mylife-bikerider

A bit of history!


In the beginning!!!.......In The beginning it was all down to an advert.  One evening sat watching some TV I saw a Highland Health Board information advert, "Don't die of embarrassment" it talked about 'men's problems', prostate and testicular cancer and the general age group affected.
Now I'm not a 'worrier', I rarely visit my GP and had no noticeable symptoms for either problem, even my one trip to the lavatory in the night was not unusual for a man of fifty eight!
However, I thought, I fit the age bracket and it's silly to ignore health checks, as the Health Board ad said, "Far too many men ignore things until it's too late".

I made an appointment and went to see what my GP thought about it all.

A few days later and I'm chatting to the man, "Well" he says, "A PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen) test isn't all that satisfactory, there are many cases of false positive and false negative results, however, as you're here I'll give you the 'once over' I'll take some blood to test your PSA and do a DRE" (an eye watering digital rectal examination).
I have no problem with needles and watched as my dark red venous blood was drawn up into a vial to be sent to the haematology lab.  The next bit caused a little more concern!  "Just drop your pants and hop onto the bed, lay on your side and draw your knees up towards your chest" there was the ominous snap of latex gloves going on followed by a 'squidge' of KY Jelly.  "Relax" he says, easier said than done when a digit covered in cold gel is inserted into your rear end!!

"Everything feels ok" he says, "Your prostate is slightly enlarged but no more than usual for a man of your age, I'll see you again in a year and we'll check if there has been any change".
I walk from the surgery wondering if I really want to go through the experience of another DRE again even in a year's time!

2002, A year had gone by and a note in my diary reminded me that it was time to make another visit to my GP.  Should I ignore the note?  Should I go?  What the hell, I'd started the process a year ago, I ought to see it through.  Later that week I was back in the surgery waiting room reading and half listening for my name to be called out.  I read a few more pages of my book before the Tannoy clicks on to tell me to go to examination room 2.  The memory of the DRE had faded over the intervening months but resurfaced when told to drop my trousers and get up onto the examination couch!  The snap of the gloves, the gel, relax!  The post examination chat was far more relaxed than I had been while expecting 'the finger'.  However, I'm told that my PSA result was slightly higher and my prostate slightly larger but still felt OK and I should come back in six months.

November and I'm back to see my GP again.  I know the drill.  Trousers down, on the couch, gloves, gel, relax!  The chat this time is a little more serious.  "I can feel some hardness within the prostate I think I'll refer you to Urology at Raigmore (Highland Region's main hospital in Inverness) and we'll see what they have to say".
Concern began to set in as I trawl the internet and start to read up about prostate problems: The prostate gland (only found in men and is about the size of a walnut) sits just below the bladder and surrounds the urethra which carries urine from the bladder to the penis.  The gland is close to the wall of the rectum (back passage) and with a digital examination can be felt through the rectal wall.  The prostate produces a protein, Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) ans semen, a thick white fluid which mixes with sperm coming from the testes, the PSA turns the semen into a liquid.

Well I know where it is and I know what it does but what can go wrong with it?

If the prostate becomes enlarged it constricts the urethra and can cause difficulty or pain in passing urine, passing urine more frequently than usual (especially at night), and, though rarely, blood in the urine.  If you should notice any of these signs or symptoms consult your GP without delay.
Within a couple of weeks I had received an appointment to attend the Urology department at Raigmore.  This was the start of many visits to that establishment, initially to be 'digitally examined' by a urology registrar (with medical student in tow) and be told that I would be required to come back for a prostate biopsy to be done, and would I very much mind if the student had a search of my rear end!!  Well I guess trainee doctors have to learn their trade somewhere, so let it not be said that I stood in the way of education!
Back home and more internet searching to flesh out the bones of what the registrar had already told me.  A biopsy requires a small piece of tissue to be taken from the organ in question and sent to a laboratory to be tested; a prostate biopsy is done, as with a DRE, from within the confines of the 'back passage', a 'gun' is used to fire a hollow needle through the wall of the rectum and into the prostate; the needle withdraws removing a core of tissue which is sent for testing.
It seems a fairly simple procedure, not exactly comfortable but if it's necessary to have it done so be it.  A few more days and I'm back in Urology where a charming young lady doctor explained what was going to be done to me, and did I have any questions?  I naively said in jest "You won't miss will you".  "Oh no" she said "I'll be taking eight shots".  My eyes began to water at the thought!!
Fifteen minutes later having been handed one of those classic 'rear entry' hospital gowns to put on I was called into the minor procedures room; a gaggle, or whatever the collective noun is for medical students, waited in anticipation for what was to transpire.  I was asked if I minded them being there, but by that time I was on the couch with my backside exposed and beyond worrying, the canteen staff could have come to watch for all I cared!  The lovely lady doctor said "There will be some discomfort and some loud clicks but I won't take long".  A rather high pitched "Oh good" came from the top end of the couch.  The gun looked like a stainless steel Kalashnikov and felt like a surgical version of a field howitzer as it was inserted.  Relax I thought, she said it won't take long.  The gun went in, eyes widened, fists and teeth clenched.  A loud click as the howitzer fired, body jerked in spasm, buttocks clenched threatening to devour the gun.  "I know it's sore, just relax" she said, "It'll soon be over" (I'm sure she added under her breath "And give me my gun back").  First core sample taken, only seven more to go!  This is the original 'pain in the arse'!!  By number seven I thought the 'discomfort' would have brought tears to a glass eye!  Come on, 'man up' and grit your teeth, only one more to go.  Click, and that was it, eight shots spread through the area of the prostate where the scans had shown the 'nasty bits' to be.  Half an hour and a cup of tea later I was on my way home not really any the worse for wear, the necessary bit of 'discomfort' was over and I could sit and drive without any problem.
Around two weeks after 'the gun' procedure I received another appointment to discuss the biopsy findings.  The appointment took place in my consultant's office.  "Well" he said, "I'm afraid the result of your biopsy is positive and shows three small foci of Adenocarcinoma.  Basically it means that you have a malignant prostate cancer".

Although this thought had obviously gone through my mind hearing the actual words, "You have cancer", it was a bit of a gut churning moment.  The thought immediately springing up in my head was, how long have I got, weeks, months or what?  I gave myself a quick talking to and tried to calm down.  My consultant reassured me that as the problem had been caught in its early stages and the tumours were within the prostate margin treatment should be straightforward and successful, and did I have any questions?  Questions!!  My brain was in overdrive trying to come to terms with the whole idea of what I had been told, never mind trying to formulate questions.  My consultant was sympathetic to the problem and suggested that I took some time and read the booklet he handed me, Understanding Early Localised Prostate Cancer which was produced by Macmillan Cancer Support; it listed the various treatments available and explained their pros and cons.  He went on to suggest that as my situation was not immediately time critical I should take the booklet home, read, look on line and consider which treatment I felt would be most suitable for me.     The booklet listed a number of useful organisations, www.prostateuk.org, www.prostatescot.co.uk and the like; these groups provide a support network and forum where one can ask other sufferers what type of treatment they opted for, what side effects, recovery period etc.  I did find the forums useful to help build an overall picture but one has to apply a bit of filtering to pick out key points and then cross reference them by reading and questioning the medical professionals.