Phil Bailey is in his late 50s. A semi-retired lecturer in construction carpentry, and father of three, Phil grew concerned about an ache in his lower back in late 2017. Despite healthy blood test results and no other symptoms, it turned out that Phil had an aggressive prostate cancer. Thanks to a TUF surgeon, Mr Dimitrios Moschonas, Phil is now almost completely better.
“I lost both of my parents to cancer and I’ve seen a lot of my family die in recent years. When I went to my GP with this lower back pain I knew it wasn’t just muscular pain and after being referred for more tests I actually wasn’t too worried by being diagnosed with prostate cancer. I always knew I’d get cancer one day.
“I’ve also seen all three of my children nearly die at one point or another. My youngest had a car crash a year ago and broke her neck and my other two children both had radical tonsil surgery when they were younger and both nearly died. In my family we’ve learnt to be grateful for each day.”
“I had a good friend who was diagnosed around the same time as me but he’d been diagnosed too late. By the time he was diagnosed his prostate cancer had already spread to his spine and there wasn’t much the doctors could do.
“I wasn’t prepared to take that risk. Although I was told about other possible treatments, robotic surgery was the one that stood out. I just wanted the damn thing whipped out of my body. If I opted for another treatment there was no guarantee that it would work and it could give the cancer time to spread. It wasn’t worth risking other treatments when robotic surgery could solve the problem by removing the cancer out of my body.
“It was quite weird to be shown the robot that would be performing the operation, but the surgery itself was incredible, really. I went in one evening and I was out the next day with a bit of bruising and a catheter. One day I had cancer and the next day it was gone, like a package that had been taken away.”
“It’s been nearly a year since my surgery and I’m about 98% back to normal now. It took me a while to get over the fatigue; much of last summer was spent sitting in the garden! But now I rarely have problems with incontinence (although I do wear a pad, just in case) and although there were some small problems with impotence, those are now almost entirely gone.
“I couldn’t say a bad word about my surgeon, Mr Moschonas. He was very approachable, he was an excellent surgeon, and I was amazed by how fast the whole process was. I received the operation so soon after my diagnosis.
“Thanks to Mr Moschonas I’m back doing the things I love, from scuba diving to shooting, sailing and even some motorbikes.”
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