A poster-boy for mid-life health and fitness, Alex Baumann was shocked to be diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The 47-year-old underwent surgery April 26 in Montreal to have his prostate removed after a blood test helped catch the cancer early.

Baumann says he feels good about his chances for recovery.

"I didn't have any symptoms," Baumann said Sunday from his home in Ottawa. "I didn't think I had cancer and all of a sudden getting hit with that was quite difficult."

He won a pair of gold medals and set two world records in swimming at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Baumann is currently the chief executive officer of Own The Podium and the overseer of Canada's elite athletes in international sport.

Still lean and muscular from four swim workouts a week, Baumann lives a hectic life criss-crossing Canada to meet with summer and winter sport federations. Baumann was stunned to learn Jan. 5, also son Ashton's 18th birthday, that he had cancer.

He had surgery for testicular cancer in 1999 and thought he was out of danger after years without a recurrence.

But during a routine physical last year, his doctor told him his prostate was enlarged. Given his cancer history, he suggested a PSA test, which is a blood test to measure prostate-specific antigen.

Normally administered to men over the age of 50, Baumann had never heard of a PSA test. His PSA levels were higher than they should have been for someone his age, so he had a biopsy Dec. 8.

It was a long wait for his results, but Baumann felt fine and wasn't expecting the bad news.

"It was a bit of a disbelief, really," he recalled.

Baumann credits the PSA test with detecting the cancer early. He's hoping he won't require follow-up chemotherapy or radiation treatments.

"One of the reasons I wanted to go public is they picked it up with a PSA test," he explained. "It was a PSA test that led me to the biopsy stage and ultimately detecting that I had cancer."

"It was the PSA test that really diagnosed cancer early for me."

It was difficult for Baumann to break the news to his wife Tracy, a former nurse who knew full well the seriousness of the situation, and his children Ashton and Tabitha.

Both Baumann children are competitive swimmers and Ashton will compete for the University of Ottawa next season. They were at a swim camp in Florida on Sunday. They were young when Baumann had cancer surgery over a decade ago, but were old enough now to be alarmed about their father's health.

"This time around, it's hit them pretty hard," Baumann said.

The problem with PSA testing is it can show high levels without cancer present, causing stress and perhaps a needless biopsy. Despite those pitfalls, Baumann recommends men have the test.

"If you do have elevated levels, you might go through a biopsy and that's a bit painful and not the greatest thing you want to go through, but if that tells you that you don't have cancer, that's positive as well," he said.

A PSA test isn't necessarily free. Some provinces won't cover the cost of the test as a diagnostic screening tool for those without symptoms. In Alberta, for example, the cost of the test is $25.

Five days after his 47th birthday, Baumann underwent robotic prostate surgery, in which surgeon Dr. Kevin Zorn performed the operation through small incisions with the assistance of a surgical robot.

Robotic surgery is considered to be less invasive than prostate removal done by a surgeon's hand and thus makes recovery faster. Zorn told The Canadian Press there are no conclusive studies that prove whether robotic surgery improves the long-term outcomes for patients.

But it was the faster recovery time that made Baumann want the procedure. He says he was in the hospital one day instead of the three he would have spent there after conventional surgery, and that his catheter was removed after four days instead of 10.

"They only make about six small incisions rather than one large one," he said. "I think that's what swayed me, plus I've always kind of believed in technology as well."

Zorn says 96 per cent of his patients leave the hospital within 24 hours of robot-assisted prostate surgery.

While he doesn't intend to go back to the office until after May 20, Baumann feels well enough to work from home and will be on an OTP board conference call Monday morning.

"I think the recovery has been great so far," he said. "The main thing will be is to see the PSA score after this. It should be zero. If it's not zero, it's a problem.

"Because they removed the whole prostate and the cancer was detected early, (the surgeon) said the prognosis is very good."

Common complications after prostate surgery are incontinence and erectile disfunction. Baumann says the risk of those conditions decreases with early detection and treatment.

"One in six males get prostate cancer," he said. "Those are fairly alarming statistics.

"You think it's a disease for older males and it's not true. I'm going through some of the websites and there are testimonials from males who get it in their mid-30s and mid-40s. Early testing and early detection is critical for success. If that's the case, there's a 90 per cent success rate."

Baumann admits he's feeling restless during his convalescence.

"I'm getting very bored," he said. "I want to work out. I need to get the all-clear from the doctors before I can get back in the pool.

"Having said that, it's been really good to spend a bit of time with the family, which often gets neglected due to my work. In a way it's been a good experience because there's a closer bond with my family."

Possible symptoms of prostate cancer are the increased need to urinate, difficulty urinating, pain during urination, blood in urine or semen and painful ejaculation, according to the Canadian Cancer Society. The organization says almost 25,000 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2010 and 4,300 of those cases were fatal.

Baumann grew up in Sudbury, Ont. After retiring from swimming, he was critical of Swim Canada for the country's poor showing at the 1990 Commonwealth Games and found it difficult to get coaching jobs in his home country.

He moved to Australia to finish graduate studies and held several high-ranking sports jobs there. After Canada's mediocre performance at the 2004 Summer Games, the Canadian Olympic Committee brought Baumann back to oversee the summer-sport side of Own The Podium.

When Roger Jackson stepped down as CEO after the 2010 Winter Games, Baumann became responsible for winter sport as well.