Patients speak about prostate cancer and laparoscopic radical prostatectomy
Joe Candler, Vero Beach, Florida
The fact that you are reading this short story means that you are most assuredly somewhere into doing your homework about what to do about he kick in the head you received upon hearing that you had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Don't feel lonely. Prostate cancer is no longer a designer disease. Do feel confused. The more doctors I talked to, the worse it got. Sooner or later you will make the decision. I did and was as focused as anyone could be: I had scheduled a radical prostatectomy at the Moffitt Cancer Center at the University of South Florida in Tampa.
Then, two weeks before the scheduled prostate cancer surgery, something amazing happened. I received a call from our daughter in Montana, where she and her husband run an outfitting company outside Libby. A week prior they had received a call from the Krongrads, asking if they could come up and do some fly fishing. Thank heavens our daughter said yes.
Out on the trails of the Cabinet Mountains and the waters of the Kootenai River, treatment of prostate cancer never came up: there were horses to ride and fish to catch. But on the last afternoon, as the bags were being packed, and the air filled with stories of the trout that got away, my daughter and Ruth sat on the couch and talked. And the rest became history.
Our daughter at first hesitated to tell me about laparoscopic radical prostatectomy, as she knew I had made up my mind and was very focused. She called and there went my focus. Upon checking out Dr. Krongrad's rap sheet (credentials) and asking a few doctors in the Miami area what they thought, I scheduled a consultation. The result? I was back in focus. Big time! An LRP was scheduled.
The laparoscopic surgery couldn't have gone any better. Recovery consisted of getting out of bed a few hours after being moved to a room and walking around the wing a bit. Where I was there was an inside block of rooms and the nurses' station and outside rooms making a nice closed track to test my legs. I was about to go for my 3rd lap when the nurse's aide helping me asked what kind of surgery I had had. I told her laparoscopic radical prostatectomy about 5 hours ago. She got a little weak in the knees and advised that I should rest for a while. She looked like she needed to sit more than I did.
The nurse who did the paperwork at the North Shore Medical Center prior to checking in asked how we had learned about LRP. I told her about our daughter's chance meeting in Montana. She said she was well versed on both the open radical prostatectomy and Dr. Krongrad's laparoscopic procedure. She said that the stars from above shown brightly upon me the day our daughter met the Krongrads. No question about that. Two of the brightest stars are Ruth and Arnon Krongrad - truly a most loving and caring couple.
