In the media
Here you will find links to various media articles about GreenLight HPS and the Endo Urology Centre.
Laser Therapy Leap
The Manning River Times, Taree, 26 August 2009.
MEDICAL services in Taree have taken a giant stride forward with the installation of a GreenLight laser therapy unit for prostate patients at Mayo Hospital.
Click to read the full article.
Relief For Prostate Patients
The Manning River Times, Taree, 4 September 2009.
The complete article, by Helen Manusu, appears here:
Back home again, 24 hours after having a prostate operation? Unheard of, in the ‘bad old days’. But no more, thanks to new technology available right here in Taree.
Sixty-nine-year-old Peter Rumbel is one of the new breed of prostate patients finding relief from GreenLight laser technology now offered at the Mayo Hospital. Peter agreed to tell his story during Prostate Awareness Month, hoping that more men like him suffering the pain and stress of a prostate problem hear about this new method of treatment.
“I can sleep all night again… I don’t have to get up every hour on the hour to go to the toilet… I’ll soon be back playing bowls,” said Peter, just short of four weeks after his 24 hours at Mayo.
Until now treatment for an enlarged prostate or worse — prostate cancer — has involved a major surgical operation, a sizeable incision to heal, a catheter for about a week, sometimes bleeding, and usually a lengthy period of pain or discomfort afterwards.
Peter, by contrast, went to the Mayo at 7am, went into the operating theatre at 10am, came out of recovery at 3pm and was walking around his hospital room at 6pm.
After a comfortable night, his catheter was removed at 7.30am and he was discharged mid-morning. A couple of days later he strolled back into Taree Leagues Club to watch his mates play bowls.
“No pain, not even the slightest bit of discomfort… just a slight burning when going to the toilet for a couple of days… nothing like I’ve heard from mates who’ve been under the knife for a similar problem in the past.
“I felt a million dollars. I could have jumped over the moon. I haven’t started back at bowls yet but I’ve been given the OK to go back.”
It was his regular game of bowls at Leagues that hinted at something wrong with his ‘waterworks’.
“I found all of a sudden I couldn’t bend over like I used to, without having this urgency to empty my bladder,” he said.
Peter is a well known Taree resident, having lived here for over 40 years and during a long working career having been employed for seven years as bar manager at the Leagues Club, by Taree Crane Service, and for 25 years as a plant operator for Country Energy. He’s now been retired for three years.
Peter has also been heavily involved on the sporting scene, first as an A-grade cricketer and in more recent years as a bowler.
On regular medication for cholesterol, he has had blood tests every six months.
His doctor wisely ordered prostate levels (PSAs) each time he went along for his blood test.
Out of the blue earlier this year, his PSA levels rose from three to eight in just a couple of months, and his GP suggested “we have a look”.
It was only a couple of months ago, and Peter underwent an ultrasound then was referred to a urology specialist at Mayo.
The new GreenLight laser treatment was suggested, and within a couple of weeks Peter was in the Mayo waiting room, and being prepped for a general anaesthetic.
It was July 29, and a month afterwards he had no hesitation in telling his story in the hope it may convince other men to seek early attention for any hint of a prostate problem.
“It’s made a wonderful difference to my health and my lifesty1e,” he said, and his wife Bev agrees.
While a biopsy showed Peter’s enlarged prostate was thankfully not the result of cancer, both agree that anyone finding themselves in a similar position — with any prostate worries at all — should seek help immediately.
“Too many men put it off,” Peter said. “(They) need to know it can be easily and comfortably treated.
“It’s been a huge relief to know that such technology is available here in Taree and nowhere else on the North Coast.
“I certainly don’t mind talking about what is such a private problem, in the hope that it will save other men a lot of worry and a lot of pain — and possibly their life.”
