Prostrate Problems

I made a call this morning to arrange an appointment with my urologist.  Yes, it was about this time a year ago that my VA doctor informed me I had a high PSA score and perhaps I would want to check in with a urologist.  I did and to make a long story short, I decided not to go the route of having an instrument stuck up my nether regions to take twelve chunks of flesh out of my walnut sized prostrate to check the possibility if I had prostate cancer.  In fact, my urologist gave me a warning up front "A man you age, even if you do have prostrate cancer will probably die from another cause."  

After getting over the shock of the "a man your age" comment ("You talking to me?") I considered going down that route.  Then I did some checking and decided not to go down that route.  Then I did some more checking and again decided to go down that route.  I was scheduled for the procedure December 29th last year but again changed my mind after I attended a Christmas dinner and was introduced to a man who had his prostate  removed.  He's now wearing Depends.  Uh....no thank you.  I could even see his Depends through his clothes.  I won't go into all the side effects of this procedure which has proven not to be effective but I decided to monitor my PSA score.

My next blood test my score did go down.  Still over the 4.0 but not 8.4 like it was before.  Now it was 4.3.  

So here we are today.  Last week I noticed that about five minutes after I peed, I felt the need to pee again.  FIVE MINUTES!  So I did what any red blooded American does, I ignored it, hoping this new symptom would go away.  It hasn't.  Tuesday, Wednesday, and now Thursday, I feel like I have to take a Wicked Piss all the time.  Something definitely is NOT RIGHT.

So I talked myself into calling my urologist and making an appointment.  He can see me Monday. 

Now I'm not telling my blog readers all of this because I want to elicit your sympathy.  I don't want that.  Don't Cry For Me Argentina.  My theme song.  Also, I'm not telling you this because I want advice. Believe me, I get all kinds of advice.  Everyone's an expert, but this is my body.  I'm listening to it right now and it's saying "get this checked out."  

My situation reminds me of a quote I read in a book I just finished by the great American movie director (by way of Krakow, Poland and Vienna, Austria) Billy Wilder.  He tells the story of an old man who visited his urologist.  

The doctor to the old man: "Why are you here?"
The old man says: "I can't pee"
The doctor asks the old man: "How old are you?"
The old man says: "92"
The doctor says: "You peed enough."

Prostate Update

Me on the beach last summer (in my Spo Shirt) , I'll be back this year

As regular readers of this blog know, for the past several months I have been going through my own Prostate Cancer Drama.

This past summer the results of a routine blood test at the VA showed that my PSA score was very high.  It was 8.4.  The range should be 0-4 so I was quite a bit above average.

My doctor notified me immediately and suggested that I either make an appointment with a urologist at the VA (which would be in Wilmington, DE - 89 miles away) or a local urologist.  I elected to go with a local urologist in case I decided to undergo treatment for prostate cancer.

I made an appointment and saw a local urologist.  The first thing he told me was:

"Mr. Tipton, I want you to understand that a man your age (I am 70), that if you do have prostate cancer the odds are that you will probably die from some other cause." 


Of course my first reaction to the phrase "A man your age..." was to turn around and look over my shoulder to see what OLD MAN he was talking to.  Then I realized he was talking to me!

Then he said "Do you wish to go forward?"


I thought about it for a minute or two then I said I did.  He proceeded to give me a digital rectal exam.  Whenever I have one of these exams I think we should at least have ONE DATE prior to the "exam" but we didn't have time for that.

After what seemed like a LONG TIME "up there", he pulled out his latex covered forefinger and announced "Your prostate is smooth and soft.  If it was hard (and he indicated this by tapping his knuckle) or I felt something on it, then we have some concern"


Great!  So I was prostate cancer free?  Not so quick the good doctor seemed to say by his facial reaction.  He told me my "Free PSA Count" (whatever that is) was high.

He again asked me if I wanted to continue?  Again, after thinking about it for a few seconds, I said "Yes."

I arranged an appointment for a biopsy of my prostate gland.  This is a procedure where the doctor takes out twelve pieced of my walnut sized prostate gland to check and see if they are cancerous.

