Prostate Cancer

mazdaman

mazdaman

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I thought long and hard about this post but feel I should share my story, to raise awareness of this cancer

I am sitting here after having my prostate removed on Monday due to cancer. I do not what any sympathy but would like to make male members on the forum aware of the simple check that can be done by your doctor.

A simple urine test to check your Prostate specific antigen can be carried out by your doctor.

I am a fit 51 year who walks a lot and eats a healthy diet and I have never been seriously unwell just the usual colds flu etc

I started to get out at night a bit more than usual after about 6 months of disturbed sleep I decided to visit my doctor who but me on some drugs to try control my disturbed sleep. After about a month there was no improvement so off to hospitial for a biopsy, which confirmed I had cancer of the prostate within a month they have had me in for the op which was robotic surgery called davinci surgery see link below.

So you may ask why am I posting my story basically I just want to let our male members know how easy to get checked out heres some links for
further information. I have a bag to drain fluids off which will be in for 2-3 weeks and my stomach has a 4 metal staples which will be removed in two weeks time from a pain point of view just like muscle strain. Will be looking to go for a short walk over Easter. Wont be lifting my camera bag for a while though!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7968355.stm

http://www.prostate-cancer.org.uk/index.asp

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article3728811.ece

Guys get yourself checked regular you know it makes sense!!!!

Happy Easter to everyone on Talk Photography
 
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I am a woman.
lol

Can a man just go to the docs and say they want to be tested for prostrate cancer?
 
Thanks for posting, and an interesting video. Yep just turned 50 myself and a couple of blokes I know have had it, it has gone through my mind on a few ocassions, have to visit the docs myself today anyway so might be worth having a chat. Is that really the main sympton that someone might have it? Well heres to a speedy recovery mazdaman. :thumbs:
 
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jolsterj said:
I am a woman.
lol

Can a man just go to the docs and say they want to be tested for prostrate cancer?
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Yes its a simple test the only EU country that test is France when you reach 50
 
scotslasszoe said:
Hope you feel better soon. And what a good thread to make people aware.

What age should men be checked at?
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Its a strange one as there is now defined age but apparently there is a link to familys who have male members in the family getting the cancer my brother who is two years older than me he went to the doctor and was checked he was all clear. My son who is 23 will need to start checking when he turns 30. Catch it early and it can be dealt with
 
u8myufo said:
Thanks for posting, and an interesting video. Yep just turned 50 myself and a couple of blokes I know have had it, it has gone through my mind, have to visit the docs myself today anyway so might be worth having a chat. Is that really the main symton that someone might have it? Well heres to a speedy recovery mazdaman. :thumbs:
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Check out the the the link below it gives the symptons however having said that I did not feel unwell at all which made it a bit more of a shock. I have retained a very positive approach to the fact I have had cancer. The way I look at it is I could not have prevented it so no point it getting down about I am by nature a positive person with a can do attitude to my work and home life. Get yourself checked out simple urine test

http://www.prostate-cancer.org.uk/info/info.asp
 
Wishing you a speedy recovery :)

Thank you for posting this, and making us aware of how venerable we are. The funny thing about prostate cancer is that it is 100% treatable, if caught early, but is seriously deadly if ignored a bit. Apparently, because the prostate is close to the base of the spine, it can easily spread out of control.

Kudos to you for catching it and, I hope you live long and prosper :)
 
Sorry to hear that, hope you are up and running soon.

Never been checked out myself but did do the questionnaire thing once when I had a problem and it did not indicate a probability of having prostate cancer.

There is also another test us men can carry out ourselves.......

I did have a scare about 6 months ago, I thought I had testicular cancer after discovering a growth down there, I immediately phoned the surgery and was given the first available doctor, a female doctor but I thought what the heck women have to endure being examined by male doctors at times.

I was very scared but the doctor soon put my mind at ease when she quickly diagnosed a testicular cyst which I was given the choice of having removed or just leaving it there as long as it does not cause any discomfort, I decided not to have the surgery.

And now if you don't mind, on a lighter note, I now have 3 wotsits:lol:
 
mazdaman said:
Check out the the the link below it gives the symptons however having said that I did not feel unwell at all which made it a bit more of a shock. I have retained a very positive approach to the fact I have had cancer. The way I look at it is I could not have prevented it so no point it getting down about I am by nature a positive person with a can do attitude to my work and home life. Get yourself checked out simple urine test

http://www.prostate-cancer.org.uk/info/info.asp
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Cheers Mazdaman, touch wood I aint got any of those. Dont want to get away from your OP, but as this is a health issue, it might be worth bringing to some peoples attention, how much can be diagnosed from a thorough eye test.
 
Hope your recovery goes well.

My Dad has prostrate cancer, which was diagnosed at the age of 66, 4 years ago. I recently had the blood test which thankfully which gave me the all-clear. I am 39 and was advised by my GP to have the test after my older brother has recently been diagnosed with prostrate cancer at the age of 46.

