A Center of Excellence and
Boutique Practice

Paco Bonnemaison, Orlando, FL

If you are newly diagnosed with prostate cancer as I was, don’t panic. Although prostate cancer is a serious matter, prostate cancer does not have to be the end of the world. After all, you should know that we were assigned with one of the least dangerous cancers.

I will share my story. My blood work during this year's physical exam showed a prostate PSA test of 6.2 ng/ml. A prostate biopsy confirmed a Gleason score 6 adenocarcinoma.

After analyzing my options – external beam radiation, prostate seeding (brachytherapy), and radical prostatectomy (surgery to remove the prostate), hormone treatment for early stage prostate cancer – I made the right decision: I chose minimally invasive laparoscopic prostate cancer surgery.

After extensive reading, I learned that the advantages of a relatively new and minimally invasive procedure called laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) made all other options pale in comparison. The hospital stay was just one night and the postoperative trauma very minimal. And one could get rid of the cancerous prostate once and for all!

From that moment all I would have to do was find the highest skilled surgeon. Before making my final decision I did my homework, avidly searching the net and reading all kinds of articles and opinions about this subject. My research paid off when I found Dr. Krongrad, a Miami surgeon who pioneered LRP in the United States. I couldn't have possibly found anyone else with such an impressive level of specialization in this type of surgery. LRP is all he does. Period. And that's all I needed to know in addition to reading his impressive credentials.

I called Dr. Krongrad immediately and he must have sensed my state of mind because he scheduled the operation for me in record time. After a series of required pre-surgical tests to be eligible for laparoscopic radical prostatectomy, on August 28th Dr. Krongrad removed the cancerous prostate out of my body at the Aventura Hospital in Aventura, Miami.

I could not be happier when he confirmed that the prostate cancer was organ-confined! Of course I will have to test my PSA levels periodically from now on. Chances are excellent that the prostate cancer will never recur.

Dr. Krongrad treated me with the greatest kindness and humanity. Ruth and Hope, his super efficient assistants, were likewise extremely sweet and accommodating.

I am now recuperating rapidly and was back to work just one week after my laparoscopic radical prostatectomy!

Don't hesitate. And best luck to you.