September 2018
I found out in Sept. of 2018 that I had prostate cancer. I was 61 and 4 months old. This is how it went down.
Visits to the doctors
My physician had been after me for years about a lesion on my neck to go get it looked at, so in Aug 2018 I did and saw a dermatologist and the lesion came back positive and had it removed. I went back in later and Dr. said he checked the tissue around it and got it all, I was relieved.
Went in for a follow up with my physician for yearly exam and Dr. said my PSA was elevated. I believe it was a 5 and he said I should go see the the urologist and they will retake the PSA and so I did (down the hall from the Dermatologist that I had seen). So got appointment, went in, they took PSA again and visited with urologist.
Results and big decisions
He checked out my prostate, which he said was enlarged, and asked a bunch of questions about how I felt and bowel movements and erections and sex and my piss stream and activities on and on. They got results and they were the same as physicians results. So he scheduled MRI, that was a week later. Went back in to see urologist and he said that results showed the enlarged prostate and enlarged lymph nodes. So the next step was biopsies and that was beginning of the next week and oh my that was a lot of FUN 😩 NOT. When the results came back it was a 3-3, Gleason scale of 6.
I chose to do wait and watch and had PSA again in January of 2019. Had elevated to 8, but something I wasn’t aware of is if you had intercourse within 36 hours it could elevate it. I had intercourse in less than 24 hrs before taking the PSA. So I’m going in this coming Monday (in about 2 days) and haven’t had intercourse since yesterday @ 10:30 AM.
So I guess we will see what the PSA comes back as the following Monday and go from there. My Urologist says that it’s always best to catch it early and everything I’ve read says the same thing. All the research that I have done is probably only a drop in a bucket. I’m interested in cyber knife, I’m not sure if it is an option with my insurance BCBS, but I’m not interested in removal/surgery, I know that for sure.
Power of community that has been there
I greatly appreciate your site and all of your members, I have been reading all the comments from the shadows and signed up here today. I’m a recovering alcoholic of 30 years, so I know what it means to have a sponsor and people around you to get through on a daily basis. Not to say that this is a prostate 12 step program, but that I have the mentality to understand the power of a community that has been there and done that, right or wrong, but learn from it. So I’m at the infant/Crawling stages of this Rotten Cancerous situation and I’m the rookie here, but I will absorb every bit of knowledge you throw my way.
I will say one thing though, I have seen a lot of comments everywhere to the effect, (USE IT OR LOSE IT) to this I say B.S. I have a very high sexual appetite and have used it since I was 15, and a lot. Not bragging, just a fact that I’m not sure how much it has to do with getting prostate cancer, maybe I’m wrong. I’m still using it.
Thank you for your time.
Vinny
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