Do you have this advert in the US?
- Thread starter rob aylestone
- Start date
grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
I don't take too much notice of the PSA on its own. When I was first tested back in 2017, after an anal fiddle, the Doc said he thought I was OK. After then having the PSA, they said they thought I was OK. After then having the MRI, they said they thought I looked OK. The same day, I had the biopsy {19 anal injections, that was a nightmmare} and it was the biopsy that showed I had prostate cancer.
But for me, it was a blessing in disguise. It taught me right from the kick-off to not go with any one particular result, but to take them all together and weigh up on that basis. And that's what I've been doing since.
The PSA can be altered by all kinds of things. For example, cycling. A few years back, the consultant was really worried by my PSA increase until I told him that I'd cycled every day but one during the July-September 2019 period. He was way more relieved than I was. I had my latest PSA blood test last week. I ride every day and my prostate is larger than the average bear
so that influences the results. They are useful indicators but not definitive alarm bells ~ unless they triple from the previous one !The day the Doc told me I had PC, that's what the consultant said. In fact, I have a friend whose Dad died at the age of 102 and he'd been diagnosed with PC at the age of eighty-something. But that's not what killed him.
I was given the choice of invasive surgery, radiotherapy or what they call active surveillance. I went with the latter because of the risks and side effects of the other two. Mine was caught at the start so the chances during being monitored were good. 7 years in, I've rarely thought about it.
What was interesting about this is that it is an enlarged prostate that the King has, not even prostate cancer.
In the last 2 years, I've definitely noticed a change in my weeing regularity. Until 2020, I could go the whole day without a wee quite easily. Or I could hold the feeling for a few hours and not "break the banks", so to speak. Strangely, even now I can go through most of the school day without a wee. But then, on other occasions, I am in and out of the loo like I'm the cleaner ! If I have a litre drink at say, 10.30pm, between then and 9.30am, I might go to the loo 6 or 7 times. I've noticed that if I lay down and sleep, when I get up, it can take several minutes and maybe two or three visits before I can even half-empty my bladder. Other times, I can barely hold it and I'm racing to that loo in Bolt-busting time. And I never know which it's going to be. I tend to sleep semi-upright now, to give myself a chance of a downhill flow. But it's so comfortable in my usual position that I inevitably slink back there and the cycle begins.....
So I have the dual problem of either not being able to get it out or not being able to hold it in. And it's horrible when I can't hold it in, but it won't come out ! In true grim fashion however, it did inspire a song, called "Dribs and Drabs", which is couched in the mode of court evidence {no doubt inspired by my then-upcoming jury service}:
The evidence of the case
It came in dribs and drabs
From a trickle, to a waterfall, to a flood
And once the gates were breached
Pressure gave way to relief
And the lightness of being felt good
The evidence changed everything
This is such "middle-aged and old guy" talk ! Younger guys just have no idea and I sincerely hope they never do. But one must approach these things with dignity and humour....
On my cycling journeys, I've factored in a number of bushes, trees, alleys {I try to avoid those ones, but....} and dark spots that I can stop for a waz if the call of nature is just too loud. Similarly, on my walk home from work, there are a few places that I can mulch into to water the plants if I've forgotten to go just before I leave or didn't feel like going. It's weird how the whole scenario can change in 5 minutes.
It's one of those head-scratchers. Lots of people come through it....but loads of people die from it. I first became aware of it in the early 90s when it seemed like every death of one of my uncles or one of my Dad's friends was down to PC. And fast-forwarding to 2017, it seemed like so many deaths I was reading about were from PC. Or maybe I was now just noticing them and they'd always been there.
I'm glad mine wasn't the rigid probe !If I did say that to the Doc, it must've been due to having his sharp nails up my Bromley-by-Bow !
rob aylestone
Moderator
I'm trying not to moan about the probing, because wife has zero sympathy - try being a woman and being regularly squashed in the chest with one kind of test and then she said the most stupidly named test ever has to be the smear test - a spike test, a scrape test, a sand paper test? Anything more accurate than smear! I suppose she has a point!
