Steve's Story

Prostate Cancer Recurrence

After Steve’s radical prostatectomy in 2003 for prostate cancer, his doctors kept close watch on his blood levels to make sure that the cancer was indeed gone from Steve’s body. But in March 2007, nearly four years later, the unthinkable occurred, and Steve’s cancer came back.

“Getting cancer is one thing,” Steve says. “But getting it back is way more scary. You realize you’re susceptible to getting it again and every ache or pain becomes a fear, a worry.” Even the fear of possible long-term side effects from treatment return, he says, “and the fear that I could die from this some day.”

Steve went back to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance for 36 days of radiation treatment in June 2007.

“I bet most men think they are infallible,” Steve says. “But when they get prostate cancer, they don’t know what to do. I decided to make lemonade from the lemons I got. Sure, I had anxiety, all the way up to the day I had my first radiation treatment, but I’m better now.”

In the months in between is recurrence diagnosis and treatment, Steve went full-speed into improving his strength with weight training and talked to an SCCA nutritionist about dietary recommendations to prepare for treatment. After his first experience with prostate cancer, Steve had begun taking several naturopathic medicines to boost his immune system – antioxidants and such -- that his nutritionist advised he stop taking before treatment because antioxidants protect healthy cells from disease, but they may also protect malignant cells as well. “So I quit!” Steve says, determined to be on top of this second round with cancer.

Steve is 51 years old now and believes he was at risk for prostate cancer because his father had it at age 74. “I believe I was going to get it anyway, but I got it so much earlier because of stress,” Steve says. But he says he isn’t worried. “I’m so over-the-top impressed with SCCA, with how much everyone cares and how available the doctors are. I bet SCCA is unique,” he says. “I bet you won’t get the same treatment anywhere else in the country. SCCA has earned the right to boast in my opinion.”

Steve has a lot to share with men and their spouses about cancer, treatment, and recurrence. If you would like to contact Steve, please e-mail him at steve@sfoi.com.

July 2007