Prostate Cancer: Walking Through Recovery
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Prostate Cancer: Walking Through Recovery
For roughly 15 years, James Mayo of Dorchester has been walking five miles a day on a nearby golf course and then around Franklin Park Zoo.
This year, the peaceful 35-mile-per-week habit helped heal James’ mind, body and spirit after prostate cancer surgery.
James, 72, was a security officer with the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston for 22 years before retiring in 1986. His primary care doctor had been testing his PSA levels for many years. Beginning in 2001, his PSA began to rise gradually.
James had his levels checked every six months during those nine years, and finally, in 2010, the PSA reached a level so high that his physician referred him to a urologist for a biopsy, and the prostate cancer was confirmed.
No stranger to cancer, as he lost both a sister and his oldest of three daughters to cancer, James knew that despite the risk of urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction, he needed to take action.
After an MRI and other diagnostic tests were completed, confirming that the cancer had not spread outside the prostate, Brigham and Women’s Urologist Steven L. Chang, MD, MS, performed robotic surgery in October 2011.
James recalls being in pain for a time after the surgery, but he was only pulled away from his walking routine for two weeks, and then he got right back at it. “The walking helped me a lot,” he said. “It’s given me the strength and the ability to continue. I don’t sit around and think. I do the walking, and that keeps my mind off of the worries.”
The worries were over his recovery, and James said he struggled with continence in the weeks following surgery. Time and doing the Kegel exercises Dr. Chang recommended to strengthen the pelvic floor and the muscles that control urinary function brought about slow and steady improvement.
Roughly six months after the surgery, James said he felt confident with his urinary control, and now, he said he feels he is at 90 percent of his former urinary health. “Every month that comes, it gets better and better,” James said, noting he still does the Kegel exercises.
James feels good, and he does not need to take any medications. “I’m all free of that,” he said. Every three months, James still visits Dr. Chang and has his PSA levels checked; that routine will eventually go to every six months and then back to every year.
“Dr. Chang is a great doctor,” James said. “He is willing to listen and willing to tell you everything about what you have to go through. I like him very much. I was grateful for the quality of his care.”