Prostate Cancer

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi happy john in oz, "ouch" Why are you knitting? what you should be doing is making a steaming jacket, for your next trip to sea, what you need an old worn out denim jacket you may find one in your seabag {deck only} take out your green river sheath knife, be carefull the blade is razor sharp and cut off the arms to the shoulders , Dont thrown them away you can make something out of them, Go to your sea bag get out your palm and needle and some cotton thread start on the back make bold untidy stiches like dogs teeth, Sorry shipmate the nurse is calling you put it away for another day take care

[Captain Kong]

**** is complaining about the cold , John,
You could knit him a Jersey.
Please.
Thank you
Brian.

[Richard Quartermaine]

Now lads I have a bit of a dilema and need some advice.........

John, Good luck with getting rid of the "Monster" on Tuesday. The knitting is only for the blokes on hormones. I was reluctant to take it up when I was on them and had to be content with the hot flushes. I've had my supra pubic catheter just below my navel (Merchant, not Royal) for over three years now and I still mistakenly go searching for the old fella when it's the plastic tap that's needed. Oh yeh! and the times I forgot to turn the Bl***y tap off until that warm soggy feeling reminded me - the last time was, thankfully about a year ago, in Penrith Plaza over an hours drive from Katoomba.

Take care,
Richard

[happy daze john in oz]

**** is complaining about the cold , John,
You could knit him a Jersey.
Please.
Thank you
Brian.

I thought maybe a scarf would be better, a very tight fitting one maybe!

[Gordon Turnbull]

Amazing how many people have prostate cancer once you start talking about it. :-) Below is my story taht I posted in another thread a while ago. Worth putting here as well I think. Also amazing how we seem to have the same mentality. Must be a seaman thing. As an aside, my PSA has been steadily climbing again. From 0.3 to 0.8 to 1.1 to 1.8 so again whilst this is not danger level it shows that the old testosterone is trying to get round the drugs and succeeding. I have therefore started on level 2 drugs which is tablets as well as hormone injections. Zoladex has now been superceded by Decapeptyl which is a 6 monthly proper injection in the butt ceek as opposed to the horrible implant from Zoladex. I have to get a couple of days radiotherapy next time home to desensitize the old nipples as the main side effect of the pills is even more swelling and tenderness. Quite proud of my breasts now so I am :-)


