{"id":506,"date":"2013-02-16T12:23:20","date_gmt":"2013-02-16T17:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.prostateblog.com\/?p=506"},"modified":"2013-02-17T17:02:02","modified_gmt":"2013-02-17T22:02:02","slug":"prostate-cancer-survivor-impressed-with-proton-center-staff-and-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.prostateblog.com\/?p=506","title":{"rendered":"Prostate Cancer Survivor Impressed with Proton Center Staff and Treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reprinted with permission by Gerard Bartasavich. Original article is HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"IU<\/a>W<\/font><\/strong><\/span>hen Gerard \u201cBart\u201d Bartasavich went for his annual physical, he mentioned to his doctor that he seemed to be urinating more than normal. The doctor performed a PSA test and discovered that Bart\u2019s levels were high. He referred Bart to a urologist who performed a biopsy. When Bart didn\u2019t receive a quick response, he assumed the biopsy results were good. But just to be sure, he called his doctor one day while at work.<\/p>\n

The doctor informed Bart that he had prostate cancer, and that it was aggressive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe phone just dropped, my mouth dropped,\u201d Bart recalled. \u201cI was just totally stunned.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was April 2008. Bart was 56 years old.<\/p>\n

With a Gleason score of 8.0 and a PSA of 5.62, Bart was advised by his urologists that removing his prostate was the best option, but that there was a chance he would be in diapers the rest of his life and wouldn\u2019t be able to function sexually. A urologist at a Cleveland hospital even told Bart that doing his own research on prostate cancer was a bad idea.
\n\u201cThe doctor told me \u2018don\u2019t Google it,\u2019\u201d Bart said. \u201cSo, the first thing I did was Google it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Bart was familiar with proton therapy because a family friend had received it in California, and he began to discuss the possible treatment with some of his doctors. One doctor informed him that it was too expensive, and another warned him that he could bleed to death due to his history of ulcerated colitis. But this was contrary to what he learned from his friend and through online research.
\nDue to the aggressive nature of Bart\u2019s prostate cancer, he was rejected by another proton therapy provider. As he continued to do research he discovered the IU Health Proton Therapy Center in Bloomington, Ind., which was reasonably close to his home in Ohio.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was brand new, and they took the worst cases,\u201d Bart recalled. \u201cThey were concerned about the patient, and that was the turning point for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bart\u2019s insurance provider initially denied his treatment, so the staff at the Proton Therapy Center resubmitted the claim and won his appeal for coverage.<\/p>\n

Bart began undergoing treatment at the IU Health Proton Therapy Center in September 2008. \u201cInitially, I was scared to death. I was actually petrified,\u201d he recalled. The aggressive nature of his cancer and his history with ulcerated colitis were valid concerns for Bart.<\/p>\n

While undergoing his treatment, he met with doctors once a week to discuss the progress. Due to his ulcerated colitis, Bart had a colonoscopy midway through the process to determine if the treatment had caused any damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctor came skipping down the hall,\u201d Bart remembers. \u201cHe said there were no side effects from the proton radiation.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his treatment, Bart continued to go about his life as normally as possible. The Proton Center helped him find an apartment in Bloomington. He and his wife, Vera, would go out to eat, go for walks and enjoy the beautiful state parks in the area. They also took trips to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Nashville, and French Lick. Bart refers to it as his \u201cradiation vacation.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also enjoyed being able to listen to the music of his choice during his treatment sessions, settling on some Rod Stewart classics. \u201cI used to turn that up as loud as I could, and didn\u2019t even realize I was getting the treatment,\u201d he remembers.<\/p>\n

Bart was impressed by the personable nature of the staff at the center. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t uncommon for a doctor or one of the staff to yell out, \u2018Hi Bart\u2019,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cWhen you were there, you felt like a friend versus a patient.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Bart\u2019s successful treatment, he returned to Ohio to spend time pursuing his love of woodworking and classic Thunderbird cars. With a current PSA of 1.53, he still keeps in touch with the staff and fellow patients he met during his treatment. He is an advocate for proton therapy, and for the IU Health Proton Therapy Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis center is something special,\u201d Bart says. \u201cI was totally impressed with the treatment I had.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reprinted with permission by Gerard Bartasavich. Original article is HERE.   When Gerard \u201cBart\u201d Bartasavich went for his annual physical, he mentioned to his doctor that he seemed to be urinating more than normal. The doctor performed a PSA test and discovered that Bart\u2019s levels were high. He referred Bart to a urologist who performed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-patient-testimonies"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.prostateblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.prostateblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.prostateblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.prostateblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.prostateblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=506"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.prostateblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":511,"href":"http:\/\/www.prostateblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506\/revisions\/511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.prostateblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.prostateblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.prostateblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}