Posted 11/13/2010 2:49 PM (GMT 0)
Hi folks, first of all, I would like to say God bless all of you, I found this forum this past Wednesday and have been reading it constantly; I have found myself tearing up and even laughing with some of your sense of humor. I find myself drawn to write this but keep asking myself why I am writing on this forum. I am 54 years old, generally healthy and no cancer history in my family. Last July, I had my annual physical. The doctor told me that my PSA was up to 4.1 which was a jump from 1 something. The DRE seemed normal. He wanted me to go see a urologist and have a sonogram to make sure everything was ok. He proceeded to say how these days there are a number of procedures to help with cancer, I was very young, can lead a long life, yada yada yada. It sounded kind of serious, but did not really sink in; I had never heard of a PSA score and he really didn't bother to explain it. Nor did I ask. I had some eye surgery coming up, so I would do this after that. After all, I felt fine. Well after the eye surgery, I got really busy at work, it wasn't until October that I decided I had better schedule the appointment with the urologist. I had my first visit with him week before last....did a urine test and he asked me what my problem was.....I told him about the exam and PSA (I still didn't really know what a PSA was); he didn't have the report, so had to get it sent over. In the meantime, he did a DRE on me and said my prostate was enlarged. I told him I did have problems urinating at times, but really didn't think twice about it....these things happen so slowly, you don't realize it. He got the report and said that was too high for someone my age and wanted to do a biopsy. We scheduled it for this past Tuesday.....btw, he said it was about as uncomfortable as the DRE and he would numb the area up with a shot before the biopsy. Well, I thought I had better start reading up on this before the biopsy, I quickly started getting the biopsy anxiety I have read about. This sounded serious. I drove myself in for the appointment. The procedure was about a 7 on a scale of 10; the sonogram was not that bad other than having a nice looking nurse crawl up my butt, but I could get over that. Once the doctor gave me the shot, I told him it didn't really hurt much, but he didn't seem to wait until the snapping sounds started; the first few, we not too bad, but then it got worst; I told him it was hurting, but he said it would be over soon. I just tried to find that happy place in my mind......kind of hard to do with a hose up your butt and needles sticking you in places you didn't know you had. But, it was over within 10 minutes. I survived it, hope I don't do that again though. He said he would call me in a week with the results. That left me kind of empty, I mean, this could take my life couldn't it?? I got home and as the numbness was apparently wearing off, I starting feeling not so good. I just laid down the rest of the day, and it did get better, but I wound up working home the rest of the week, still not feeling back to my normal self; I am having more trouble pee'ing at times, or at least I am now noticing it more; last night I had to get up 5 times and it is hard to get out and sometimes hurts.......this may be because my prostate is swollen from the needles???? Driving myself crazy until I hear from the doctor, trying not to think about it. But I have been reading this forum and trying to educate myself. I apologize for being so wordy, but wanted to share this and get your opinions. First of all, I don't understand why the Udoc did not do another PSA since it had been 3 months. Now, if he calls me on Tuesday, which will be a week, and says the tests are negative, well, why was my PSA high, and did he just not capture the right cells? I just have to wait another 6 months to find out it the PSA has gone down, and if it has, does that mean I am ok? If it is positive, well, I will at least try to be educated on my decisions going forward; and it is nice to know there is a group to lean on! Either way, seems I have now entered a place where there is no return. Thanks for listening / reading, and I do appreciate any thoughts or opinions on my story. Take care! Chris