If you have any concerns go and get it checked out - a few minutes inconvenience for the potential price of your live!

Gary
 
Definitely go and get yourselves checked out. It's like a smear test for a woman: it can feel a tad undignified at the time but the discomfort only lasts for a minute or so. But it could save your life. It's nothing to be embarrassed about or ashamed of.

There are a lot of clinical trials going on at the moment looking at the various treatments for prostate cancer. Some are getting good early results, others are in early stages and it'll be a couple of years before the outcomes are known. Treatment can currently range from "wait and see" (for very slow-growing tumours) to radical surgery. It depends on its stage as well as the make-up of each individual.

Oh - and one other minor thing: it's Prostate cancer and not Prostrate cancer.
 
I hope that your recovery is swift Mazdaman and it can never be pointed out too many times how important the symptoms of prostate cancer are but just because you suddenly start getting these symptoms does not mean that you automatically have cancer, believe me I know all about PROSTATITIS and posted about it here, http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=100383&highlight=prostate

I had myself dead and buried after reading the scenarios and after it cleared up in a few weeks it was back with a vengeanceand now after another 7 months of believing that I would never get over it and 5 months of antibiotics I am finally about 98% over it.

I was unlucky and caught my prostatitis off a catheter during a nephrectomy and believe it or not Prostatitis is the most common cause of urology visits to Gps for men under 45 in the UK.

SO DONT PANIC if you suddenly start getting symtoms but as Mazdaman has pointed out get it checked..Leave it at your peril.
 
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I had a huge prostate cancer scare three years ago when I noticed blood in the toilet but being a bloke I thought Partners time and thought nothing more of it but it happened a few more times so decided to watch and see and sure enough it was me urinating blood so off to the doc I popped, After about 2 weeks of tests I was diagnosed as healthy. so what caused the bleeding I (and the doctors) were wondering....I used to fly power kites and on just one occasion the kite took me up about 10 foot but dumped me back down rather hard damaging ny adductor tendons in my groin and this was where the bleeding came from but still to this day I have rare bouts of bleeding from this injury which does still hurt when walking but seems incurable after months of cortisone and steroid treatment.
And worse was to come as in the couple of years i have had this injury whenever I visited the toilet for a pee it always felt I needed to hang on a second to get the last bit out and what came out but a large blood clot which made the doctors very nervous thinking this was something more sinister "Penis cancer" virtually untreatable without a removal which only at the time had a 0.09 chance of success but after further tests proved to be part of my healing process and my body getting rid of the waste normally.

So guys any symptoms like these do get them checked out as I did embarrasing it may be but it may save your life and thanks Mazdaman for raising this touchy subject.
 
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wishing you a speedy recovery...

scotslasszoe said:
Hope you feel better soon. And what a good thread to make people aware.

What age should men be checked at?
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difficult to be specific with age. the likelyhood increases as you get older but DO NOT think that just because you are under 45 or under 50 there is no risk. last christmas, when i was 43, i noticed that i felt like urinating more often, felt the need soon after i had been, was getting up in the night etc...
my wife finally got me to go to the doctors in february and a simple examination revealed an enlarged prostate...i had the test for prostate cancer and bladder cancer amongst other things. thankfully all came back clear though it was a worry waiting for the results!
best thing that has come from this is that i stopped smoking, as soon as i got the all-clear, and haven't missed it at all :D

point is this, if you have symptoms don't just ignore them or laugh them off as signs of old age...go to docs!
 
Thank you everyone for your kind words of support. I feel as men we tend to be stereotype macho when it comes to our health. What is interesting is that 10% of men will walk around all their lives with prostate cancer but it will not be the cause of their demise.

In terms of when to get checked my doctor explained that the % goes up as you get older, in essence when your 50 a 50 % chance of prostate cancer.

What has amazed me was that I had surgery at 2.30 Monday afternoon Tuesday evening 7.45pm I was home watching Champions League football! The robotic surgery known as Da vinci surgery is a major step forward in terms of the the many options available to men.

I now have to wait for the biopsy on the prostate which hopefully will show that the cancer has been cutout, if the the surgery failed to cut out the cancer I will use the back up plan of radiotherapy for 6-8 weeks to zap the rest. Bear in mind there are numerous options in terms of treatment available to men so each patient will be treated according to the level of cancer that the individual has. I have today got up had a shower and walked over to the doctors to drop off a letter that says something of how quickly the robotic surgery has helped me to recover. I know that it will several weeks before I get my full strength back and can lug my camera bag tripod etc out and about.

Irrespective of the outcome of the biopsy I feel really optimistic about the future. If by posting my story I have in some small way raised the awareness of getting checked by your GP then it has been worth it.


When you think that prostate cancer kills up to 2000 men a year and this can and should be prevented by screening when you get to 50 it does make you think. Thank you to the posts that have been added detailing not just cancer scares but also other aliments that some of you have suffered from its important that we as men do not bury our heads over this life threating disease.
 