Mick Doobie
Resist We Much
I don't take too much notice of the PSA on its own. When I was first tested back in 2017, after an anal fiddle, the Doc said he thought I was OK. After then having the PSA, they said they thought I was OK. After then having the MRI, they said they thought I looked OK. The same day, I had the biopsy {19 anal injections, that was a nightmmare} and it was the biopsy that showed I had prostate cancer.
But for me, it was a blessing in disguise. It taught me right from the kick-off to not go with any one particular result, but to take them all together and weigh up on that basis. And that's what I've been doing since.
The PSA can be altered by all kinds of things. For example, cycling. A few years back, the consultant was really worried by my PSA increase until I told him that I'd cycled every day but one during the July-September 2019 period. He was way more relieved than I was. I had my latest PSA blood test last week. I ride every day and my prostate is larger than the average bear View attachment 136262so that influences the results. They are useful indicators but not definitive alarm bells ~ unless they triple from the previous one !
The day the Doc told me I had PC, that's what the consultant said. In fact, I have a friend whose Dad died at the age of 102 and he'd been diagnosed with PC at the age of eighty-something. But that's not what killed him.
I was given the choice of invasive surgery, radiotherapy or what they call active surveillance. I went with the latter because of the risks and side effects of the other two. Mine was caught at the start so the chances during being monitored were good. 7 years in, I've rarely thought about it.
What was interesting about this is that it is an enlarged prostate that the King has, not even prostate cancer.
In the last 2 years, I've definitely noticed a change in my weeing regularity. Until 2020, I could go the whole day without a wee quite easily. Or I could hold the feeling for a few hours and not "break the banks", so to speak. Strangely, even now I can go through most of the school day without a wee. But then, on other occasions, I am in and out of the loo like I'm the cleaner ! If I have a litre drink at say, 10.30pm, between then and 9.30am, I might go to the loo 6 or 7 times. I've noticed that if I lay down and sleep, when I get up, it can take several minutes and maybe two or three visits before I can even half-empty my bladder. Other times, I can barely hold it and I'm racing to that loo in Bolt-busting time. And I never know which it's going to be. I tend to sleep semi-upright now, to give myself a chance of a downhill flow. But it's so comfortable in my usual position that I inevitably slink back there and the cycle begins.....
So I have the dual problem of either not being able to get it out or not being able to hold it in. And it's horrible when I can't hold it in, but it won't come out ! In true grim fashion however, it did inspire a song, called "Dribs and Drabs", which is couched in the mode of court evidence {no doubt inspired by my then-upcoming jury service}:
The evidence of the case
It came in dribs and drabs
From a trickle, to a waterfall, to a flood
And once the gates were breached
Pressure gave way to relief
And the lightness of being felt good
The evidence changed everything
This is such "middle-aged and old guy" talk ! Younger guys just have no idea and I sincerely hope they never do. But one must approach these things with dignity and humour....
On my cycling journeys, I've factored in a number of bushes, trees, alleys {I try to avoid those ones, but....} and dark spots that I can stop for a waz if the call of nature is just too loud. Similarly, on my walk home from work, there are a few places that I can mulch into to water the plants if I've forgotten to go just before I leave or didn't feel like going. It's weird how the whole scenario can change in 5 minutes.
It's one of those head-scratchers. Lots of people come through it....but loads of people die from it. I first became aware of it in the early 90s when it seemed like every death of one of my uncles or one of my Dad's friends was down to PC. And fast-forwarding to 2017, it seemed like so many deaths I was reading about were from PC. Or maybe I was now just noticing them and they'd always been there.
If I did say that to the Doc, it must've been due to having his sharp nails up my Bromley-by-Bow !
I know you're not fishing for it, and is only words that really don't do anything, but..sorry you have had to go through all that. Sure there are worse things and we should be mindful of our blessings, none the less doesn't sound like much fun. You're a good guy, Grim. Stay well and stick around, you're the only guy around here more long winded tl;dr than I.
