I Changed My Primary Care Doctor

By flutepilot

1 min read

I had my annual Medicare health screening about 3 years ago. The prior year my PSA was 8.6 and I asked about a PSA. "Oh, we don't do a PSA anymore at your age". Later that year, I took myself to a Urologist, as I was exhibiting all the problems connected to an enlarged prostate.

My PSA at that time was 16.3. The Urologist took 24 biopsies. 22, yes 22! showed cancer. An MRI showed I was stage 4A, with cancer literally less than an mm from escaping to the bone!

After eight weeks of radiation and hormone therapy and my, PSA is .02. I have exhibited all of the classic problems of 'manopause.' I also, because of the radiation, just came up with a problem in the colon which has now caused red blood in my stool. The cure for that has caused occasional diarrhea. As I said in my title, I changed Primary Care Doctors immediately. I wish I could have sued for damages, but that did not seem to be in the cards.

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mch1948 Member
Good to hear you are out living the prediction. Best of luck in the future.
dele0527 Member
Pilot, i am not a doctor, but there is a lot of men, that have experienced rectal bleeding after radiation, sounds like you may have radiation proctitis which is a burning of the colon from the radiation, find a good colorectal surgeon, it will only get worse if not attended to. Monitor your hemoglobin count with a cbc every month, and if the hemoglobin count drops normal range is 13-15, anything below 10 is a concern, below 7 is life threating, been there done that. there is a treatment called florin, a 5% solution in saline that can be used to seal the burns. Like i said you need a good surgeon, a primary doctor is not able to handle this concern..
Richard Faust Community Admin
Hi <inline-mention username="flutepilot" user-id="3261097"/>. I can't speak specifically to whether you have radiation proctitis, but it is fairly common after pelvic radiation. Please feel free to keep us posted on how you are doing. Best, Richard (ProstateCancer.net Team)
Dennis E. Golden Moderator & Contributor
Hi flutepilot. Yes blood in stool can happen after radiation - As they say "been there done that" it did take care of itself over time and mine was not severe. Can relate to your thoughts on your GP - was in a similar situation I was being treated for an enlarged prostate when in effect cause was prostate cancer. General Practitioners are called "General" for reason. Good for routine stuff not so much for the more advance stuff. Mine keep telling me that my PSA was in the normal range at 2.8 what he failed to notice was the ongoing rise each year - apparently an indicator for PCa I suggest to men that by the age of 45 that they visit with a urologist, get a baseline PSA test and if no family history go back every 2 or 3 years. My GP missed a lump in my prostate because it was on the back side and not easily reached. Sounds like your PSA is now under control and that is a good place to be. And yes as Richard noted ... do keep us posted. 😀 ... Dennis(ProstateCancer.net TEAM)