In January 2009, I went to my doctor for a physical examination. Included was a PSA test to check my prostate count. A couple of days later, I received a phone call from my doctor’s aid and she said that the PSA reading came back a bit high. She scheduled me to go see an urologist. During my visit with the urologist, he explained that the count was quite a bit higher than normal, and he asked if they could schedule me to come back in a couple of days so they could take some biopsy’s to check whether my prostate had cancer cells. They snipped 13 samples from my prostate (they only wanted 12, they were not sure they got anything from one of the snips so they did another in the same area). Then, a week later my wife and I visited with the urologist as he explained the results. All the biopsies showed malignancies. All the results taken from different areas of the prostrate showed evidence enough that the lab estimated that I was in Stage 2 and my Gleason Score was at a 7 out of 10. It was explained to us that a Gleason Score of 8 is when the cancer begins to metastasize and spread to other organs, possibly even the bones in that same area. So, we decided to have my prostate removed.
When I was prepared for surgery on March 12, 2009, I was given an epidural in the lower part of my spine to control the pain as the doctor removed my prostate. When, I woke up in my room, my wife was there. It was always nice to have my wife’s support. But, I shortly noticed that both my feet were numb. I told her this and she tried to tickle my feet. I couldn’t feel anything. We both thought that the medication perhaps had not worn off yet. So, we waited and it was not long that my physical therapist came in and introduced himself. I told him that I could not feel my feet, and he showed some concern. But, he said let’s get you up from bed, and see how far you can walk. I swung my legs over to the side of the bed, attempted to stand. But, as soon as I tried to put pressure on my feet,...