OK, hard to beat some of these crackers but here is a more modern tale. I alluded to it last year some time but never went into details I don’t think. As mentioned before, I am now working in Nigeria and have been here for about 9 or ten years now. Managing Camps of up to 6,500 people. Big change from looking after 25 on a tanker J Anyway, last February, my assistant manager phoned me up from UK to tell me he had just been diagnosed with bowel cancer. Gutted for him. Could not ask for a nicer guy and a better assistant. Anyway, I get home, drive down to Yorkshire to see him and he is looking pretty grim, lost lots of weight etc etc, just waiting to go through chemo and stuff. I went home after the weekend, had an appointment with my GP as all my vaccinations were due. “Any other problems GT?” he asks. “My gout was playing up again” says I. “Never even knew you had gout” says he. “Well only second time I have had it and never bothered you after first time as the doc on site fixed it.” “OK anything else?” “Not peeing right” says me, “up two or three, sometimes more every night dependent upon Guinness intake.” “So, what makes you bring that up?” he asks. So I tell him about my mate and my QA/QC manager (an American diagnosed with prostate cancer) and how I had looked it up on t’internet and realised there was an outside chance it could be cancer as well. “OK” says he, “you do know what the test is don’t you?” “Unfortunately I do Kenny yes, however I had been hoping there was a new non-invasive method discovered in the last couple of weeks” was my hopeful reply. “Not a chance, up on couch, trousers down, knees to chest” After a good digital rectal probing he tells me I definitely have a problem. Lots of MRI scans, bone scans CT scans etc later it was obviously confirmed.
The Big C. only someone who has had the doctor tell them they have cancer will understand exactly what it feels like to be told. I thought I was gutted when my Mum died, even more gutted when my Dad followed less than a year later. I thought I could not feel worse than what I did when I was on Iolair attending the Piper Alpha disaster. We arrived there about 02.00, cannot remember what time the explosion was and not going to look it up. I was night chef and had pans of soup ready for all the survivors we were going to pull out the water. That never happened, did it? All of them pale into insignificance when told. Bear in mind, I had never had so much as a doctor’s line in my life of 54 years so to be told you are so seriously ill when you don’t feel ill is to put it bluntly, a kick in the baws. What they did not tell me until after I had done loads of different scans was that because my PSA level was so high (474 against a normal <5) they suspected it was all through my body, but could find no trace apart from a little on my groin bone. Anyway, things of note. I had to go for a biopsy obviously. Guy was a dickhead. Thick nasal Kelvinside accent (posh Glaswegian). So, there is me, up on the gurney yet again, ass hanging over the side, knees to my chest. Jeez, 28 years in catering in the MN and nobody had been up there. That month I reckon I had a dozen hands up my jaxi. I even went to the dentist and dropped my trousers before I realised what I was doing!!! Anyway, back to the biopsy. “The first thing you will feel will be finger entering your anus” he says in that despicable accent. “Aye, awright, carry on.” “ Next you will feel the probe. It is steel and a bit thicker so it might be cold”. Alright up to this stage. “Now, Mr Turnbull, you may feel a little prick”. “I better f’n not pal” says me. The nurse laughed, he didn’t. Anyway, he had told me he was going to do 13 biopsies but after 3 he said, and I quote “no point taking anymore, it is obvious you have cancer”. So, he shows me the prostate on the screen and points out the cancer to me. Me, still not thinking right asked him when I would be able to go back to work (conscientious me!!!). “Work” he said,”I think you should forget your quantity of life and concentrate on the quality now.” I quite honestly could have curled up and died there and then.
Next visit was to the prostate cancer specialist nurse who explained things to me. What a darling. What she did not know was that I already knew she had been through nursing college (many moons ago) with my elder sister. So, after all the crap from the prober, she tells me I am not going to die because of it. Now, OK that is a bit of a relief so a wee bit of happiness. “Starting you on hormone pills GT” she says “these will bring your PSA level down to a range where we can start using slow release implants.” OK, now we are getting somewhere thinks me. “Now there are side effects” she says. “Tell me”. “OK, you might grow breasts, your weight will drop to your waist (too late there darling, see Guinness intake earlier), you will have mood swings and be over emotional”. “Wait a minute hen, most men I know aspire to be like their fathers, you are telling me I am turning into my wife!!!” At least that solicited a laugh from her and the missus. “Anyway” I said, “what makes a lovely person like you go through college and then decide to dedicate their life to sticking their fingers up a man’s ass?” “I love it. Nothing better than coming in on a Monday morning, getting gloved and lubed up, getting the finger up there and thinking whoopee, we have a big one here!!” I told her she was sick and needed treatment. “Oh, another thing, your sex drive will drop dramatically, but don’t worry as you won’t be able to get an erection anyway!!” Bitch J.
So, couple of weeks later, the pills have done their work so time to go over to the implants. Now I am not particularly fond of needles but this thing is huge! I go to see the nurse at my local GP. She tells me she hates giving this injection because it usually so sore! Tells me she has one old guy she literally has to scrape off the ceiling everytime he gets it. Not helping bitch!!!! Three months later, PSA fallen to around 1.9 I managed to get back to work in Naija land. December 2010 I had to get the fiduciary seeding done. Not pleasant, bloody sore and won’t go into details. Look it up if you want.
Home in February and started 8 weeks radiotherapy the day after I got home. This was my first mistake. Having done 56 x 12 hour shifts in a row, I should have had a break, but us Stirling men are hard. The Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre in Glasgow. What can I say except absolutely superb service. Eleven radiotherapy machines doing about 50-55 people a day. From the second day the receptionist called you by your first name and knew where you were going. Girls doing the radiotherapy? An absolute joy and must be totally fed up looking at wrinkled old men’s parts. They tell you what the side effects are going to be. Sore butt. Possible double incontinence. Hair loss of the nether regions. Tiredness. Tiredness was easy, I just went to bed for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Hair loss of the nether regions I found amusing. Chest hair, under arm hair, gone. Pubic hair? Imagine Friar Tuck’s head and that was my goolies. Lovely. Incontinence, nothing worse than walking through the shopping centre or the supermarket telling the missus you better go to the loo then in the next breath telling her it was too late! Thankfully never too bad. What it did show though was exactly what old age is gonna be like! Don’t know if I want to go thereJ. Sore ass? Damn that was bad. Radiation burns on the cheeks and an extremely sore butt hole. Such was the case that a child’s rubber swim ring was bought and went everywhere with me. Walking through shopping centres and supermarkets carrying a rubber ring having dribbled pee probably did not look pretty!!! Thankfully I don’t recall meeting anyone who knew me when I was in this state although plenty when I had just the ring with me. Also nothing worse than having been to the loo having to get the missus to put cream on your botty because you cannot see where the radiation burns are. “Lorraine, I need bummed” was the usual cry. Self embarrassment rapidly disappears.
Bottom line is this. This was not written, obviously by the tone, to elicit sympathy. It is to reiterate that even in the direst of circumstances we can find humour and something to laugh about. Is that our merchant navy upbringing at work here? Who knows? Maybe it is a personal thing but when I read the above posts, maybe it isn’t. All is now well, I had my follow up and PSA level is at a good level. I am back at work in Nigeria and the Camp is bloody disaster area, but I am working through it gradually without stressing myself. The future is bright and further tests will I am sure reinforce that. Friends and family, especially obviously the missus had a lot to put up with, probably a lot more than me. I just elicited the sympathy vote with them all the time J
To conclude, 99% of people our age will have problems with peeing. A percentage of them obviously have cancer. It only takes a minute to get probed. Get checked guys. If one person is diagnosed with prostate cancer and caught before it becomes a huge issue, then everything has been worthwhile. If you are one of the growing numbers of unlucky ones to have cancer, try and find the positives. We talk about luck in life. I have always considered myself a very lucky person whether in my private life or in work. Even in this cancer I consider myself lucky. My deputy manager is still not back at work and probably never will be. The sights you see in the Beatson on a daily basis show how much worse it could have been. Thank God for what you have and stay lucky throughout life. Ain’t nothing gonna put you down if you are positive. Ain’t nothing beats good luck.
As an aside, the golf never got much better!!!

