Kurt Grube describes himself as a guy who loves to analyze data. When the 62-year-old Wyckoff, New Jersey resident received a prostate cancer diagnosis in February 2021, that analytical side kicked in.
He immediately researched prostate cancer and its treatments. He also sought a second opinion from Penn Medicine Division of Urology Chief Thomas Guzzo, MD.
“I feel like I did four years of medical school in four months,” Kurt jokes. “I told Dr. Guzzo I read the abstracts on all 40 of his published papers. I wanted real information and to know what the next steps were. Dr. Guzzo laid out the facts for me. I knew we were on the same page, and we were going to put a game plan together.”
A former information technology executive with IBM, Kurt says his focus on facts helped him manage the anxiety he felt after his diagnosis. But what also helped was Penn Medicine’s far-reaching culture of kindness. From the parking valet to the coffee shop employees to the information desk attendant in the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, every single person he encountered offered help and a smile, Kurt says.
“People were happy and friendly, and they just made it so easy for me and my wife, Kathy,” he says. “You can tell when you’re in an organization where the people like what they do. It shows in how they treat you.”
An ‘Outstanding Team’ at Penn Medicine
Kurt credits the entire Penn Medicine urology team with what he calls his “textbook” recovery.
His experience with prostate cancer began during an annual physical at his primary care doctor — a visit he says he never puts off after losing both his parents to cancer. He didn’t have any prostate cancer symptoms. But routine blood work showed an elevated level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a protein made by the prostate.
His primary care doctor ordered a follow-up blood test in six months. Those test results showed Kurt’s PSA level, a test doctors use to help make a prostate cancer diagnosis, had jumped from 5 to 8 nanograms per milliliter.
Ever the analyst, Kurt wanted a second opinion. That’s when he turned to the team at Penn Medicine. Dr. Guzzo reviewed the biopsy results and determined the cancer was a Gleason score 8, a more aggressive cancer, and scheduled surgery to remove his prostate.
In the weeks leading up to the surgery, Kurt met Penn Medicine urology team members Samuel Kovell, a physician assistant, and Brynn Moore, a urology nurse. He says both gave him in-depth information and resources, answered his questions and helped him get ready for his upcoming surgery. Laura Holloway, urology team executive assistant, made the entire process easier for him and his wife, Kurt says.
“You get this anxiety when you go through something like this,” he says. “But I was well prepared. Thanks to Sam and Brynn, I knew what was going to happen during the surgery and what the recovery period would be like.”
A Positive Attitude and Earned Trust
For Kurt’s
prostate cancer treatment, Dr. Guzzo performed a minimally invasive robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy in January of 2022. Post-surgery pathology showed the tumor as a T3b. Kurt says the team was great about answering his follow-up questions and letting him know what to expect. He attributes his smooth recovery not only to Dr. Guzzo’s surgical skill, but also to the compassion and kindness he experienced throughout Penn Medicine.
Today, Kurt says he’s feeling great and that a recent follow-up PSA test showed a PSA level of nearly zero — a sign that cancer is gone. He continues to focus on his next career chapter as an actor playing roles in feature films, television and theater.
“I can’t say enough good things about the people and the process,” Kurt adds. “I wanted a team that was going to be on board with me. That’s what Penn Medicine offered me.”