John’s Story

Site created on May 15, 2020

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

John’s story starts in January with his diagnosis of prostate cancer after having a biopsy. We met with his urologist and the recommendation was to have a prostatectomy. After a lot of research and prayer, we chose the surgery route that was recommended. Surgery was scheduled for April 14th, or so we thought. Due to COVID-19, his surgery was cancelled indefinitely.

At first, it seemed OK, but then the days turned to weeks and we still didn’t have a date. In the mean time, John’s PSA numbers were going up, not staying steady as we had hoped. While we waited, we solicited several 2nd opinions and based on these, it seemed surgery should take place no later than June. We pushed his surgeon for a date and he cautiously relented to June 23rd with the possibility of that date moving.

We were not comfortable at all with that. This past Tuesday, John had an appointment with another surgeon who was recommended to us. The appointment went very well and the doctor was very confident about the surgery and the positive results that John could expect. He also stated that based on John’s case, he would NOT have cancelled his surgery.

We decided to go with this surgeon and were able to get a surgery date for Monday, May 18th! We couldn’t believe it. We’re both kind of reeling from the news and getting ready for surgery!

My hope is that this site will be short lived as the surgery will be a success and no other treatment will be required.

I will post an entry after John’s surgery.

We appreciate your prayers that the surgery goes well, that the cancer is contained within his prostate and that there is no damage to outlying tissue and nerves. Also, please pray for John’s peace and comfort as he will be at the hospital by himself.

Newest Update

May 28, 2020

Journal entry by John Thompson —

Thank you all for your prayers and support.  I feel very honored and humbled.  I thank God for you all.

Now for the PSA, Public Service Announcement (pun intended)
Prostate Cancer is the #2 cancer killer of men in the US.  Yet if caught early enough it has a 98%+ cure rate.  What that means is us guys think we are bullet proof.  Only 35% of men over 50 get a PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) test each year.  It's a simple blood test.  Once prostate cancer spreads, it is deadly.  It gets into the bones and it is not a good story.  I had some difficulty urinating and put off doing anything about it until my primary care doctor said we needed to test my PSA.  I was just thinking, I'm getting older, it gets hard to pee, that's life.  No it isn't  I had cancer and thank God, my doctor was on the ball.  One myth to dispell.  "Prostate cancer is slow growing and you will die with it not because of it".  That is flat out not true.   If it was, then Prostate cancer would not be the #2 killer.  Mine was not slow growing and needed to be removed.
 
I implore you, get your PSA tested!! 
Read More of the journal titled "May 28, 2020"
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