[Captain Kong]

Thank you Gordon for writing about your experiences.
A very seriouis issue but the Humour does help.
I hope everyone does take notice.
I had trouble getting a PSA test last year on my annual M.O.T. An eastern voice telephoned me saying he was from my Medical Centre, `Why do you want a PSA Test?`
I said `A lot of my friends have Prostate Cancer, so I want a test.` He says `you do not need one at your age` I was 77. `Oh so 77 olds are guaranteed no more Cancer? thats good. `.
The Medical Centre has to pay for All tests and they do not like to pay for tests out of their budgets.
When I saw the hospital Nurse, `PHLEABOTTOMIST*`? for my blood tests I told her to add a PSA test. `No problem` she says, Forunately it came out Normal,
Do not take any crap from a Doctor who thinks more of his budget than he does of his patients.
Thanks again Gordon.
Cheers
Brian

[Stan Carter]

many thanks to gordon and everyone else for keeping us reminded that this cruel and life threatening curse is still rampant and not going away anytime soon. we all need that added kick in the ass to persue the best treatment and testing thats afforded to us. like brian, I too have a doctor that feels psa tests are not reliable, therefore will not ask for one on the blood work forms. even though my benefits coverage will pay for the tests. but on the other hand he does not offer the finger job. I recently went for my annual blood work and reqested the nurse to add the psa to the form and I would pay for it and claim it back from my insurence ccompany. of course she declined to do it for me and suggested i go to the hospital emergency and get it done. that, to my mind, is not what the emerg is for, so i will not persue that avenue. of course changing doctors is an option, but around here at present are in short supply and overloaded with patients. plus changing is not really what i want as he has looked after my medical needs (serious) extremly well, just that he has this personal hate on for the psa tests. maybe he is worried the rubber glove will break during the rectal exam.
regards, stan

[Captain Kong]

Hi Stan
Every time you have a blood test or the Doctor referrs you to a Consultant at the hospital your Doctor gets charged for it. The Consultant sends him the bill for the Consultaton.
Each Surgery or Medical Centre has an annual budget from the government for each of his patients on his books, and the Doctor has to work within the budget., So they are reluctant to send you to see a Consultant at the hospital.
Since I returned from Honolulu on 24 February after the operation on my Pancreas and gallbladder the Hawaiian Doctor told me to have a CT Scan because there was oedema on the head and body of the Pancreas. I have been trying with my Doctor to have a CT Scan, He says a blood test will be better. [ for his budget] I have had the blood tests for Liver and pancreas functions, OK but there is still a lot of pain. I saw another Doctor, and she has booked an appointment with a surgeon at a Private Hospital in Salford for next Wednesday, Ist May on the NHS.. The senior doctor at my practice doesnt know yet.
I will ask the Private Consultant to give me a CT Scan. and find out the problem,
So do not believe doctors, Budget first Patients second.
Cheers
Brian.

[Kevin Mercer]

Hi folks, I have been feeling dog tired lately and decided I could do with a check-up, my pee rate has slowed too, so the PSA results might be worth seeing.
Luckily for me my doc sent me for a "full bloods" test which were enlightening. Sugar ok, cholesterol ok, liver function ok etc and the PSA ok.
He said everything is good except one thing.....your kidney function is poor, we need to check this again in July. Drink plenty of water.
Hence the knackered all day syndrome !
So.....prostate ok but your kidneys are not working !
When one door shuts another slams to.

A bit of sunshine would be nice right now.

Kevin

[happy daze john in oz]

It has been good reading all the follow up stories and comments to my original post. If it saves only one life then it is good.
My niece in London tells me there was a very extensive program on Prostate cancer last week, apparently the gov says it wants to promote testing.
Here in Oz any man can ask his GP for a PSA test and get the results within a maximum of 48 hours.
From what i now know of it the best form of treatment is deffinitely the Lady Macbeth method. Bracyotherapy, the implants, is Ok for some types but as with radio therapy the side efects can be worse than the problem. Chap I know had the radio therapy after 9 months of hormone therapy. He also had to have a mascetomy, he grew the most magnificent size 36D boobs as a result of the therapy.
Now he could have of course gone to Thailand and made a fortune but sadly could not get a lipstick he liked.
So no matter your age it is good to have the test, Prostate Cancer on its own is not always a killer, but live Ovarian cancer in th eladies sometimes does not show until it is too late. So go have the test and to hell with the cost.
One advantage of the Lady Macbeth method is the temporary incontinence you suffer. You find toilest you never knew existed, I have found at least a dozen of them, some in very odd places.