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A Patient's Journey: Jerry Marcello

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My name is Jerry J. Marcello. Early on, I can't really remember where I first was diagnosed, but I ended up at Tulane and they said I had prostate cancer. Obviously, dialogue with the first doctors, and obviously I ended up talking with a Tulane surgeon, and I had surgery, so I did have my prostate removed. And then with the passage of time, I learned that I still had cancer, and it obviously spread to whatever area or degree that it's spread to, and I feel that the treatment I've been rece iving for the last five, six years has been to control the growth and to maintain and slow down the cancer as much as humanly possible. At some point in the early part, I went through a series of some type of X - ray treatment, radiation treatment, and so on, which I don't remember because this is some years ago, but I know it took place over a period of six or eight weeks. I can't remember if it was one every day, but I took the treatment that was prescribed to me. And then following that time, basically m y treatment has been medication that has been prescribed to me by my attending physician at Tulane. So actually, I've been blessed that I do not have any side effects from the medication, and as I told you, I feel good in the morning, I feel good all day, I feel good at night. I still continue to have treatment from the Tulane specialist. Fortunate that I don't have a si de effect from the medication. Some people probably do, but I don't. They measure my PSA all the time, and generally speaking, my PSA has gone down. It's always gone down. And then lately, I guess for the last two months, I was prescribed a new medication . I take four big pills, they look like small footballs, every morning before eating, and I take another little pill, so I take that in the morning, every morning, and I think the purpose of that medication is to hold down or keep my PSA down. But all - in - a ll, I don't have my folder, but every time I come to Tulane Medical, I have a sheet and I put my PSA down, and it is always low. I don't want to dare say how much low, but I think we're dealing in decimals, point such - and - such, or 1% and so on. So I think that's probably very positive, which I can understand as a layperson, that's one of the factors that the professionals and the doctors look at. So that's where I'm at right now. I don't have any idea what's the future treatment that I'm going to be facing. I guess the simple question is, what's your percentage of getting some cure for prostate cancer? I basically feel by talking with professionals, I probably have four years, five years possibly left in my life if I continue to get the treatment that I'm r eceiving from Tulane Cancer Center, and basically that's it. Life's been wonderful. I have an ailment and a cancer that can kill you, but as I said, I feel good all the time, so I can't ask for more than that. But if I can live four or five years, I'll tak e it. If I can get more with the research and maybe some more breakthroughs in the future, that'll be great. I guess the most important thing I could say is, maybe at a certain age, I don't know what that age would be, but maybe 50, is, go to your family d octor every six months or every 12 months, so if they see any signs of you having problems with your prostate, then get it tended to early. I think that would be the most important thing as a layperson that I would tell them.

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