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mazdaman said:
If by posting my story I have in some small way raised the awareness of getting checked by your GP then it has been worth it.
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Well consider your post worth it then:), i've been thinking about going for a while as i'm up in the night where I never used to be but just put it down getting older.

Reading about your cancer convinced me to go and get the test, I read it at 4pm yesterday was in the doctors at 4.40pm.

"Is it an emergency" of course it's an emergency, i'm a man, i've had the symptoms for 12 months :D

Not the most dignified 5 minutes of my life but not that uncomfortable and it turns out I do have an enlarged prostate so next week is pee in a pot and jab in the arm time.

once again, thanks for this, there's a possibility you may have saved my life :thumbs:
 
wack61 said:
Well consider your post worth it then:), i've been thinking about going for a while as i'm up in the night where I never used to be but just put it down getting older.

Reading about your cancer convinced me to go and get the test, I read it at 4pm yesterday was in the doctors at 4.40pm.

"Is it an emergency" of course it's an emergency, i'm a man, i've had the symptoms for 12 months :D

Not the most dignified 5 minutes of my life but not that uncomfortable and it turns out I do have an enlarged prostate so next week is pee in a pot and jab in the arm time.

once again, thanks for this, there's a possibility you may have saved my life :thumbs:
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Good morning Wack well done that man for being pro active and doing the right thing. Now even though you have an enlarged prostate you have knowledge which in turn will give you power to research and understand your condition and to make the right choices in terms of your treatment. My getting out overnight went on for at least 3-4 years and as I have said before I ingnored it until I changed jobs and felt that I had to tackle the problem. Good luck for next week and keep everyone informed how you get on
 
thanks for the good luck, i've never been a worrier about my health but as you get older you start to think about it more
 
Well finally had my staples removed from 5 incisions made during surgery on Monday of this week. Even better was on Weds this week I had the catheter removed and that meant I also lost the "bag" which means I can pee pee like a proper man:lol:

To celebrate my release from the "bag" drove to dartmoor today for a short 8mile stroll with my wife, took the MX5 roof down all the way down. A pint in the plume of Feathers before we came home rounded off a great day

Cant believe that just short of 3 weeks since I had the surgery I feel very well. Still need to find out in May if the surgeon manged to remove all of the cancer. Then I guess if he did we will have up to 3 years before getting the all clear.
 
fingers crossed for you
 
Very brave of you to post on such a personal subject lets hope it gets better for you soon
 
I am glad that you are on the mend mazdaman and hopefully the whole issue will just end up as a memory and a three yearly check up.
 
many thanks to you all for your good wishes. Itching to get out and use the 30D (Been told not to lift more than kettle of water for up to 6 weeks post op) I guess I will have to weigh my kettle with water and see what that equals in 30D plus lens combo terms:) I think I can manage the 30D + my Siggy 24-60 as my walkabout combo.

:canon:
 
Well worth having the test
I had similar problems But different result ( age 74)
Biopsy showed All OK . However I have a massively enlarged Prostate Largest my specialist has measured.
That was a 18 months ago, I Have been on a drug to reduce the size ever since, had another biopsy after 6 months and have further checks every six months. so far so good. and the size is reducing.

Most who have positive initial tests, do not have cancer... But an enlarged prostate is always a potential problem so they keep a check on you.

Every one who has a slow waterworks and has to get up a few times during the night, of any age, should get a test. it is only a simple blood test in the first instance and can be done at the GP.
Prostate cancer caught early has a very high success rate.
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
Well worth having the test
I had similar problems But different result ( age 74)
Biopsy showed All OK . However I have a massively enlarged Prostate Largest my specialist has measured.
That was a 18 months ago, I Have been on a drug to reduce the size ever since, had another biopsy after 6 months and have further checks every six months. so far so good. and the size is reducing.

Most who have positive initial tests, do not have cancer... But an enlarged prostate is always a potential problem so they keep a check on you.

Every one who has a slow waterworks and has to get up a few times during the night, of any age, should get a test. it is only a simple blood test in the first instance and can be done at the GP.
Prostate cancer caught early has a very high success rate.
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Dont know where this is going but after my VERY frightening prostatitis episode I was keen to learn about maintaining a healthy prostate and I was advised to eat pumpkin seeds regularly as they supposedly help the prostate by preventing enlargement as we creep into old age and so I have been eating them now for about a month and nothing happened for about a fortnight but now I know that they help, I dont know about preventing prostate enlargement however they certainly do something for the prostate.....I promise you because all of a sudden the old porridge gun fires at almost double the velocity and calibre ....I was very scepticle as usual but at 64 pence for a packet at tescos you have got to give them a go, just a handful at breakfast and again at teatime will work wonders, strange but true... I'm now thinking of a career in the film industry:bonk::bonk::thumbs:
 
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