It was the summer of 2012 and 58-year-old Kim Armstrong, a retiree from the Edmonton area, was going for what he thought was a routine annual checkup. But when a digital exam was suspect and his prostate specific antigen (PSA) numbers “spiked dramatically” from his last exam, he knew his life was changing.
A biopsy confirmed the worst. He had prostate cancer and surgery was booked for March 2013 to remove the tiny, walnut-shaped gland, which wraps around the urethra and impacts urine and semen flow.
The six-month waiting period before surgery was traumatic for Kim, now 60, who’d never dealt with a major health issue. But the da Vinci (robotic-assisted) prostatectomy was successful and virtually pain-free.
