FL, stating that he is the best in the country. In fact, Dr. Petel was voted the top Urologist in America last year. Here is his link:

http://globalroboticsinstitute.com/en/urology-robotic-prostatectomy/why-dr-patel

Because of his reputation it was not surprising that the earliest appointment available was the end of June. But the Lord knew that the end of June would be too long of a wait for me. He never puts more on you than you can handle. On Tuesday of this week, I felt I should call Dr. Patel’s office to ask if there had been a cancellation. The receptionist told me, “I just now had a cancellation. Can you come in the morning?” Mary and I were out the door. It took us seven hours to make it to Orlando.

One side note: I went online to book a hotel. I thought I would try Travelocity’s new section called “Top Secret Hotel.” It is their answer to Priceline. Basically you book a hotel knowing only its rating and general location. I was able to book a 3 star hotel for $35 that was less than 5 minutes from Dr. Patel’s office. On top of that, Travelocity gave me a $30 rebate for using their new site for the first time! OK… this is starting out to be a great trip.

We were at Dr. Patel’s office the next morning at 8:45. I spent an hour filling out paper work. Then we spent the next six hours meeting with five different medical associates. They were thorough. In the waiting room, we met people from all over. We met one couple who were in our church in North Augusta when I was a youth minister… small world.

I discovered that people were coming from all over the world to have Dr. Patel perform their prostate surgery. He told me that he has personally preformed over 4,000 robotic procedures. I like that kind of experience.

During our meeting with Dr. Patel he told me some great news and some challenging news. First: I have most likely had prostate cancer for 5 years, maybe longer. The only symptom was a slight elevation of my PSA blood test in year five. My PSA has been perfect prior to this year. Second: the tumor is large which will make the surgery more difficult. (Now I know why God sent me to the best.) Third: My cancer is aggressive. Fourth: I have a 90% chance that the cancer is all contained within the prostate. That was awesome news. The research data at John Hopkins Medical Center suggested that I had only a 47% chance it was contained.

Because the surgery is going to be difficult he said it is best to wait twelve weeks from the date of the biopsy. This gives my prostate time to completely recover from the biopsy so that he will have clear vision of the nerves which will increase his chances of saving the nerve bundles. I found it humorous that he wants my prostate to get better before he kills it…

My surgery is scheduled for August 16th. I will spend one night in the hospital after the surgery. We will need to stay a total of ten days in Orlando for all of the post-surgery test and check-ups. (Another blessing: Mary’s sister has a time-share condo in Orlando and is in the process of setting it up for us to use.) Once I am home, I will need one more week of recovery. By the end of August I should be back in my normal routine.

I want you to meet my Da Vinci Robot who will be putting 4 small holes in my abdomen to cut out my prostate. I’ve named him Eddie after the movie icon Edward Scissorhands.

Edward Scissorhands is the one with the hair.

Medical Update

Mary and I had a thorough meeting with my urologist today. We met for ninety minutes. Let me give you a basic summary:

• We have confidence in my urologist/surgeon. He is a believer. He has a great reputation. God gave me a great peace about him.
• We are very thankful to my family physician (who is also a believer) in that my symptoms were very minimal. That is, there was very little evidence that something was going on. I believe the Holy Spirit prompted him to be aggressive instead of a “wait and see” attitude.
• The cancer (adenocarcinoma) is more advanced than we originally thought.
• The surgeon believes the cancer is still contained within the prostate.
• The stage of cancer that I have eliminated a few of the treatment options.
• At this point Mary and I are moving towards surgery which will completely remove the prostate.
• The surgical removal can be done by laparoscopic or robotic. (DANGER WILL ROBINSON!! – That’s for those of us who grew up on “Lost in Space”. And if I have to explain it to you, then it’s not funny.)
• The surgery will probably be scheduled for early June.
• Recovery will be 2 to 3 weeks.
• If the pathology report shows clean margins, i.e. the cancer is contained within the prostate then no other procedures will be needed.

Mary and I feel very blessed. We are thankful for our great community of fellow believers who are praying for us. We are thankful for the excellent health care available in our community. We are thankful for the direction of the Holy Spirit.

Who are those who fear the Lord? He will show them the path they should choose. Psalm 25:17

The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” Psalm 32:8