Mr. D-You have cancer. With those words my husband was initiated into a fraternity he never wanted to join. Approximately 3 months ago he went for his annual physical and the requisite blood work. Part of the blood work was a PSA (Prostate specific antigen). If you are not familiar with this forgive me for going into details that some may not know. The PSA is a test to see if the Prostate is giving off too much of specific antigens and in the past, anything below a “4″ on the test was considered “normal”. Little did we know that my husband’s had been climbing from a 2.7, to a 3.5 to a now 4.7. After the “call” from the physician and recommendation to see an urologist so we wouldn’t be his problem any more, we began research and found out that the American Cancer Society and M.D.Anderson both recommend now a safer 2.5 level for the PSA.The urologist recommended an immediate biopsy but we were sure that the test was wrong and had it repeated. It can back lower, but still above the accepted 4. So we scheduled my sweet heart to have an office biopsy the next week. He didn’t get the results until the following Monday evening on his way home from work. Talk about a traffic stopper! There is nothing like being told you have cancer to change your perspective on everything. That night we both stayed up crying and surfing the web to try to find everything we could about prostate cancer until we couldn’t focus anymore. There is more information and misinformation than you could possibly ever read.
We prayed and we called friends and we had friends call us. We had so much information I felt as if I was swimming in a sea of books, leaflets, pamphlets, videos and more. My world had become a world that now was full of experts everywhere I turned. The thing is they all mean well and are so supportive! My husband has joined a group of men called Us Two. It is a group of men that have been diagnosed with Prostate cancer and chosen one form of treatment or another. They are incredibly supportive!
There were 186, 320 new cases of Prostate cancer in 2008. There were 182, 460 new cases of breast cancer in 2008. Each cancer is devastating. Each deserves the best treatment possible. But it seems to me, that breast cancer receives a disparate amount of publicity, funding and for lack of a better word “Status”. Prostate cancer is not nearly as glamorous, yet 28, 660 men died from it last year. When prostate cancer escapes the prostate, it is incurable. Prostate cancer is easily cured, IF it is caught early! But that means men Must have annual physicals and PSA’s. Starting in their 40’s. Earlier in they are African American or have a family history of Prostate Cancer.
My husband is a fortunate one. Yes, he has been diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. But, he was in the military and in the habit of having a physical every year. I have talked to wives whose husbands have not had a physical in 10-15 years! Yet their husbands would be aghast if their wives did not have their annual check ups and mammograms done each year. Yes, the physical is slightly uncomfortable, as my husband called it in the military “a finger wave”. But better that, than something much worse.
Treatments for Prostate cancer include laproscopic robotic surgery for the best results for continence and nerve sparing, radiation either external beam or seed, cryosurgery, hormone therapy and much more. It depends on the stage of the cancer and the age of the patient.
We are just beginning on this journey. I am told this diagnosis affects both the husband and the wife. Of that I am convinced. I know if I could take this from him for myself I would, but I cannot. We will walk it together, but we will not walk it alone. And in a few months, we will run!!
Tags: Cancer, Health, Life, Physicals, prayer, Prostate, Urologists
