A PSA about your PSA
Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 8:55 pmLet me preface this post by saying that this is not about sympathy - it is about awareness.
Many of you know that I lost my dad in December of last year to lung cancer. During the time this was all going on, I had my physical in October with a brand new doctor. As my father had had prostate cancer almost 10 years before that, I had been getting my PSA checked as well as having a physical annually. Well, my doctor found an irregularity with mine. To add to the fact that my sister and I have always known one of us would win the genetic cancer lotto with our family, my biopsy was scheduled for December 29th - the fetching Mrs. Reinecke's and I's anniversary. It was quite the hot date, let me tell you.
A few weeks later, the results were in: I have prostate cancer at 49 years old. Now, it is not uncommon for men my age to get it and as about 50 percent of all men have prostate issues, no real surprise. Luckily, mine was caught early and was found to be a fairly slow mover. It had not spread outside of the prostate itself, which was great news. Due to all of this information, I was able to put off treatment until this week.
Because of my young age, there was really only one option for me; removal. Radiation and other therapies do and can work, but in my case if they didn't I could die of this by my mid-50's. That was not a chance I was willing to take. My father had a very good friend die at 61 as the radiation seeding did not work on him.
After much prayer, discussion, and consultation, we made the decision to remove it and as of yesterday morning, it is history.
Now the recovery isn't fun, I can already tell that as I spend my second and hopefully last insight here in the hospital. There are side effects for men that are nothing more than serious joke fodder, and I am laid up for a little while.
So, since we are one happy family here I thought I'd share this and HIGHLY encourage everyone to get this checked. Nobody should ever die of this in today's age.
RMS Resins will be shut down for a few weeks while I get back on my feet, but I'll be on the forum when I can.
Many of you know that I lost my dad in December of last year to lung cancer. During the time this was all going on, I had my physical in October with a brand new doctor. As my father had had prostate cancer almost 10 years before that, I had been getting my PSA checked as well as having a physical annually. Well, my doctor found an irregularity with mine. To add to the fact that my sister and I have always known one of us would win the genetic cancer lotto with our family, my biopsy was scheduled for December 29th - the fetching Mrs. Reinecke's and I's anniversary. It was quite the hot date, let me tell you.
A few weeks later, the results were in: I have prostate cancer at 49 years old. Now, it is not uncommon for men my age to get it and as about 50 percent of all men have prostate issues, no real surprise. Luckily, mine was caught early and was found to be a fairly slow mover. It had not spread outside of the prostate itself, which was great news. Due to all of this information, I was able to put off treatment until this week.
Because of my young age, there was really only one option for me; removal. Radiation and other therapies do and can work, but in my case if they didn't I could die of this by my mid-50's. That was not a chance I was willing to take. My father had a very good friend die at 61 as the radiation seeding did not work on him.
After much prayer, discussion, and consultation, we made the decision to remove it and as of yesterday morning, it is history.
Now the recovery isn't fun, I can already tell that as I spend my second and hopefully last insight here in the hospital. There are side effects for men that are nothing more than serious joke fodder, and I am laid up for a little while.
So, since we are one happy family here I thought I'd share this and HIGHLY encourage everyone to get this checked. Nobody should ever die of this in today's age.
RMS Resins will be shut down for a few weeks while I get back on my feet, but I'll be on the forum when I can.