I've given a lot of thought whether I should even mention this or not and I've finally decided to bring it out. I wish I had been privy to a little additional information at the appropriate time. About seven years ago I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. As a rule, that's not a biggie. It's not uncommon to older men and apparently it is seldom fatal. With time it can metathesize to other areas of the body. I decided at the time to take the 'wait and see' approach. Finally my doctor said the PSA was high enough I had to give some consideration to this problem. So, I saw an Oncologist and we decided to treat the problem with radiation. The months of September and October were spent taking 40 treatments of radiation. Today everything is good. I won't go into the details but thought I'd let you know about it in case you have any concerns or questions about what to expect. PM me and I'll be happy to answer any of your questions.
I had the same knock on the door... I decided to go under the knife followed by the "glow treatment"... Knock on wood... It's been 20 years now and PSA is still undetectable....
Glad you're ok. I had kidney cancer three plus years ago and like you I'm glad in was found early and taken care of.
My cancer was in one of the two lads that hang out (pun intended) near the prostate. Surgery (just call me Lefty) and 2,500 RADs of radiation. On the plus side, there are a million puns and one-liners you can come up with for cancer of the nads. CD
Damn, we've got some decrepit old bastids on here! For me, I started last February. Five different surgeries on the left wing and side, including orthopedic, general, oncological, and plastic. Then in July and August had two rad treatments a day for eight weeks and chemo once a week. I find out next week if it was all worth while. Got my fingers crossed and my Girlfriend lovingly tells me that if I don't keep a positive outlook she'll kick my a$$. Did PT for two months until the VA dropped the ball and it's taken three months to get it started up again. Hoping to get at least 50% use back before the Dragon. Since the first Ortho Doc I saw wanted to just disarticulate and remove the arm at the shoulder I think I'm doing great. I didn't have to get rid of my manual transmission cars after all. I think all the guys that posted above will agree...... Getting' old ain't for wusses!
I think all the guys that posted above will agree...... Getting' old ain't for wusses![/QUOTE] Amen to that !!
Thank you all for sharing your individual stories. I'm fascinated to see how many folks sharing this MINI affliction have been invaded by the Big C. For this relatively small group who communicate regularly, this is an amazing coincidence.
It's not just the old timers out there. I had a malignant soft tissue sarcoma removed from my leg almost 13 years ago when I was 29. It started out as a scar that I got after getting spiked by another runner at a high school cross country meet. Over the years it become a pronounced lump that never really hurt. In about 2 years it went from being pea sized to about the size of one of those rubber bouncy balls that you get from the $.25 vending machines. Ended up having to have out patient surgery twice after the tested it when they removed it and it come back malignant. Had to go back in and remove more to ensure that the margins were clean. Left a nice dent and scar on my calf that I refer to as my shark bite.
Well, don't mean to hi-jack a thread...but I've been having my own problems. A week ago Tuesday I started spitting up blood. I think that is the 'scardest' I have ever been in my life. Absolute panic... I went directly to the ER and my treatment was terrific (maybe the drugs ) After five days in the hospital, massive doses of antibiotics and other meds, all the different cultures and sticking a camera in my lungs, it was determined that there is no cancer at this time, I have been breathing stuff I should not have been breathing for 40 years and I will be on 2 months check-up schedule. Yeppers...getting old is not for the weak...
Here's the thing with prostate cancer: Since the advent of PSA testing, prostate cancer specific mortality is down almost 50%. Prostate cancer is the number one cancer diagnosed in men, and the number 2 cause of cancer deaths in men. Yet the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended PSA testing be stopped altogether. Why? Because most men with prostate cancer won't die from it, and using flawed data, came up with the conclusion that screening does more harm than good. It's really a tragic recommendation; it does not take into consideration that patients with high risk disease have a high mortality rate at 10-15 years without treatment (data that is apparent even in the flawed studies they used to base their recommendation). Note: there wasn't a urologist on the board that came up with the recommendation against PSA testing. So now what's happened is many primary care physicians will not even offer a discussion on PSA testing, and testing has dropped by over 30%. I caught the tail end of the pre-PSA testing era, as PSA testing became widespread during my residency years, I have no desire to go back to the horrors we saw on a regular basis before testing was widespread. OK, off the soapbox.
I am typing this on my laptop from my hospital bed. Complications from a from a minor procedure last Thursday had me puking up blood by the pint on Tuesday. It does inspire some serious panic. Glad to hear your problem isn't cancer. Good luck. CD
There is nothing like getting a call from a nurse while at work telling you that "you have cancer, and you need to see the doctor next week for a direction..... AS SOON AS POSSIBLE".... That phone call was a real low point in my day..... I went in and they gave me a choice of going under the knife within a 3 month period... Or doing nothing.... I picked a date that was only 2 weeks out.... Glad I did because the cancer was still inside the prostate envelope and had not metastasized yet... Surgery, hormone treatments and radiation seems to have done the trick... Recovery was not the best for me but they seem to have perfected the procedure now where they go in through the belly button...
Robotic prostatectomy is a faster recovery with less blood loss, but the functional and cancer control outcomes are identical to open prostatectomy. Eventually robotic prostatectomy IMHO will surpass open surgery, there is data to suggest that this is happening now, but it's still a work in progress.
Next time I go under the knife I'll probably be driven to the hospital in a Google autonomous car, get sliced by an autonomous surgeon and get my pain pills deliver to my house via Amazon drone.....
Did not know about nanny's decision on PSA testing. I'll start out for my next annual exam with a new Dr. in March and will certainly insist on full spectrum blood testing. My old Dr. retired 10 years after I did and it was never a question. He always reported on that number.