Derrill Holly survived Stage 4 prostate cancer, opting for a prostatectomy and an implant procedure.

DESCRIPTION

When “things were not working the way hey had always worked,” at age 67, Derrill Holly sought medical attention.  A doctor visit revealed a high Gleason score, and Derrill’s primary care physician sent Derrill to an oncologist.  A subsequent biopsy confirmed he had Stage 4 prostate cancer.  Derrill shares his story with the @CancerInterviews podcast.

However, he said choosing a prostatectomy instead the less-invasive brachytherapy was an easy call.  Derrill says had he gone with radiation treatment or chemotherapy, there was always the possibility that not all the cancer would be removed and that it could spread to lymph nodes.  He thought that a prostatectomy gave him the best chance of returning to an active lifestyle. 

The procedure was done in one night, but because of COVID, his wife could not be with him in the hospital.  After the surgery, a catheter was inserted and he went home the next day, only to return the following day to have the catheter removed.  This began his recovery phase, which was a slow process, accompanied by the realization that where urination and sexual function are concerned, he would never be the same.  The toughest part of that phase, he says, was re-learning bladder control.  Getting back to sexual normalcy was difficult as well, what he considered a “trial and error process.”

Derrill Holly said among options for his future were pumps and injection, but he was not interested in either one.  However, two years after his prostatectomy, he decided to get an implant in his penis.

He says right after he got the implant, urinary function returned to normal.  This, he said, was a tremendous relief after two years of pads, and knowing a sneeze or a cough or a laugh could result in his urinating. 

Regarding sexual function, the implant is meant to return one to their functionality level, pre-diagnosis and his implant did just that.

After the catheter was removed, Derrill needed to visit his doctor once every three months.  Then eventually, his schedule became once every six months.  Each visit includes some tests, and Derrill admits the night before each visit would be a bit tense because he was worried he could learn the cancer had come back.  But with each visit, his numbers were fine, he could exhale, go have lunch with his family and everything was fine.  When Derrill reaches the five-year mark after his procedure, then his visits will become once a year.  Without a prostate, he knows he isn’t producing the hormones the way he once did and cancer is not spreading to his lymph nodes.  The combination of that and his numbers remaining steady, he says, put him “in a good place.”

Meanwhile, Derrill Holly quotes the support group zerocancer.org, which claims black men are twice as likely as white men to be diagnosed with prostate cancer.  He says one big reason for this statistic is that many black men are hesitant to undergo a digital rectal exam, which he says is the first step in determining everything related to one’s prostate is working okay.  Derrill would like to see insurance coverage expanded so that blood tests are covered, meaning all men can find out the status of their prostate via blood work should they have an aversion to the more invasive digital rectal exam.

Derrill says this is the twenty-first century and in the battle against all cancers, strides are being made.  He says, “We can survive, but you have to be a real true partner and participant in making sure you do.”

Additional Resources:

Support Group: zerocancer.org  https://www.zerocancer.org.

Support Group: Fans for the Cure  https://fansforthecure.org

TRANSCRIPT

Bruce Morton: Greetings and welcome to Cancer Interviews.  I’m your host, Bruce Morton.  Our guest on this episode was diagnosed with prostate cancer, survived it and is now putting his energy toward helping other men get out in front of the disease.  He is Derrill Holley of Houston, Texas, and Derrill, welcome to Cancer Interviews.

Derrill Holly: Thank you kindly, Bruce.

BM: We always like to start our interviews in the same manner and that is to learn a bit more about our guest, exclusive of his or her cancer journey.  So, if you would, Derrill, tell us where you are from, what you do for work, and when time allows, what you do for fun.

DH: I am a storyteller, which means essentially that I write.  I have a long background in the news business, dating back to the late 1960s, started my career in 1968, have worked for CBS and also for the Associated Press, where I learned how to do print, their way.  I retired from Associated Press in 2007 and since then I have been a senior writer/editor for an industry association based in Washington, D.C.  I work with the National Rural Electric Cooperative, which has a membership of about 900 electric cooperatives around the country, which essentially provide electricity for people in rural areas in 48 states.  They are actually owned by the members that they serve and that’s how people in rural America get their electricity.

