John Baker of Springfield has many reasons to stay healthy.

Before retiring to his hometown of Springfield 12 years ago, he was a musician, teacher and minister of music. Now 76, Baker has three children and six grandchildren, a 50-year marriage to wife Anna Mae, jobs substitute-teaching music at area schools and teaching piano lessons, volunteer work delivering hot meals to seniors and a strong faith in God to keep him active.

Baker has been a patient of St. John’s since moving back to the Ozarks in 1996. In 2002, he underwent successful treatment for bladder cancer, so when his urologist, Jeff Johnson, M.D., and radiation oncologist Helen Kim, M.D., mapped out a non-surgical treatment plan for his prostate cancer, he felt comfortable taking their advice.

“I had no symptoms whatsoever,” Baker says, of his prostate cancer. “That shows how important regular checkups are. I had my yearly physical with my internist Dr. Tom Rossiter in December of 2006, and my PSA (prostate-specific antigen) level was 4. I saw Dr. Johnson soon thereafter and he diagnosed me with prostate cancer.”

The prostate is the male gland whose main purpose is producing part of the fluid that makes up semen. It is about the size of a walnut, and surrounds the neck of the bladder and urethra, the tube that carries urine from the bladder.

PSA is a protein made by the prostate gland and found in the blood. Elevated levels of the protein may indicate prostate cancer. PSA is measured by nanograms per millimeter of blood. Most men have under 4 nanograms. Anything higher can indicate prostate cancer.

“My doctors assured me that when caught early, prostate cancer is one of the easiest cancers to take care of,” Baker continues.

St. John’s recommends that all males have a rectal exam and PSA blood test yearly starting at age 50.

“Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men,” says Dr. Johnson. “If you have certain risk factors, such as any first-degree relatives with cancer or if you are African-American, you should start getting screened about five years earlier. For people who ask why they should get screened when they feel fine and have no symptoms of illness, I ask them, ‘do you change the oil in your car before the engine burns up?’”

Because of Baker’s age, and the fact that his prostate cancer was caught early, radiation therapy was considered a more appropriate treatment than surgery, Dr. Johnson says.|

“Before radiation, I had a series of hormone shots to shrink the cancer,” Baker says.

Male sex hormones make prostate cancers grow faster. The most common way to treat prostate cancer is to cut off the supply of these hormones. Hormone therapy uses drugs to stop the body from producing most male sex hormones or block hormones from getting into cancer cells. Sometimes a combination of drugs is used to do both.

Hormone therapy is so effective at shrinking tumors that it is used in combination with radiation in some early-stage cancers, such as in Baker’s case. The hormones shrinks the tumor so radiation treatment can destroy it more easily.

“The hormones gave me hot flashes for awhile,” he chuckles. “My wife had no sympathy for me.”
After completing hormone therapy, Baker had radiation treatments at St. John’s Cancer Center five days a week for just over two months – 43 treatments in all, he says.

“The treatments were very simple and only took about 10 minutes. We scheduled them for 4 p.m. every day so I could still teach,” he says.

Dr. Kim, his radiation oncologist, monitored him for side effects of the radiation. He was lucky to have few, Baker says.
“I had a little diarrhea and loss of energy, but that was it,” he says. “My energy is still zapped some days, but it’s getting better.”

Baker has nothing but praise for the team who helped him beat cancer. He was especially touched by Dr. Kim’s bedside manner.

“She’s a hugger,” he says. “Her personality and approach are very reassuring. I always had great confidence in my physicians, and my faith helped me tremendously.”