Don't ignore your health

The surgery I’ve mentioned in the columns over the past month or so, and which I needed, has finally happened. I might not have mentioned what the surgery was for, so we’ll go into some history and details here.

Over the past eight to ten years, my doctor has ordered a full blood panel as part of my annual physicals to monitor how my health was doing. The most “urgent” concern over that time was my developing diabetes and how well I was responding to different treatment options. Secondarily, monitoring my PSA numbers, which reflect the health of my prostate were noted.

We got all the “bumps” worked out of my diabetes treatment and things are doing fine on that note if I follow a reasonable diet, have some physical activity, and take my medications. The PSA numbers for my prostate, however, kept trending up every year and the long-term trend indicated that more attention was needed on that front.

This last year’s blood panel, taken in May, showed a PSA reading over twelve. A “normal” reading runs between three and four. On my doctor’s recommendation, I made an appointment with a urologist, who, after the initial consultation, sent me into Anchorage for an MRI scan on a machine with software designed specifically to look at urological “stuff.”

The scan showed a “mass” in the prostate gland. That raised the red flags and things kicked into high gear. The urologist sent me back into Anchorage to get a biopsy done. Those results confirmed the worst – I had cancer in my prostate gland. The phone call from my doctor confirming my prostate cancer was not unexpected, but still had a chilling effect. To check for the possibility of the cancer having spread out of the prostate and into my body, the urologist ordered both a bone scan and a CT scan.

According to the doctor, if prostate cancer does start spreading, it usually will go into the bones or the lymph nodes. The bone scan, obviously, checks on the bones and the CT scan addressed the soft tissue situation. Both scans came back showing no spread of cancer out of the prostate. So far, so good!

I got more blood work done along with an EKG to determine my heart situation, in preparation for the surgery scheduled using the robotics equipment available at Mat-Su Regional. The surgery occurred on January 5 and went very well. After an overnight for observation, I was sent home and told to take it easy. The post operative appointment happened on January 14 and the surgeon told me everything went fantastic with the surgery. He said he saw no indication of cancer spreading from the prostate, and to go home and recover.

Overall, I’m doing well. I must redevelop the muscles which control urine flow, and the doctor said no lifting stuck snowmachines for a while (HAHA). I don’t know how soon I’ll be able to go icefishing since manhandling my snowmachine seems to be a usual occurrence when out on the frozen lakes!

Once everything is healed and things are working “normally,” I need to get my ankle issue addressed. Depending on when all that can be arranged, I’ll probably lose my open water fishing and even some of the hunting season also. The upside is that I can then be more active outside and be pain free.

Based on my personal experiences, here are some words to the wise. If you’re a guy over the age of fifty, have your doctor monitor your PSA readings annually. If the trend is an increasing number over time, get things checked. More than fifty percent of all guys older than the age of fifty will develop prostate cancer or related issues with the prostate, so pay attention. I didn’t ignore my prostate situation, but I didn’t pay a lot of attention either. I almost waited too long.

Prostate cancer is not good, but other cancers are far worse. Caught early, prostate cancer is easily curable and doesn’t predispose you to other cancers. However, if you don’t learn about your prostate cancer early enough and the cancer cells spread out in your body, things can become very bad very quickly.

The downside to my diagnosis is that I will need to be monitored for the rest of my life, just to be sure nothing redevelops. I’m sure glad my urologist likes fishing: he’s an avid fly fisher. It gives us something else to talk about besides medical stuff.