BM: And when time allows fun, what qualifies as fun?

DH: I live in a multi-generational household.  My granddaughter and her husband live here and their children.  So, my wife and I are the elders of the household.  It’s a great way to live and it keeps us young.

BM: One other thing we do as we begin our interviews is reference the juncture that triggers your cancer journey.  At some point, you must have noticed that something wasn’t quite right, something that needed medical attention.  When did you notice something wasn’t quite right?

DH: Aging is aging, and at the time I was diagnosed, I was 67.  Things were not working the way they had always worked, so I grew a little concerned.  Even though I had had basic examinations, I did not necessarily know at the time that I was a candidate for prostate cancer, so that when my numbers came back and they were elevated, my primary care physician sent me for a followup, and I visited an oncologist who confirmed that I had elevated numbers and then we had a pursue a course of treatment.  My course of treatment took me to MD Anderson Hospital.  I had a long relationship with MD Anderson, having covered that facility early in my career and when I moved back to Texas from Washington, they had really grown.  They had facilities all over southeast Texas, and a very good reputation, not just for treating cancer but for research as well, but also making sure that those of us who live in Texas got quality care.

BM: We’re confident you’ll be able to learn some tips and tools to help you through your personal cancer journey, but first we’d like to invite you to please give us a ‘like’, leave a comment or review below and share this story with your friends.  Kindly click on the ‘Subscribe’ button below and click on the bell icon, so you will be notified when we release out next cancer interview.  And if you are facing a cancer diagnosis, please click on the link in the description and Show Notes below to check our free guide, “The Top Ten Things I Wish I Knew When I First Got Cancer.”

So, Derrill, at this point, it looks like you were in very good hands, going to MD Anderson, but what was the next step in this chain of events?

DH: The next step was confirming the diagnosis and that was done by biopsy, and if anyone has ever been through a prostate cancer biopsy, then you know you are awake throughout the entire procedure.  What they do is take several core samples of your prostate while you are in a prone position and these are sent to a lab, and when the results come back you know what’s needed.  In my particular case, surgery was the best option.  It is not always the best option for everyone, but it was the best option for me, and I am glad I did it in 2020.

BM: Obviously, the day that you learned you had cancer was not a good day, it never is for anyone who gets such horrific news, but in your case, when you got the news, how did you deal with it?

DH: By the time I got the news, I understood prostate cancer, I had covered a number of notable prostate cancer cases while I was still in Washington, among them Louis Farrakhan’s prostate cancer case and also Mayor Marion Barry, who at the time was in his fourth term as mayor of the District of Columbia, so I kind of knew what to expect, but they had not had prostatectomy as their course of treatment.  They were able to confront the disease with the seeding option that’s available.

BM: As it turns out, that was the option that I chose when I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2000, but one thing I have learned from doing these interviews, each type of cancer, even though they are all cancer, they’re all a little bit different and I would say out of the various types of cancer, prostate cancer probably presents itself with more treatment options than with any other type of cancer.  You said you chose to go with the prostatectomy. Was that a difficult decision?

DH: No, it wasn’t a difficult decision.  Once it was explained to me that I was Stage IV with high Gleason scores and anyone who been through the diagnosis knows what Gleason scores mean, I knew that had I tried a different option, chemo or radiation, there was a possibility they would not get it and in that process of not getting it spread to my lymph nodes.  So, knowing that I might eventually have to get surgery, I took that as the option that would return me to as active a lifestyle as I could possibly get, as quickly as possible, and that was to cut it out, so we cut it out.

BM: With that procedure, describe what the procedure was like.

DH: The treatment was one night in the hospital during COVID and so, my wife, we were very close, wasn’t able to be there with me.   I woke up in the recovery room and stayed overnight.  I had a catheter inserted for functionality and was released from the hospital the next day.  Then I went back to the hospital for the removal of the catheter and began my recovery, but that is a slow, long process and most people who have to undergo that procedure have really no way of preparing for it because you are permanently changed regarding what you know about your own physiology for decades because it no longer applies.

