Explanation Regarding My Health...

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Otto

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Location
Forney, TX
I want to thank everyone for their words of encouragement regarding my prostate cancer. I didn't feel that I should respond in the Single in January How's It Going thread. No need to clutter that with my personal situation.

This has been a long time in discovery. Fourteen years, in fact. It started in 1997 with a routine annual physical I get each year, and a high PSA test result. I went to see a Urologist and the recommendation at that time was to get a prostate biopsy. The result was negative, but my PSA levels continued to climb into high territory over the following 14 years. Over that time I had an additional five biopsies with no cancer. There were some suspicious abnormal cells, but still no cancer. Last March my PSA was at 30.7 and my urologist suggested yet another biopsy. For anyone that has been through that procedure, you can understand my not wanting another. I decided to wait a bit longer as we were planning our annual Memorial Day trip to Dallas to visit with our 2 year old twin grand kids, and our Son and his wife. Then in October I had another appointment to get this done, but it was time for our annual October trip to Dallas for the twins third birthday, and I didn't want to be dealing with it at that time. Besides, after having six negative biopsies, I just couldn't get too excited about a seventh.

My wife is finally going to retire this coming June, and we are planning a move to the Dallas area to be closer to the kids. I finally decided to go ahead on December 16th to get this out of the way, and to help clear our minds so we could make our future plans without this monkey on my back. I thought they might finally find the cancer as we knew it was coming, just hard to identify. I got the results back on December 23rd before the long Christmas weekend.

Of the twelve cores taken this round, one was positive with a Gleason 6 number indicating a moderate cancer, but very treatable. One of the cores was also abnormal, but not cancerous while the rest were benign. After meeting with my urologist again on December 29th, I went in to the hospital the next day for a complete bone scan, and CT scan to check on any movement of the cancer from the prostate to either my lymph nodes, or bones. The results came back negative for both on January 3rd. Major relief.

The next step is to meet with an Oncologist this coming Thursday to discuss the various treatment options open to me. Right now I'm leaning toward the Brachytherapy radiation "Seed" implants, but will know more after my next meeting. There are several other alternative treatment plans available as well.

I'm very confident that we will either cure, or control, the cancer, and don't feel this is life threatening. Luckily, Prostate Cancer is one of the most curable/treatable cancers when caught early. I'm glad I waited until December to have the biopsy that found it, as it may not have shown up last March, and I may have chosen to not do anything else regarding my high PSA levels. As it was, I came very close to not getting another biopsy, as they hadn't been able to find it during these fourteen years, and I was not happy about going through that process again.

Again, I do want to thank all of you for your concerns, and wishes for a good outcome. I'm confident that the prognosis will be good. I plan on sticking around for awhile longer. I have too many things to do and see before I go.

Thanks, and good shooting,
 
Good luck - you sound as if you are on top of it

similar problems seem to abound in men over 60 years old these days with few unaffected - I keep "taking the pills" but I have a few friends who are going through what you have experienced - as you indicate the various "tests" can be unpleasant.

I think you guys in the US are far more aware of the situation than those in the UK with France falling between the two.
 
Wishing you the best Otto. I have a friend going through the same thing and, while his prognosis is also very good, I know the treatment can be a tough process. So hang in there and best of luck...

-Ray
 
Otto, wishing you well, and wanting to thank you for talking about this. Men are notoriously bad for ignoring their health, especially when it gets down to their personal bits and embarrassing and uncomfortable tests. Hopefully others will follow your lead and keep up with their own checks.
 
Otto, thank you for being so candid with what's going on, as well as the story lead up. I'm glad you're here with us and know that we're with you in the ways we can be. Thank goodness you've followed through and that your prognosis is so good. I admire you for keeping your Single In January going - as well as that car restoration and everything else!
 
Blessings and prayers for you Otto. Thank you for sharing, too, as I am not regular enough in my checkups, which my wife was cricisizing me for just the other day. Thank you for the reminder on how important these checkups are.
 
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