H. Lee Moffitt visit

Met with Dr. Pow-Sang at Moffitt yesterday. WOW. I'd never been to Moffitt for anything - this place has their proverbial crap together. The first thing you notice is the (free) valet parking! They also have a (not free) Starbucks inside next to one of the waiting areas.

After we got past the paperwork desk, we did the normal weight/height/bp stuff. My bp was 121/88! That's the lowest it's been in years (133/88 was my previous low)! Next we meet with a woman who wants to use a portion of my prostate tissue for research. We agree. A few minutes pass and Dr. Pow-Sang comes in (a doctor on time?!?!). We chat a few minutes discussing topics I'm already rather familiar with. Surgery vs radiation, blah, blah, blah. On most points he agrees with the first opinion I got from Dr. Baker with two major exceptions:

• A lot of what we hear about the da Vinci process is hype. Yes, you read that correctly - hype. This is coming from a division chief at Moffitt; the guy who trained my first doctor (Baker). Much of what the da Vinci claims is true (less blood loss, improved view of the surgical area, etc), but, not unique to da Vinci. A normal laprascopic procedure (i.e. non da Vinci) performed by an experienced surgeon is as effective and offers no additional risks over the da Vinci procedure. Yes, Pow-Sang does use the da Vinci, but he wanted to make sure I understood it wasn't "magic".
  
  
• We then discussed the upcoming hernia procedure. Long story short, Pow-Sang does not believe it's necessary to have separate hernia/prostate surgeries - he normally does these two procedures at the same time using laparascopic surgery! That means I do not have to have a rather debilitating surgery next week! :) I will have to live with the hernias until the prostate surgery, but I've gotten better at managing the condition and, I consider it a small price to pay to not be down six weeks or so with "open" surgery.
  

Another topic I verified with Pow-Sang was the scheduling of prostate surgery. Waiting until January is just fine. He says since prostate cancer grows so slowly (combined with my early staging) I have between six and twelve months before I have to decide on a course of action. There's no need or benefit to rushing into a decision right this minute.

We wrap things up with Dr. Pow-Sang and meet another research tech who wants a DNA sample from me (Dr. Pow-Sang is doing research on possible genetic markers for prostate cancer). I agree and she scrapes the inside of my cheek. If they do discover something it won't help me, but, it might help my son 20 years from now. Cool...

As things stand now, we're canceling the hernia surgery with Dr. Siegman, and the prostatectomy with Dr. Baker. We'll be making an appointment with Dr. Pow-Sang to do both (with the da Vinci) sometime in January...

The hernia surgery that had been scheduled for next week must have been weighing heavy on my mind. Not long after we got home (noon-ish), I passed out and slept until after 3pm. I never did really wake up and was back in bed around 10 something. However, I feel great this morning! Well rested and no more doctoring for at least three months!!!!