Day 52. I think that I really need to explain the path that I have been on from the beginning in dealing with Prostate Cancer. It is one of those things that creep up on you. The first symptom that I had was that one particular night I had trouble peeing. I went to the Doctors (GP) the next morning (Monday) and had an examination. (DRE). He said that I had an enlarged prostate and that I needed a PSA blood test. That was done that day. I received a phone call at 7:30 the next morning to be informed he had made and appointment for me to see him at 10:00 that morning. When something like that is said it kind of grabs your attention. It’s the kind of thing that you hear in movies or read in books, and alarm bells started to ring. By the time I got there I had a feeling that all was not well. He sat me down and informed me that my PSA level was 36. The GP informed that he had never seen a PSA level that high in a surgery. The doctors tend to be a little worried with anything over 5. My GP (Dr Abdul Khan) is really switched on and he had already made an appointment for me to see a Urologist the next Wednesday. On the Wednesday I fronted up with Maria as moral support as by this time I was fairly shaken. When we rocked into the surgery Maria was in her nurse’s uniform as she is the Breast Care Coordinator at Redcliffe Hospital near by. He recognized her, picked up the phone and told his receptionist that from that point on I was a Medicare patient. Just proves that it’s not what you know but whom you know. Sad but true! The Urologist (Dr Jon-Paul Meyer) was up front and said that with PSA levels that high the odds were that I had Prostate Cancer. The next step was CT Scan, Body Scan and whatever they type of scan they could do. The results showed that I had Prostate Cancer. No real surprise but still a shock. As an aside over the past 3 and half years I have dropped nearly 30kgs, train every day in the gym and ride some 300+ kilometers per week. When I was diagnosed I did a fair bit of research as one would expect and found that the harder you exercise the more endorphins and cortisol the body produces. Both are known to kick start the immune system. Training levels were doubled Three weeks later another blood test and the PSA levels were down to 27. A biopsy was done December 19 (Happy Bloody Christmas). The results showed that I had cancer in 8 out of 12 sites taken. Surgery was not an option as the margins were too narrow and there was the possibility of the cancer seeding. Continued training as my life depended on it and three weeks later down to 12 and finally 5. By this time I has seen the Radiation Oncologist who by the way successfully treated Maria for her breast cancer. Neither the GP, Urologist of Radiation Oncologist has seen PSA levels decline without medical intervention. The problem is that the biopsy showed cancer in 8 out of 12 sites so I had to have radiation and hormone treatment. Will continue tomorrow if you are interested
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 05:50:00 +0000
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