After I left his office I started to ask around friends and relatives who have had this kind of experience with their prostate gland.  As expected I got many different stories, each situation is unique.  I checked the Internet (which doctors hate for you to check) and I read the stories that perhaps the PSA score and the treatments that follow treating potential prostate cancer haven't made a significant difference in preventing prostate cancer deaths.  My mind had a lot of information to sift through before I made my final decision.

About a week before my scheduled prostate biopsy in December (19th) I cancelled the appointment.  Then a week later, after reading more information I rescheduled another appointment for a prostate biopsy.  This one was to take place January 6th, 2012.  All during this time my mind was still unsettled if I was doing the right thing.  I just wasn't feeling right about taking this step.  Something was holding me back.

I cancelled my January 6th appointment for prostate biopsy.  I think this had as much to do with the fact that my cousin Steve Tipton was scheduled to have his prostate glad removed only to discover that when he went to a different surgeon that he didn't have prostate cancer but instead had a prostate infection called prostatitis!  He went back to his original doctor, who of course was angry that he went to another doctor, and after rechecking the MRI's, confirmed that my cousin Steve did not indeed have prostate cancer.  And here Steve was going to have his prostate removed!

The second incident that caused me to rethink my prostate biopsy (which is a very invasive procedure) was a meeting I had at a Christmas dinner at a friend's house in Pennsylvania.  This man was the new boyfriend of Ruth, who was a longtime friend of mine.  She knew of my Prostate Drama and she told me that her friend had had his prostate removed.  She also told me that he is now wearing Depends...for the rest of his life!

So here is the deal folks.  Besides the risk of getting an infection from the biopsy procedure (and I do have a history of getting infections from hospital procedures, one of which almost resulted in my death at 17 years of age), the possible side effects of prostate cancer treatment are:

• impotence
• urinary problems (can't control your peeing thus Depends)
• bowel problems

Some choice huh?  Frankly, I don't need to deal with any of these situations.

After the Christmas dinner I made the decision not to go through with the prostate biopsy.  If I do have prostate cancer (which the high PSA score doesn't necessarily mean that I do), I'll just have to live with it.

I felt relieved after I made this decision but still there was that little nagging thing that "The cancer may be groaning Ron, you're going to die."  Of course I'm going to die.  We're all going to die.  Most of us just don't know what we're going to die from.  But I did make the final decision not to take that downward spiral of medical procedures that had a good possibility of me suffering more from the treatment of a cancer which I may or may not have than the actual cancer.

Then last week I received a note from the brother of an old friend.  He informed me that his brother died in October.  His brother was the man who hired me at Girard Bank back in 1965.  We became friends over the years but had lost touch except for the annual Christmas card, the past ten years or so.  

I called his brother on Saturday to ask his cause of death and where was he buried.  He told me that his brother died of prostate cancer.  He said his brother had been treated for prostate cancer thirteen years ago (with implanted seeds).  He said his brother began losing weight this past year (40 pounds, he wasn't heavy to begin with) but the doctors couldn't figure out why.  They misdiagnosed him.  They didn't find out he had prostate cancer until after his death.  He said that his brother's prostate glad was "had a lot of scar tissue".  This was form the radioactive seeds.  

Here is the interesting part.  His brother was 83 years old when he died.  Thirteen years ago, when he got his radioactive seed treatment for his prostate cancer he would have been 70 years old, the same age as I am now. 

Here is the question.  Did the prostate cancer treatment delay his death from prostate cancer or have no effect?  They don't know and I don't know.  What I do know is that if I live to 83 years old I will feel that I've had a good, long life.  In fact, now at 70 years old I feel as if I've had a good long life.  If I died tomorrow, I have no regrets.  I have far outlived many of my relatives, friends and co-workers.  I am literally living on Bonus Time now and I am thankful for it.  I just don't feel the need to risk my quality of life to treat something that neither I nor the doctors are sure that I have.

Now here are the latest developments.  Since that original blood test where I had the high PSA score of 8.4, I had another blood test at the urologist's office and it was 5.1.  Still high.  Last December I had another blood test at the VA in Wilmington.  That score was 4.4!  On January 4th I had another blood test at the VA office in Georgetown, DE.  That score was again 4.4!  Sill over the preferred limit of 4.0 but NOT THAT MUCH!  Now the VA is telling me not to concern myself with a followup with a urologist because my PSA score is "within the range."  My PSA score may still be high but at least I'm going in the right direction!

