Richard and Renee’ Phillips Lucas, TX 75002
November 28th, 2023
Texas Prostate
Re: TULSA PRO Treatment
I am writing to share my utmost respect, admiration, and profound thankfulness for Dr. Rajiv Chopra, Dr. James Cochran, and Sumbul Shaikh, and the entire team at Texas Prostate. They changed, and literally saved my life. I’m particularly awed with the passion of Dr. Chopra. He spent decades of his life developing this treatment that will cure millions of men of prostate cancer, while sparing them the dreadful side effects of surgery and radiation. What they are doing at Texas Prostate is a paradigm shift in prostate cancer treatment. I can’t recommend them highly enough.
A little background on Renee’ and I. We’re 55 and 60 years old respectively. We have been happily married 38 years. We have three grown, successful children, and recently became grandparents. I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in April, 2023. Those were hard words to hear. Shock, disbelief, clinging to the hope that someone, somewhere got it wrong. But all the tests confirmed the diagnosis. It was a torrent of bad news, as “you may have cancer” turned to ‘you have cancer’, then ‘you have a dangerous form of prostate cancer’, then ‘the cancer may be outside of your prostate’, and finally ‘you need surgery immediately’. The biopsy indicated a Gleason score of 7, Intermediate/Unfavorable. After my urologist said the cancer may have metastasized and recommended immediate surgery, he reviewed the possible side effects with me. He estimated my chances of having 100%, permanent ED were 50%, with a significant risk of permanent incontinence. I inquired about alternative treatments, and was told “surgery and/or radiation are the established treatment protocols, other treatments are considered investigational’.
I went home and began researching surgery and radiation treatments. The level of side effects involved with both were shocking. Millions of men get prostate cancer, and the recommended treatments have side effects that I would use the word ‘barbaric’ to describe. I began to search for alternative treatments. Internet searches led me to the TULSA PRO treatment. My initial interest was the massive reduction in side effects, and it was an outpatient procedure. Too good to be true, I thought. The manufacturer was very responsive and put me in contact with several providers in my area that provide the TULSA PRO treatment. I decided to get consultations at a local hospital system (again, recommended surgery), and then Texas Prostate. I spoke to Sumbul at Texas Prostate several times, who put me in contact with Dr. Chopra a couple of times, and finally scheduled a consultation with Dr. Cochran. He indicated I was a very good candidate for the TULSA PRO procedure. I had two additional tests to confirm I was a good candidate, a CT scan to check for calcium deposits (calcium interferes with the ultrasound), and a PSMA PET scan to confirm the cancer was not outside my prostate. Both tests came out in my favor, and I had the treatment a week later.
My experience before I met Texas Prostate (insert weeks of waiting between each step):
1. You might have prostate cancer (disbelief)
2. You have prostate cancer (shocked)
3. You have intermediate/unfavorable prostate cancer (scared)
4. It looks like the cancer may be out of your prostate (panic!)
5. You need surgery and/or radiation, with heavy odds that you’ll have 100% ED and incontinence (more panic)
My experience after I met Texas Prostate (minus the weeks of waiting):
1. You are a good candidate for TULSA PRO treatment, an outpatient procedure with greatly reduced (understatement of the year) chances of side effects. Here’s the TACT 5-year study that shows outcomes for TULSA PRO full ablation are almost identical to radical prostatectomy (guarded hope)
2. PSMA PET scan confirms no cancer outside the prostate (more guarded hope) 3. We can treat you next week (optimism creeping in)
4. Congratulations, you have completed the outpatient TULSA PRO procedure and it went very well, we anticipate that your prostate has been fully ablated, and the cancer along with it (more optimism)
5. 15 days after treatment, I was free from any side effects (wink wink)
6. Follow up at 90 days: We anticipate that your cancer has been cured, and we will put you on a monitoring schedule to confirm (Wow! More optimism)
I literally woke up one morning with cancer, and went to bed that night free from cancer. Amazing! I only wish I had a shortcut to meeting Texas Prostate upon my initial diagnosis. I think of the worry and sleepless nights my wife, children, and I would have been spared.
Again, our heartfelt thanks from my family and I. You have given me my life back!
Richard Phillips
