Just at the early part of this adventure.
At this point I am only aware of having cancer because they , the doctors, are telling me I have it. I am feeling well. I was diagnosed kind of as an afterthought. It started , I was having small difficulty urinating and got a remedy containing saw Palmeto, It seemed to help I think. It seemed to help me get started but did nothing much for getting empty. The Doctor I had at the time told me i looked healthy and that PSA tests were often misleading. And he seemed very reluctant to do a digital. I thought " Fine, I look healthy" and that was that for a while. He is retired now. So I volunteered for some construction projects for church and found it generally satisfying. I ended up in Arizona working on finishing drywall and fell off a bench breaking my right olecron process which needed surgery to put back together. I now have a nice plate in my right elbow. After the surgery I could not pass more than a small dribble of pee. On the second day post op i went to the emergency room and got relief. I also got a catheter, a perscription for a flomax and another pill to strengthen the contraction of my bladder, and instructions to call a uroligist and a referral. I had the cath for 10 days and still could not pee on my own. so I had to keep it for another week. This was in mid March. Finally I got to peeing alright and was kept on the flomax drug. So the urologist decided to do a scope and pronounced that I had enlarged prostate and a bladder that looked to me like corned beef. He offered me the choices of staying on flomax, Terp, or Urolift. I told him I wanted the urolift, I wanted to fix the problem and still have full function. In the meantime the GP who had replaced my doctor who retired had ordered some blood tests and lo and behold my PSA was really high, like 10.7 high. But we did not get the result until my wife went for a physical. We brought her up to speed and she informed me very calmly to let my urologist know the PSA results. She is at a different hospital and apparently they don't share information. So I informed the Urologist 2 weeks before the Urolift was to be done and they called me in the get a biopsy at about a week before the proceedure was to be done. So the morning of the proceedure the urologist comes in to see me and informs me that I have some cancer. I had the proceedure anyway, and by the way it worked very well and in no way interferes with normal functioning. So now I am feeling tip top and facing all of that being taken away by Radiation and/or surgery that I am not sure how I feel about having. I am having scans this Friday to see where the cancer may be. Five of the twelve biopsy samples showed cancer and tha Gleason score was put at 8. I really do not know how bad this is to tell the truth. So I read about how people deal with no sex or sex aided by drugs and machines and diapers. None of that sounds at all acceptable. I am sweating the scans to tell the truth. I am apprehensive as to the outcome of surgery and radiation. The Urologist was " get the scans and then we will discuss how to proceed" which pretty much left me in the dark. It also prompted me to do some research which makes me unoptimistic. But i did see an article about Proton Radiation which I am inclined to try for if it is an option. I know it is offered down in the Flint McLaren hospital. This is an adventure I was hoping to avoid as I saw my Dad and Grand Father both struggle.
I just got diagnosed a month ago. I am doing the radiation starting in 1 month. I had
I am so glad you are having a discussion with . I think your post got cut off by accident. Would you try to post again? Jill, prostatecancer.net team
I wondered what happened there with 8658486. Anyway, I apologize for such a long post the first time. This is a lot for me to absorb. I am looking at other posts and see that this is common. I will say that the other posts are helping me see what I might be in for and that there is life after, though it is altered from what it was.
no need to apologize, that is why we are here- to share our stories and get support. There is a lot to absorb and all of the information can be very overwhelming. I am so glad that reading our member's posts is helping you feel not alone. Try to take each day as is. We are here for you. Jill, prostatecancer.net team
I had my bone scan and a CT scan both of which showed no spread of cancer outside the prostate. The appointment to discuss the results with My urologist was not what I wanted to hear. Waiting and watching was not a good option , it is too far along for that. He said two options were possible at this point. Take it out via robotic surgery and Radiation. I told him I didn't like either one but was accepting of the fact that something must be done. He is an experienced surgeon and his preference is to do the surgery... soon. But if I wanted radiation he would refer me to wherever I wanted to go. We brought up Proton radiation and he was willing to refer us for that. But during the discussion of side effects and after effects I slowly became convinced that since the Cancer is still contained maybe it is best to remove it and be done with it. I wined a little about sexual function being lost and his comment was " lets get rid of the cancer and then we can deal with the aftermath. Most likely there will be erectile dysfunction but you are 71 and most likely you have some of that already, and if you don't you will. " I actually liked the straightforwardness of his little speech. There are ways to get around ED assuming that there is not wholesale damage cussed by surgery or radiation for that matter. It made sense to me and I am leaning toward getting the surgery done. It seems the cleaner more positive and final solution. My surgeon was guardedly optimistic that a cure was possible, not guaranteed, but possible. That will have to be enough for us to go on for now I think.
thanks for the update. It sounds like you have had a thorough discussion with your doctor. There is a lot to think about. Please keep us posted on what you decide and if or when your surgery is scheduled. We are here for you. Jill, prostatecancer.net team
