Prostate Cancer Report

I had blogged recently on the fact that my brother-in-law had found he had Prostate Cancer. His PSA reading were not as high as mine and his Gleason score was low. His Cancer was not as aggressive as mine was. He had Radioactive Seeds implanted in the Prostate. He is doing well at this point and does not have the road to recovery that I had.

This treatment was much less invasive then the Radical Prostatectomy that I had. Dr. Zippe said that he would have done the same procedure as he had done on me if he was to do it today. The way Prostate Cancer is controlled is based on your condition.

Prostate Cancer is very dangerous to men so a PSA test is an easy way to insure your health. If you are over 40 talk to your doctor.

Prostate Cancer II

I received some bad news from my sister from PA the other day. Her husband has found he has Prostate Cancer. This really hits close to home for me. I had Prostate Cancer and my father died from it. There had been Prostate Cancer in my brother-in-law's family which had caused early deaths. If you have your PSA checked this Cancer can be controlled.

I wrote a post in November about Prostate Cancer and having your PSA tested. It's a good thing my brother-in-law has had regular tests and found his PSA had gone from 2.3 to 4.5 to 6.5 fairly quickly. It is scary when you see the PSA rising like that. He then went to the next step which is the biopsy of the Prostate. This test showed that he did have Prostate Cancer. The biopsy results are a little harder to explain but your doctor can help you if you need to have that explained. Make sure you have a Doctor who can make you understand what is going on with this reading.

He is now trying to decide how to attack the Cancer. There are several options in the way you fight the Cancer. Methods depend on your age, health conditions and how aggressive you want to be. this is something that Doctors, Nurses and people that have experiences in the Prostate Cancer can help you through. There are web sights that can be searched to direct your thoughts during this time. I will try to let you know which decision in the way that my brother-in-law decides to fight the Cancer.

All of you that are getting close to 40 talk to your doctors about having your PSA checked.

Prostate Cancer

Here is a warning for all the Guys out there. Have your PSA (Prostate Specific Antigens) checked by a doctor after you reach the age of 40. It is a simple blood test and can be done along with your yearly physical. It gives you a warning as to whether or not you have Prostate Cancer. My dad's brother (Uncle Sam) died in his fifties from Prostate Cancer. It was a time when the medical community wasn't quite as savvy as they are today on Prostate Cancer. My father found he had Prostate Cancer in his early seventies and had radiation therapy to stop the spread of the Cancer. He lived over the ten years they had told him he would live.

Eight years ago I had a test for my PSA number during a yearly physical. A reading of less then four on the PSA scale is considered good depending on your age. I had a reading of 12. This did not mean that I had Prostate Cancer but it did mean that further testing would be required. The first thing I did was call my sister, who is a nurse and My Angel to me on medical issues, to talk out all the options. I then used the Internet (Web MD) to get further information. My wife has been a rock through this whole procedure.

I have a self directed medical health insurance so I ended up going to the Cleveland Clinic to do further testing. Through other patient recommendations, I found one of the top Urologist in the country at the clinic, Dr. Craig Zippe. The next thing you have to do is to get a biopsy of the Prostate. I'll be honest with you this is a painful procedure that is done while you are awake. You definitely know each time a sample is taken of the Prostate. That test turned out positive and meant I needed a procedure to eliminate the Cancer. I chose a Radical Prostatectomy which means the Prostate is removed and and the Cancer goes with the Prostate. Dr. Zippe told me he took an extra 2 mm around the Prostate and testing showed there was no cancer outside the Prostate. The Cancer had gone into the 2mm section around the cancer. I'm thankful Dr. Zippe took the extra cut. This was good news and meant that there would be no radiation therapy required to complete the job. If the cancer had gone out of the Prostate it could cause bone cancer. I had a close call during the operation and Dr. Zippe told me I had veins where there shouldn't have been veins. I lost a lot of blood and coming out of the operation was tough and I was definitely in the danger zone. I did make it and other then problems that come from the operation I am fairly healthy.

It has been 7 years since the operation and the further PSA testing has shown that there is no longer any Cancer in my system. Dr. Zippe said he had added on ten years to my normal life span with the operation. He was saying I would live an extra ten years past what I could have with the Cancer because I had the operation.

All of you that are getting close to 40 talk to your doctors about having your PSA checked.