According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men, after skin cancer and there will be 161,360 new diagnoses this year alone.
According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men, after skin cancer and there will be 161,360 new diagnoses this year alone. With that in mind, I thought I’d share my story. At a routine check-up, my physician ran a battery of tests and noticed my PSA (prostate-specific antigen) count was elevated, and sent me to a urologist.
Finding out I Had Prostate Cancer
At the urology appointment, my PSA count was higher still. Looking at records of past check-ups, my PSA had been steadily rising and was cause for concern. The doctor ordered an MRI which unfortunately indicated a high probability of cancer. The urologist suggested I consider prostatectomy—removing the entire prostate. I was in a state of shock and uncertain about what to do.
My urologist recommended I see Dr. Arieh Shalhav at UChicago Medicine (UCM) because he is considered a leader in the field of minimally invasive urologic surgery. So I made an appointment.
Dr. Shalhav discussed the various conventional treatments. First, I needed to have a biopsy to better understand what was actually there. My MRI was used to guide the biopsy, which confirmed the cancer. Fortunately it was confined to one side of the prostate, meaning it had not spread beyond that. But it needed to be addressed.