BM: And of that process, what was the toughest part?

DH: The toughest part was again, the loss of functionality.  The catheter gets removed, you have to re-learn bladder control, which takes an awful lot of time.  Then you have to try and get back to some form of normal sexuality that also is a trial-and-error process.  There are different processes that you learn about in the course of, and you try those, and you try those, and you try those, and the results are always mixed.  There are injections, there are pumps, but those were not options for me.  So, two years after my initial prostatectomy, I underwent another procedure and had an implant installed.

BM: When it comes to prostate cancer, many people will say it is all about urinary function and sexual function.  So, I have a two-part question for you.  First, now that you are three years out from your procedure, for you, how is urinary function?

DH: Urinary function returned to normal after I had the implant installed.  There are different types of doctors, different types of surgeons who deal with different things.  Your cancer surgeon’s primary concern is taking care of the cancer.  That is his focus.  That is what they do.  Your post-operative doctor primarily with the reason why you went there, and while he is in there if he can fix some other things, he does.  He did not just perform the implant surgery, but he also tightened a few things up and the results were so much better.  You go through two years of pads and that sort of thing and a lack of control, particularly when you sneeze or cough or walk or exert yourself or when you sleep and you can appreciate it when you do all the things you need to do, without issues.

BM:  It’s a sensitive area to ask about, but years later, how is sexual function?  Is it close to what it was, pre-diagnosis?

DH: Yes, because the implant assets are designed to return you to the stature, pre-diagnosis. 

BM: It sounds like things are pretty close to normal for you, Derrill.  Can you recall a stage in which you felt you were starting to overcome cancer. And if so, what was that like?

DH: There was a process, and you go through that process in stages.  Your doctor sees you once every couple of weeks initially after your catheter is removed.  Then you go to a once every three months regimen, then you go to a once every six-month testing regimen.  As I am now three years post surgery, I am in the once every six months regimen, and still there are anxious moments before I go in for my testing, because you don’t want it to come back.  With that, I get a little intense the night before I go in for testing.  Once you get the numbers back, you get to breathe easier, you get to share the news with family, you get to go to lunch, it’s fine, and that’s where I am.

BM: Do you feel that, as you look ahead with the passage of time, those anxious moments will be fewer and farther between?

DH: I know that they will be fewer and farther between.  I will soon be in a once-a-year checkup regimen.  You no longer have a prostate, which means you no longer are producing hormones the way you always did, which means when you are three years post-operative, your cancer hasn’t spread to your lymph nodes and your numbers have stayed steady, I will be done.  I will be in a very good place.

BM: I now want to move into a related area of our subject matter and that is the incidence of prostate cancer in African American men.  According to the support group Zerocancer.org, black men was twice as likely to die from prostate cancer as white men.  By way of messaging, is there anything that can be done for the black community, or can what is now being done be done better?

DH: A lot of things can be done better, and it is not just black doctors or Hispanic doctors, it’s all doctors.  A lot of males have a big problem with digital rectal exams, and a digital rectal exam is Step One in making sure for at least providing enough information to determine if everything is working normally.  I am not sure exactly what they are feeling for, but they have to do it.  Now in a lot of instances, there are doctors of all persuasions who don’t like to broach that issue with their African American male patients because there is a stigma associated with the exam itself, whether it is a male doctor or a female doctor conducting it, it is an invasive test that can be performed in any doctor’s office.  If in fact the patient has an aversion with that and doesn’t want to go along with it, then insurance policies need to be expanded so that when blood work is done, their numbers can be checked on a base level and on a followup level so that if anything is changing, it is picked up early enough.  So, if there is any chance at all I would like to see, it would be the option of getting a blood test to determine where your prostate is, early on.  Probably before age 40 would be a good time. 

BM: It used to be that the inclusion of a PSA test was standard procedure within routine blood work.  By way of advocacy, what would you say to the patient who wants a PSA test on their blood work but isn’t getting it.

