PSA - prostate-specific antigen
PSA - public service announcement
Here's how this whole predicament started for me. Unfortunately, all of this is about stuff that many people (including myself) find embarrassing and uncomfortable to talk about because it's about down there, but hell - I'm 52 years old and I should just get over it. Jesus! We're all adults here...
Anyway, once it was confirmed that I had prostate cancer, and after I told my wife and siblings, I told a few of my friends and workmates personally. I was surprised as to how hard that was to do. It's a heavy thing to lay on someone, but the concern and love I got back was very comforting. There are 2 Hispanic girls at work that speak very little English, but they are both hard workers (and extremely cute and tiny!), but we have never really hung out together - just worked. When I told them what was going on, they both started crying and hugged me tightly. Of course that got me crying, and one of them looked up into my face and said in broken English: "I love you, Gilberto". Stunned, I asked her if she still loved me, even when I get mad and kick warehouse carts across the aisle? She said: "I love you all of the time, Gilberto." That could be the most memorable and touching words I could have ever imagined. I love them, too. Stuff like that is already making this whole deal a hell of a lot easier to deal with.
But I digress from the Public Service Announcement part of this post...
On a couple of occasions, guy friends, around my age and after wishing me well, immediately wanted to know: "Jesus Christ! What are the symptoms? What should I be looking for?"
Well, in my case, look for....less.
About a year ago, I started to notice that....Hmmm...let's say...uh...that the factory was up and running...but for some reason...shipping..seems to be getting... less and less.....product...out of the shipping doors...
God, that is so lame...it's just medical stuff - lemme try again: Ummm - less..you know..stuff came out of my..you know what...when I...did that.
Screw it. Less semen.
There - I said it. Tougher than I thought. But I think you get the idea. It was a gradual drop-off, and I just figured that age was taking it's toll on me. After all, my jowls, my ears, my saggy monkey butt have all succumbed to gravity's pull. I'm just not the teenage stud that I used to be. (I should also note that over the past few months I have lost about 10 lbs. - my weight fluctuates all the time, and I thought that the ultra-stress of the last year probably contributed to it and it probably did. I have no idea if this is the result of prostate cancer).
After about 5 months of this, I told myself that I was about due for a physical anyway, I'll just let the doctor know what's going on. Next thing I knew, it was a year later and the problem was getting worse. No other symptoms at all. Just by chance, I got a letter from my medical group informing me that it was time for an annual blood test and physical, so I went and had my blood work done and made an appointment for a physical with my doctor.
I had the lab work done about a week before my physical was scheduled. In this area my medical group is very efficient - within 24 hours they e-mailed me the test results, but I was perplexed by the fact that there were not many..categories on the report. The usual suspects were there - cholesterol (controlled and fine), blood sugar levels (actually better since I cut back on my cola addiction) and a couple of things that I didn't know what they were. But there were 2 important omissions. I'm always worried about my liver due to my past history of extreme Tylenol intake, evil cholesterol drugs and the fact that I love my beer. Nada. There was also no obvious PSA numbers. Christ, what kind of lab is this? This is lame!
The next day, on a Saturday, I got call from my doctor. Weird! I couldn't get to the phone in time to pick-up, but he left a doozy of a message: "your PSA levels are in the gray area. They should be between 0 - 4, but yours is 6.2. False positives are pretty common, but I'd like you to get re-tested in about 4 weeks. We can talk about this at your physical later this week."
And that was that. Here we go.
6 comments:
Hey Gil - are people scared off from commenting? Anyway: first, I'm glad to hear your prognosis is good - but second, it's awesome that you're talking about this, and doing so in a way that will help other folks possibly avoid some pretty major problems. While I may not be completely fond of getting older, I don't want it to stop! Take care -
Thanks, so much! Maybe it's scared some folks away from this blog...or maybe they just don't know how to respond (or maybe I don't have many readers!), but that's fine. I do want to try to let folks know what's going on, and the story does get insanely weird at times, but the truth of the matter is that it helps me, writing about it. I really appreciate your comments.
I have found (after going through breast cancer with my wife this year) that a lot of people just don't know what to say or do. They find it easier to avoid that to talk about. It does'nt mean they love you any less. It is hard news to take.
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I'm feeling the love and it's been amazing! I just hate being the focus of something like this. As an entertainer - LOVE IT! As a cancer patient - hard to process!
I can certainly say it'd be HELL of a lot harder to comment if you'd said the prognosis was very, very grim.
It would be a hell of a lot harder to even write about! Probably wouldn't.
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