Lawrence Hutton
Lawrence Hutton was always been an avid, healthy athlete, and at age 52 he never had had surgery in his life. But in 2009 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. His surgeon, Dr. Alan Sadah recommended a da Vinci prostatectomy.
“I had a lot of options for surgery, but I went with my best option which was to go through robotic surgery and ideally solve the problem quickly and permanently. It was the best guarantee for me. I didn’t know anything about robotic surgery, so I had no idea what I would go through. But when Dr. Sadah said it would be painless, quick and easy I went into surgery on his word...
After surgery I was able to get up and out (of the hospital) in two days. I used little to none of the pain medicine they gave me because I really didn’t need it. Within 10 days I was back at work and feeling good. My surgery went well with no complications and the recovery was so quick. I was totally shocked that I had no pain. I was really expecting it to be very painful...
I had an awesome experience at Swedish Covenant Hospital. Nurses came from everywhere to help me. It was beautiful. All about love. One nurse took the time to just sit with me because I was alone.
I was very much into sports before my surgery, and I didn’t think I would be able to do any of it again after surgery. These sports keep me running and moving and you don’t have time to run off the field and use the bathroom. But now a few weeks after surgery I feel great and I have total control of my functions. I do muscle exercises and I haven’t had any problem. I’m still doing my sports: I’m still having fun and I just love it.”
Robert Giller
When Robert Giller was diagnosed with prostate cancer at age 60, it was hard for him to comprehend. He spoke to other men he knew who had conventional prostatectomies and heard that the pain and recovery would be significant, and he was scared.
“(Before surgery) I talked to a few people I knew who had had prostate cancer, and they had scary stories about using older methods of surgery. They experienced incontinence and other complications, and those are the things that made my fears build. Us guys, we get scared and timid when our manhood and our ego is challenged, and this was really scary...
But my wife and I started doing research. We heard that Swedish Covenant Hospital had the latest robotic technology available, and a friend recommended Dr. Allen Chernoff who was at the hospital, so I knew this was where I needed to go. I don’t live far, so I was very pleased to get treatment here.
My recovery was phenomenal, no incontinence or embarrassment or anything. I didn’t do anything special either. In fact, I met another gent who had the same da Vinci surgery and his recovery was as remarkable as mine. Most of the people I knew who had a conventional prostatectomy spent significantly more time in the hospital as I did. They also had large scars and I only have four 1 inch scars that are smaller than a pencil eraser...
My advice to others is to explore the options available and do the research. You will be absolutely shocked at how easily prostate cancer can be treated compared to those that preceded you with the older methods. If you talk to the guys at work, or your brother-in-law, or your cousin, and they had the procedure three or four years ago, you’re going to get scared to death. It’s still not fun, but it is nowhere near as bad as it used to be.”