So here is the deal folks, I may or may not have prostate cancer.  If I do then it is one of the slowest growing cancers and I will probably die of something else.  If I don't, I'll still die of something else.  One thing is for sure though, I'm not going to undergo any procedure that will result in me spending the rest of my life dealing with the side effects of the procedure.

I'll be around for a few more blog posts.  I'm not ready to go quietly into the night just yet.

Video below is me showing my brother how my iPhone works.  I'll be doing a lot more of Big Brother Showing Little Brother How Things Work in the future.  

Prostate Update

Me acting silly at one of those bank Christmas dinners.  I should wear these glasses when I get my biopsy.

Here's the latest developments on my prostate situation.  I had made the decision not to get a biopsy but instead go with the MRI-S which is 600 to 800 MRI photos of my prostate to be examined to see if there is cancer in my prostate.  I called my urologist and and I expected, he said "that doesn't show prostate cancer."  I suspect that he doesn't have the equipment.  I asked him "What happens if, after the biopsies are taken I still have a high PSA score?"  He said "We are looking to see if you have a BIG cancer or a small cancer.  If you have a small cancer then treatment probably isn't necessary but we will monitor it."


The chances of my having prostate cancer are very high because of the results of my Free PSA score.  It should be over 25% and my score is 5%.  Everything I read on the Internet about the Free PSA score indicates a high probability of cancer.

So here is my dilemma.  In a few weeks I'll be 70 years old.  Everything I hear is that prostate cancer is a slow growing cancer and a man my age,  as my doctor told me at the beginning of our consolation last week, "will probably die of another cause."  What a choice?  Live my remaining years knowing I have a cancer growing inside of me, even if it is a slow growing cancer or going through the procedure of getting biopsies on a regular basis with the possible result of having one of the standard treatments for prostate cancer which could have life changing side effects?  I would prefer not to post these negative blog postings but the only way I blog is to write about my life and the way I see the world without offending anyone too much.

So I have decided to go through with the biopsy procedure which is now scheduled for January 6th, 2012 at 10 am.  That gives me something to look forward to over the holidays.

Now my next blog posting will be about the dust up on "DWTS" between Maks and Len.  Now that will be a more fun posting.  And no disrespect to Chaz Bono, who worked very hard on "DWTS" and did an admirable job but come one, he did look like a little penguin last week didn't he?

The Regular Ron will be back.  I promise!

Prostate Update

Well, here we are and Halloween is almost upon us again.  I've changed my blog photo to a picture that I took over took thirty years ago on Halloween Night at the Venture Inn in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  That was the last time I really celebrated Halloween big time.  I would love to do so again but the opportunity just isn't presenting itself so bear with me while I pull up these photos from my Past Life.  This one I titled "The Lost Soul."

So here is the latest on my prostate drama.  I am scheduled for a random biopsy December 16th.  This is where the doctor takes twelve chunks of flesh out of my prostate.  And as the description says, it is "random."  I have decided not to go this route.  My first reason is the risk of infection.  Pardon the grossness but the instruments that take the pieces of meat from my prostate actually has to pass through my colon, thus risking infection because the colon has feces in it.  Of course I am to take an enema the night before as well as take an antibiotic but I've been reading that the antibiotics are becoming less and less effective.  And then to top everything thing else off, taking these random biopsies is no guarantee that they will find the cancer if in fact I do have prostate cancer.

I am very sensitive about catching a hospital or doctor related infection because that is the one time I almost lost my life.  I got a staph infection from a routine hernia operation when I was seventeen years old and almost checked out.  I was in and out of the hospital for six months in 1959 and underwent three operations before they finally cleaned all the infection from my young body.  I doubt if I would have survived if I was older.  Thus, before I put myself in that situation again I had be pretty damn sure that the results will warrant me putting myself at that risk.  Upon examining this situation, I don't think the risk is worth it.

