Patient Stories - Jeremy, 50

My name is Jeremy and I am 50 years old. In December 2002 I started to have severe chest pains so under orders from my wife I went to see my doctor. He gave me an extensive examination and diagnosed hypertension resulting from work.

At the same time he arranged for blood sample to be taken and this revealed very high cholesterol and an elevated PSA count. We changed how I worked which treated the hypertension, went on a tedious diet with lots of good exercise which started to control the cholesterol, which left the PSA.

Over the next 18 months regular checks revealed increasing levels of PSA which led the doctor to refer me to a specialist. Despite the doctor’s and the specialist’s confidence that it was highly unlikely that I had prostate cancer, the final test revealed I had got cancer.

The best advice I had from the specialist was not to go onto the internet immediately, which I disregarded the next day. I found a number of web sites which whilst trying to be positive were just hugely depressing. People were actually dying from this! I got into such a panic that I had to phone the Prostate Cancer Charity to calm myself. They were sympathetic, positive and sent information to me that was both useful to me and my family. The specialist was right to say don’t go searching on the internet.

Initially having recovered some sense of proportion I was self-obsessed and self-pitying. I cried a little and “didn’t want to die”. I wanted to tell everybody. Fortunately our friends were prepared to listen and were very supportive. That period was useful because I seemed to use up all these emotions and I could now “roll my sleeves up” and get on with it. I also realised that the rest of my family were not enjoying this experience either.

Having spoken at length with the specialist and the charity it appeared I had two options; either surgery or brachytherapy. I was concerned that there was insufficient information on any of the alternatives to surgery. Being relatively young and reasonably fit I wanted some confidence that I could eradicate the problem. The short and long-term effects of surgery can be significant. Particularly concerning was incontinence and the effect of sexual activity. I discussed that at length with my wife and having written it all down, I concluded that for me to move on I had to take the route offered the best chance of eradication which was surgery despite my misgivings regarding the side-effects.

I was very fortunate that the specialist I was seeing referred me to Christopher Eden. His expertise offered me the best combination of removing the problems whilst radically reducing the chances of long-term negative side effects. Speeding up the recovery rate whilst sparing nerves where possible could only help.

In September 2004 I had a laparoscopic radical prostatectomy undertaken by Christopher Eden. After the operation I had a catheter for ten days, which seemed to last forever. I was very concerned that was blood in my urine but was regularly reassured that this was not a problem. I can still recall the joy of when the catheter was removed. Most things have returned to normal. Dry ejaculation is a small price to pay for the benefit of removing the prostrate and allow its complete examination.

The recovery has been startlingly. I experienced no incontinence and no problems with erections in any way. The scars from the operations have virtual disappeared. My PSA readings have been checked twice since the operation and are non-detectable.

I have no hesitation in categorically stating that my treatment choice undertaken with the highly-skilled expertise of Christopher Eden was right for me. I consider myself fortunate to have been treated by him.