I’ve always considered the members here to be “family†and so I thought I’d share a few things with you.
As some have noticed, I haven’t been real active lately on this forum in making comments or assisting with advice.
The Merediths know. ZCZ knows. That’s about it.
About mid September, I had a typical examination with a Urologist here in town. He said “Hmmm, you have a nodule with your prostate gland. We should do a biopsy on that just to be on the safe side. Don’t be too concerned at this time, though. This is not a time to worry. I’ll let you know when it’s time to worry. Your PSA numbers are well within range, so that’s good. But let’s do the biopsy and see.â€
We scheduled the biopsy (12 of them) and returned back to the Urologist following the lab work. He came into the room and said “You have cancer, and it looks pretty aggressive. We need to do something about this or it’ll kill you.†Five of the twelve biopsy removals came back malignant. For those of you familiar with the Gleason Scale, I came out a 4+4. The Urologist said that surgery was my only option and he could do it with the Robot near the end of November. That looked like a LONG time to wait for surgery.
So I’m off to Grand Rapids and meeting with another Urologist and his analysis is the same. You need surgery soon. My wife and I felt very comfortable with the setup at St. Mary’s in Grand Rapids and we get on the calendar for surgery November 12th. Watching the days click on by.
Meanwhile, my wife is getting some testing done for her as well. She began seeing a Hematologist for her tiredness and low iron. The Hematologist took her down the road with a series of tests. He kept feeling that she was losing blood somewhere internally and began with a colonoscopy. Negative. An upper GI.Negative. Iron infusion to see if that helped. Scheduled her for a CAT Scan and we were ready for the results. He came into the room and said “You need to see a Urologist ASAP. You have a very large mass with your right kidney.†Although we don’t have any pathology study, he said I’m sure it is cancerâ€
Bingo. Back to Grand Rapids to schedule appointment for her with same Urologist in Grand Rapids that I am scheduled with. His office is across the street from my hospital and following my surgery on the 12th of November, she meets with him to look at her CAT Scan images and gets scheduled for surgery December 5th. Never a dull moment around here.
I come out of surgery and learn that the Urologist was faced with more cancer than he thought he would see. However, he feels that he got it all and time will tell on that issue.
This is a time to make this point. GUYS. GET TESTED REGULARLY. MAN UP! Tell the doc to put the gloves on and check close. My case was very silent and the results and the progression of the cancer was surprising. Testing is one of the most important things that you can have done!!
Nothing beats early diagnosis!
So I’m healing away. And getting ready to switch roles in caring for the little lady who has her turn with Dr. Paul very soon now.
Thanks for listening.
We are in is His hands and our faith is strong.
Shalom
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Topic: I've been a little quiet lately.... (Read 1581 times)