Bob_P
Well-known member
It looks like The Growler is going to get off to a flying start this coming weekend, and I'm very pleased that some funding will be going to the Prostate Cancer Charity. Very well done guys, for all the support and especially to Graham for taking on the organisation, wish I could be there.
I've dithered around for a few weeks wondering if I wanted to "come out" on a public forum, but as we have some good publicity at the moment, thought I would tell my story. After reading it, I hope that one or two of you might decide to have a very simple blood test, that could save your life!
So here goes:
I'm 57 years old, and like many men of my age I can no longer compete in the "how far can I pee up the walls" competitions we used to have at school. I guess progressively over the last decade or so the power has reduced, and I also have to go a bit more often. This is quite normal at my age, and is just a sign that the prostate is a bit bigger than it used to be, and is restricting the flow. A few years ago, I mentioned this to my GP, and he suggested we do a PSA test alongside my annual cholesterol blood test. The PSA test is an indicator for an enlarged prostate, and whilst not a particularly good indicator for cancer, if it changes dramatically over time, it can mean that something sinister is going on. Mine was a bit high, but not dramatically, so we agreed to have the test every six months and see if it changed very much. Mine stayed pretty much static for a couple of years, then last December it doubled from around 3.5 to 7.6. This wasn't good news, so I was referred to a consultant Urologist in January.
I shall cut a long story short here, had a very special MRI scan that identified some suspicious areas, then followed up with a "saturation biopsy" Had the biopsy in February, this involved my "fun loving walnut" having 48 tissue samples taken from it (under general anaesthetic). The results show that I have relatively low grade prostate cancer in three tumours in the prostate gland. All of the cancer is within the gland, so it has been caught really early, and I'm in no danger of it spreading in the short term. There are a bewildering array of treatment options, and my current thoughts are to wait until the end of the shooting season in autumn, and then go for an ultrasound treatment that is showing promising results.
I've been really lucky to catch the cancer at an early stage, where it is little more than an inconvenience and it can almost certainly be cured completely by an approprite treatment. About 10,000 other men in the UK aren't so lucky, and die of this horrible diease every year.
I don't know the statistics, but would guess that the clay shooting community would have a high number of men at risk when compared to the general population. So, if you are in your fifties or older, I would strongly suggest that you have a chat with your GP, and ask about having your PSA tested.
I've only scratched the surface here, the web is full of good information, one of the best being our supported charity http://prostatecanceruk.org/ who's website & cancer toolkit have been a mine of good information for me.
Happy to answer pm's if you have any questions about my experience.
Egypt on Friday - here we come
I've dithered around for a few weeks wondering if I wanted to "come out" on a public forum, but as we have some good publicity at the moment, thought I would tell my story. After reading it, I hope that one or two of you might decide to have a very simple blood test, that could save your life!
So here goes:
I'm 57 years old, and like many men of my age I can no longer compete in the "how far can I pee up the walls" competitions we used to have at school. I guess progressively over the last decade or so the power has reduced, and I also have to go a bit more often. This is quite normal at my age, and is just a sign that the prostate is a bit bigger than it used to be, and is restricting the flow. A few years ago, I mentioned this to my GP, and he suggested we do a PSA test alongside my annual cholesterol blood test. The PSA test is an indicator for an enlarged prostate, and whilst not a particularly good indicator for cancer, if it changes dramatically over time, it can mean that something sinister is going on. Mine was a bit high, but not dramatically, so we agreed to have the test every six months and see if it changed very much. Mine stayed pretty much static for a couple of years, then last December it doubled from around 3.5 to 7.6. This wasn't good news, so I was referred to a consultant Urologist in January.
I shall cut a long story short here, had a very special MRI scan that identified some suspicious areas, then followed up with a "saturation biopsy" Had the biopsy in February, this involved my "fun loving walnut" having 48 tissue samples taken from it (under general anaesthetic). The results show that I have relatively low grade prostate cancer in three tumours in the prostate gland. All of the cancer is within the gland, so it has been caught really early, and I'm in no danger of it spreading in the short term. There are a bewildering array of treatment options, and my current thoughts are to wait until the end of the shooting season in autumn, and then go for an ultrasound treatment that is showing promising results.
I've been really lucky to catch the cancer at an early stage, where it is little more than an inconvenience and it can almost certainly be cured completely by an approprite treatment. About 10,000 other men in the UK aren't so lucky, and die of this horrible diease every year.
I don't know the statistics, but would guess that the clay shooting community would have a high number of men at risk when compared to the general population. So, if you are in your fifties or older, I would strongly suggest that you have a chat with your GP, and ask about having your PSA tested.
I've only scratched the surface here, the web is full of good information, one of the best being our supported charity http://prostatecanceruk.org/ who's website & cancer toolkit have been a mine of good information for me.
Happy to answer pm's if you have any questions about my experience.
Egypt on Friday - here we come
