SPECIAL BONUS PODCAST with host Liz Graves.

PROSTATE PROS interviews Dr. Marc Peck about his experience with prostate cancer. He describes the ups and downs of his journey starting with his diagnosis in 2001. Join Dr. Peck as he reflects on the past 20 years of living with prostate cancer.

Liz:      [00:04] Welcome to PROSTATE PROS.  I’m your host for this episode, Liz Graves.  For this special bonus episode I spoke with a Colorado physician about his 20-year-long journey with prostate cancer. Dr. Peck’s story with prostate cancer begins back in 2001 with a routine PSA test. 

Dr. Peck:      [00:26] Well, hello.  My name is Marc Peck.  I’m a family physician and urgent care physician in Colorado.  I’m going to tell my journey, or my story, about prostate cancer, which I do have.  

Liz:      [00:38] It’s my understanding that you were diagnosed around age 44. 

Dr. Peck:      [00:42] Back then routine PSAs were still in vogue.  So at 43, I got a PSA that was a little higher than expected for someone in their 40s, it was 2.6.  Everyone said just watch that, which I thought was fine.  But a year later, at age 44, it had doubled to about 5.  That’s when my journey began. 

Liz:      [01:10] What happened after that?  What were the next steps that you took to figure out you had prostate cancer? 

Dr. Peck:     [01:15] The first thing that my urologist said was get a biopsy and I said, okay.  It seemed that was the standard of care back then.  I was not given any other options.  I wasn’t redirected anywhere else at the time.  I went ahead and had a multiple core biopsy that showed a 3 + 3 Gleason adenocarcinoma. 

Liz:      [01:40] Now, Dr. Peck has five kids.  He had a lot on his plate and at age 44 was very young at the time of his diagnosis.  So when the urologists told him that he did indeed have prostate cancer and recommended immediate surgery to remove his prostate, Dr. Peck agreed. 

Dr. Peck:      [01:59] Yeah, I rushed right into decisions.  I read all about it.  I was too young to have prostate cancer.  What the heck?  This is a disease of guys in their 80s, or at least at that time, their 60s, which I thought was pretty old back then.  I fell for the surgical pitch right off the bat.  My surgeon said, “Oh, hey buddy, we need to do a radical prostatectomy.”  At that time, the DaVinci robotic assist prostate surgery was just in its infancy, so that wasn’t an option at the time.  So a radical prostatectomy was pitched to me and I fell for it because they used the key words: “nerve sparing and this’ll provide a definite cure for you with minimal downtime and based on your age, this is exactly what you have to do.”  Okay.  It sounded good to me.  I was not given any other options at all at the time. 

Liz:      [03:04] Just two months after his initial diagnosis, Dr. Peck finds himself on the operating table. 

Dr. Peck:      [03:11] I had the surgery at a little hospital west of here with two fine surgeons.  That was the beginning of my one way ticket to perdition.  Now, being a physician is an invitation to have every complication imaginable.  You know, I thought about it, I looked at the age I was at the time and how that carried a more grim prognosis.  Surgery seemed to me the best option though I wasn’t given any other options.  My fault, I should have gone off and searched for options, but I wanted to get this done. 

Liz:      [03:49] Yeah, I think that is what happens to a lot of men.  It’s frightening.&n