I have had excellent health and had not gone to a Doctor in over 7 years, when I decided, in Feb. 2010, I should get Tetanus and Flu shots. A great Doctor, in Quartzsite, gave me a Physical, and a standard variety of shots for such things as Pneumonia, Tetanus and sent in blood for several tests. He also did "the finger test" of my prostate. It was enlarged with a lump on the left side.
Within about a week, we found out my PSA was 40.6 and he told me I should see a Urologist. He also looked at something else and told me from the blood test it didn't look like there was bone cancer.
I went to Banner in Phoenix, about 135 miles from Quartzsite. The Urologist felt the same thing and told me a biopsy would be required to know what should be done next. I got an appointment, a prescription for anti-biotic, and went to a bookstore and bought "Guide To Surviving Prostate Cancer" by Dr. Patrick Walsh--Second Edition. A great acquaintance here in Quartzsite suggested that book. I believe it is one of the best reference for anyone facing Prostate Cancer.
After some thought I decided I didn't want to start a summer of treatment in Phoenix, and stay in Quartzsite where the temperatures get over 100 every afternoon. I canceled the appointment and went back to San Jose, California earlier than I would have otherwise.
I came to San Jose in mid April (about a month earlier than I normally do). The DR I had gone to in 2003 recommended 3 Urologist that have their clinic very close to Good Sam hospital complex. About a 13 mile drive for me.
The Urologist took a 12 sample biopsy, and the pathologist said half of the samples had cancer. Now the question is: Has it spread to the lymph or bones? (That is where prostate cancer usually goes.) This means two more tests: A CAT scan to check the soft tissue, which is simple X-ray with the barium drink. And a bone scan to look for cancer in the bones. I took both tests on 2010 May 28th.
The bone scan is the most interesting. They give a shot of a radio active protein with a half life of 6 hours. Growing bone and bone cancer picks this up faster. About 2 hours after the shot, an elaborate "camera" picks up the radiation coming from your body. The camera's are two plates maybe 4 inches thick about 24 inches square, you are laying flat on your back; one is over you as close as possible and the other is under they table you are laying on. It takes 6 minutes for the detectors to pick up enough radiation. Ideally, you lay perfectly still, any motion blurs the image. This is started from over you head and successive scans are made down to your toes, it was about 5 or 6 of these 6 minute scans; they they repeat the process with the sensors at the sides to get a horizontal views. After this they did a moving scan that took 20 minutes to slowly move from head to toes.
The technician stays about 12 feet away and leaves the room during the scans to avoid the radiation. I was warned not to get close to anyone pregnant or hold kids on my lap for a few days. According to Wikipedia the radiation the patient receives is equivalent to about 500 full body X-rays.
After the scans were over, and I was getting my clothes back on, I remarked to the technician I was surprised I could hold still as well as I did. He commented that the images were very good. He watched them on a monitor.
After about a week I got the results of both tests; there was no detectably cancer outside the prostate. This is about as good of news as one could hope for. I have seen the bone scan photos, and indeed mine are sharper than the samples on Wikipedia.
Now what does one do to prevent the spread of the cancer? Fortunately it usually spreads very slow, but sometimes it is fast; and no one can tell the fast from the slow. Prostate removal is out of the question for anyone over 70. (I turned 76 in July.) Prostate cancer stops growing and even shrinks if they stop the production of testosterone. But after about 3 years it gets more aggressive and harder to stop. Late in June I started "hormone therapy" which is chemical castration, and after about a month of that they start radiation treatments. The treatments are 5 days a week for 8 to ten weeks.
So far I haven't noticed many side effects of the hormone therapy, but am told to expect a loss of energy, strength, libido, and possibly "hot flashes". I expect to start the radiation sometime this coming week.
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