TEMPLE, TX — Prostate cancer has become the number two killer of men in this country behind lung cancer.
What's it like to go through diagnosis, treatment and recovery?
One central Texas man chose to put his hands in the life of a machine and modern medicine in his cancer fight.
Cancer survivor Curt Lancaster remembers his visit to Baylor Scott & White's huge medical city complex on top of a hill in Temple.
He'd come to meet with his surgeon about his robotic surgery for prostate cancer.
"Had a consultation with him and I asked him how many of these things have you done? And he said oh about 985 and I said I think you know what you're doing." he recalled.
So he scheduled the surgery but wasn't quite prepared for what he'd see.
"They wheeled me back and I'm trying to see whatever I can from a gurney and I saw that massive...it's got all these big arms on it. And there was a few giggles and then here comes this mask and wow and i was out for 8 hours," he said.
He woke up noticing a handful of scars on his stomach.
"I had four incisions round my navel and one big one below my navel," he said.
What were they for?
"Mr. Curious, I had to ask so where did the prostate go? It's a long way down there how did you get it out? Easy we put little trash bags in there and 'whoop whoop' right out," he said.
The robot surgery marks a radical difference from traditional surgery with its huge scars and recovery time.
"The traditional open surgery patients are needing about 6 weeks of recovery so that's quite a difference," said Dr. Dominic Nguyen, Radiation Oncology Specialist, Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest.
Curt Lancaster's recovery?
About two weeks and he's cancer free.
But it wasn't exactly a walk in the park
"And that was one night in the hospital. I had to get up the next day and walk and that was difficult," he said.
But those first steps were the first in his cancer free life.
