Posted 3/13/2016 5:45 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Guys -- thanks for the great feedback on what is the significance of going from a PSA of <0.01 to <0.02 in a year. Tall Allen pointed out that a different PSA test kit could account for the different scores. No bad significance, it turns out. Glad to hear <0.02 is a great score. I was preparing to start worrying and you took the rug out from under me! I've changed gears and am out shopping for a bottle of champagne.
The 15 months it's been since my prostate came out, while I've had the best intentions of eating perfect, exercising, yoga, meditation, acupuncture, tai chi ... all the New Agey stuff I've done on and off my whole life ... I think I was so thrilled my prostectomy was such a success that I returned to all my old habits/addictions ... bacon cheese fries, a lot of dairy, etc. The road to hell is paved with good intentions? Eh? Actions are what counts. But maybe not all the time.
Patrick Walsh or somebody else in his exhaustive book, "Surviving Prostate Cancer," memorably wrote that someone who has smoked for 40 years or who is partial to bacon cheeseburgers (I don't smoke and rarely eat red meat) can not be undone by going on a wheat grass juice "fast" over a couple of months or even a couple of years. Mr. Walsh's catchy phrase was, as I recall it, "You cannot un-ring the bell." That got my undivided attention when I read it. But is it true or not?
It's just a hunch of mine that if a big survey was run, say, 100,000 men changed their diet dramatically on getting a prostate cancer diagnosis. These other 100,000 men didn't change their diet one iota. And these other 100,000 men fell somewhere in between. I'm guessing the major conclusion is diet doesn't seem to matter (unless for some folks it does). I'm attempting to playfully challenge the truth of Dr. Walsh's dictum, "You cannot un-ring the bell." Well, maybe some men can do exactly that.
I think I'm a wee bit embarrassed that I've ignored practically all the good advice I've gotten, and my own life experience, re a good diet is good, exercise is good, etc. So far I've not paid a penalty for ignoring doing the right stuff, heathwise. Now that I've proved to myself that yes it is perhaps possible to "un-ring the bell" while making bad dietary choices and being the rebellious fellow I've always been, now I'd like to try the opposite experiment for the next 12-15 months, of eating perfect, regular good exercise, think positive, etc. Probably won't demonstrably worsen or improve my health, but who knows? No good deed (or good diet?) goes unpunished?
I'm pretty sure there are scientific articles that say depression, anxiety, fear, anger, worry ... all those negative emotions contribute to increased odds of physical illness consequences. Humor, that's the good stuff.
Almost forgot. Fifteen months out from my prostectomy and I've still got incontinence, still running to bathrooms, or if none are handy, finding two SUVs parked next to each other, out of doors. I keep a glass empty juice bottle in my car, just in case. Rarely, maybe 2-3 times, I've relieved myself in my car, alone, going 60 mph, into an empty juice bottle, which driving! If my car is parked, I scoot into the back seat. Yup, dark tinted windows everywhere but my front windshield. Sounds like a bit for stand up. My prostate surgeon wants to do a camera up my urethra to my bladder to see if there are any obstructions. Probably should agree to that investigative procedure. He and I were discussing it 6 months ago and I said let me see if dietary changes make a difference. I keep procrastinating on making the dietary changes, so the tube up the ____ exam is in limbo. There's definitely enough material for some stand up, I reckon.
Happy Sunday,
Bill Positive