Gerald Buckley of Wading River couldn’t tell you much about his prostate cancer treatments at Precision CyberKnife of New York, except that they were easy and painless. "Talk about not hurting or being invasive!" he said. "I fell asleep four out of the five treatments when they put the headsets on and played country music. I was laying there for 45 minutes and went right to sleep."

And following each of his five treatments over a two-week period, during which the father of three and grandfather of seven said he did not experience any discomfort or pain, "I could do anything I wanted. It didn’t put me down or put me out at all. I still do all the same things. I go to the beach. I read the newspaper. I go out. I see the grandchildren. Nothing’s changed."

Buckley, 69, had learned that he had prostate cancer after a visit to his doctor and routine blood tests. "For the longest time my PSAs were okay, and then they started to go up," he said.

Prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, is a protein produced by cells of the prostate gland. A PSA test measures the level of PSA in a man’s blood, and the blood level of PSA is often elevated in men with prostate cancer.

Buckley saw urologist Albert Kim, MD, who did a biopsy and determined he had prostate cancer. "When I was diagnosed with prostate cancer my doctor offered several different ways of taking care of that, and a friend of mine went through Precision CyberKnife a year earlier and he said it was easy and good," he said. "So when I went back to my doctor and I said I want to try Precision CyberKnife and he said I was a candidate for that."

At Precision CyberKnife, a program of Mather Hospital at North Shore Hematology Oncology Associates, Buckley spoke with radiation oncologist Martin Silverstein, MD. "I’ve been a practicing radiation oncologist for more than 25 years. I’ve seen great advances in radiation technology. "Precision CyberKnife is one of the most amazing breakthroughs in radiation delivery that I’ve seen in my career," said Silverstein.

"I would recommend Precision Cyberknife because it was a very good experience and it did what it was supposed to do. It was a much better experience than I thought it would be, and the people were great there," said Buckley.

Since his procedures his PSA levels have continued to decline. "I’m looking forward to the PSAs continuing to go down, and that’s what my doctor expects," he said.

For more information, contact Precision CyberKnife of New York at 631-675-5399.