People & Lifestyle story, April 2006
| EXPERIENCE OF
A ROBOT
By: Michael Richardson |
Tipped off by an enlightened GP, I have fortunately been having a PSA test every 2 years since I was 50, which was normal until a sharp rise last autumn, when I was 59.
Biopsy and MRI scan followed, and then the shock of discovering that I had cancer in the prostate. After intensive discussion with a well-known Urologist and his Anaesthetist, who explained clearly and dispassionately the various options open to me, extensive reading, and much reflexion, I concluded that in my case surgery seemed to offer the best chance of dealing with the problem and ridding me of the cancer.
As luck would have it, Ash Tawari from Cornell in New York was leading a team, including those treating me, doing a second batch of ground-breaking operations using a robotic technique, well established in some hospitals in the US (and in Paris) but until now unknown in the UK. I was I think the 4th to be operated on in this way, the main advantages being speed of recovery (5 weeks instead of 12 or more) and accuracy.
By far the worst part was waiting to go down to the theatre. Thereafter I remember nothing until I awoke very groggily. I was encouraged to start moving about within hours of returning to my room, and made it unsteadily up and down the corridor, festooned with tubes, with more achieved (including stairs) on day 2. On day 3, to the astonishment of my family and friends, I was at home and walking up and down our street. Within a week I was managing 2 mile walks and, although initially tired and weak, was feeling extraordinarily well. The catheter - which was nothing like as irksome as I had expected - went after a week, and after 5 weeks I was back at work, after 6 weeks playing squash and generally back to normal, including the disappearance of the mild dribbling that is an inevitable initial side effect, and at first check up my PSA was negligible.
For me at any rate sending in a robot with a torch and a sharp knife seems to have done the trick!
Michael Richardson
30th March 2006