DH: Yes.  The message I have is, if it is not there, broach the issue with your care provider because quite frankly, they can order the test to make sure that you are healthy.  Believe me, this is a disease that can change your life and permanently alter your outlook.  Mine has been permanently altered.  All cancers probably remind the patient of their mortality.  This is a type of cancer that reminds you that you are not indestructible and everything that you have learned in your life since puberty about how your body is supposed to work is threatened by not just the diagnosis, but the treatment itself, and to save your life, you will change, and your physiology gets changed.  That’s really the cleanest way to put that.

BM: Now it is time to bring our time together to a conclusion, and we will ask the same question we always do when we wrap up.  If you had a private audience with someone who had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer, or thought they might be, you might have a message for that person, a multi-faceted message; but out of everything you had to say, if there was one point you really wanted to drive home, what would it be?

DH: That would be that you have to set your priorities, and if your priority is life, and the quality of it, then the more you know and the better informed you are, the more you are likely you are to get the most out of the options available to you.  A lot of scary things happen in a person’s mind when they are diagnosed with cancer, any form of cancer.  They think back to their own childhood and the very first people that they knew in their lives, aunts and uncles, a grandparent, who had to go through a cancer process and quite frankly the outcomes are not always that positive.  People die, people lose limbs, people change, and people waste away.  If that is your cancer experience regardless of your education level, this is going to weigh heavily on what you are confronting when you are initially diagnosed or even when you learn you might be diagnosed.  This is also the 21st century and there are a lot of strides being made.  We can survive, but you have to be a real true partner and participant in making sure that you do.  That requires that you re-establish your priorities, and for me, my prioritiy is no longer succeeding professionally, but succeeding in life and that means going ahead and living.  I am one of the fortunate ones, I have been able to get back to most of my normal activities, but it wasn’t always easy.  I had to learn things.  I had to learn how long I can sit in a chair, how far you can drive, how long you can deal with being on the road, those are adjustments I have made and still make when I pack for business trips and have to do presentations.  I still carry pads with me.  That’s really the key.  You want to lead an active life, you learn to take advantage.

BM: Thanks so much, Derrill.  That was a wealth of eloquent information in terms of your story and that for which advocate and your advice to others.  Derrill Holly of Houston, Texas, thanks very much for being with us on Cancer Interviews.

DH: Thank you, Bruce.  Have a great day.

BM: You as well.  And that’s going to wrap up this edition of Cancer Interviews.  As we always do, we want to remind you that if you or a loved one is on a cancer journey, you are not alone.  There are people like Derrill out there with information and advice that can be of tremendous help.  So, until next time, we’ll see you on down the road.

SHOW NOTES

TITLE: Derrill Holly, Stage Four Prostate Cancer Survivor – Houston, Texas, USA

Once Derrill Holly saw his Gleason scores were high, he ran not from, but toward the prospect of a prostate cancer diagnosis.  He was diagnosed Stage IV and opted for a prostatectomy.  He followed that up with an implant procedure and enjoys an active lifestyle, which includes being a happy husband and grandfather.   Derrill shares his story with the @CancerInterviews podcast.

Additional Resources:

Cancer Interviews: https://www.cancerinterviews.com

Time Stamps:

02:48 Derrill recalls when he noticed something wasn’t quite right.

04:44 Describes biopsy and confirmation of diagnosis.

05:54 Reaction to diagnosis.

07:15 Concluded prostatectomy was the best option.

08:11 Describes treatment.

09:56 Remembers the toughest part of the treatment.

11:30 Derrill discusses his post-treatment urinary function.

12:55 Discusses his post-treatment sexual function.

17:01 Derrill talks about how efforts to reach the African-American community re prostate cancer screening can be improved.

21:51 His message to those who have been freshly diagnosed with prostate cancer.

KEYWORDS (tags):

prostate cancer

cancer

biopsy

cancer interviews

prostatectomy

cancerinterviews.com

chemo

bruce morton

radiation treatment

derrill holly

digital rectal exam