Jim Nedelka survived prostate cancer and early detection helped. 

 

His employer offered free prostate screenings for men.  Jim, from New York City, was in his early forties when a check of his blood revealed prostate-specific antigen, or PSA of more than six.  This was in October 2016.  Jim was told to be seen by a urologist.  After running more tests, in December, the urologist told Jim he had cancer.

 

Jim returned in January 2017 for a biopsy.  Afterward, the urologist showed Jim a chart said this particular cancer is not all the aggressive. 

 

He told Jim he will not need a prostatectomy, or chemotherapy or a combination of chemotherapy and radiation.  That left radiation and Jim was told with radiation treatment, he had three options.

 

One was a regimen covering fie consecutive days.  The urologist said that regimen would burn, a regimen he said that wasn’t necessary given Jim’s diagnosis.

 

Another option involved radiation covering 42 days.  It included a pause after the 25th day to re-evaluate Jim’s PSA.

 

The last option increasing the dosage a notch and he would do it for 30 consecutive sessions.  That was the option Jim chose.

 

Getting to and from the treatment was a challenge.  A van was provided for him, but his journey went in from one part of the city to a distant part of the city, a three-hour ride, one way.

 

Jim’s radiation treatment concluded in April 2017.  He had some blood in his urine the few days after the conclusion of the treatment, but otherwise, ever since, he has been fine. Jim says he has been fortunate in that his prostate has only expanded just a little bit, and as a result, he doesn’t have a great deal of urination issues.  Subsequent checkups have shown his PSA is just above zero. 

 

By way of advice, Jim says when one addresses cancer, they cannot take shortcuts.  He says he has known some patients who did not take their full dosage of medication, which says is the worst thing one can do.  Regarding prostate cancer, he urges men to get checked every year.

 

Additional Resources:

 

Cancer Interviews: https://www.cancerinterviews.com