Instead what I am going to do is undergo what is called an MRI-S which is a much less invasive procedure to find out if I do in fact have prostate cancer.  This involves a 30-40 minute session in which an MRI will obtain between 700 and 800 clear images to be reviewed by a radiologist and urologist.  The images may deem that a biopsy is not even necessary.  Then is a biopsy is necessary it will be targeted rather than random as is the standard test now.

Monday I call my doctor (urologist) to discuss.  The adventure continues.

Visit To My Urologist

The "Hobby Horse"

On Friday I visited my urologist for the first time.  This is the next step in the procedure to see if I have prostate cancer.

If you'll remember, a couple of months ago two consecutive blood tests revealed that I had a high PSA account.  While this doesn't necessarily men that I have prostate cancer it could be an indicator that I do have prostate cancer.  Thus, I had to schedule a visit to a urologist for a consultation.

My appointment was for 11:30 a.m.  Earlier in the day I got a call from the hotel where I work asking if I could work the 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift for my co-worker as well as the next day's 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift. This is a rough shift because of the short sleep time between shifts but I said "yes" like I always do.  More stress for the day.

I arrived at the doctor's office early hoping they would take me in early.  They did.

After I filled out the first time paperwork I was weighed and had my blood pressure taken.  Then I was given a funnel shaped device and taken to a bathroom and told to pee in it.  They would measure my urine flow.  We're off to a great start.

After that I was then ushered into another side room (lots of little side rooms in this doctor's office told to have a seat on the familiar padded table with the sheet of cold paper on it. I don't know what else to call it...a "hobby horse maybe?  Another assistant came in and asked me to life my shirt and T-shirt.  She smeared some cold jelly on my stomach and put a round cold piece of equipment on my stomach.  She was going to take a picture of my bladder (much the same way a pregnant woman has a picture taken of her baby in the womb).  Ambianosis or osmosis or something like that.  She greases me up and then slaps this huge gray, flat, round and cold stethoscope like piece of equipment on my six pack abs (yeah, sure).  She wanted to make sure I emptied my bladder from the urine flow test that I had just taken.  She finishes, wipe the grease off of my stomach and informs me that the doctor will be with me in a few minutes

Lubricant on the shelf - a sign of activity to come

I heist myself up on the hobby horse to await my fate the doctor.  In a few minutes time the doctor, who I had never met before let alone go out on a date, would get to know me better than 99.9% of the men I have dated in my life time.  I was about to get a digital exam (look it up).  I see the plastic gloves in the corner of the room at the ready.  OKAY.

The doctor came in, extended his hand for a handshake (the same hand that would soon perform another function on me) and introduced himself.  He was a young oriental man.  I'm not into orientals but I would rather having a man doing The Deed than a woman.  That's just the way I roll.  No offense to the lady readers of this blog.

Dr. Chang (not his real name) spoke clearly and thoroughly.  He made me aware of the recent news reports about PSA tests and asked me if I wanted to continue.  I said I did.  He then explained to me how the prostate is like an orange; soft and pliable. He said each person's body is different and that by whatever he finds by examining me doesn't necessarily mean that I have prostate cancer.

Gloves at the ready and The Stool 

He explained out the prostate gland work.  I won't go into the details but basically it is the gland that has a small tube running through it from the bladder to the penis so I can pass urine.  He said the cancer could be on the outside of the prostate gland in which case he could feel it.  However, he said it could also be on the inside in which case he could not tell be the digital exam which is was about to perform.  He also said that the prostate gland could be hard as a knuckle in which case that would indicate something bad.  But, if the prostate gland was soft and pliable as an orange, that didn't necessarily mean that I didn't have cancer, that it could be on the inside of the prostate gland.

The doctor gave me a white towel folder over twice and told me to "drop my pants" and to put the towel around my waist.  He left the room while I did this.  I dropped my pants. Surely not the first time that I've done this in my Life Experience but not under these cold, antiseptic circumstances. He would be back shortly.

I wasn't sure how much to "drop my pants" so I lowered them to my ankles.  I was in a bit of a quandary because I didn't want to go "to far" but I wanted to be accessible to the good doctor.  When Dr. Change (not his real name) returned there I stood with my pants (and underwear) down around my ankles (understandably I short circuited my chances for making a mad dash anywhere under these circumstances) with my towel securely fastened about my waist to secure some minimal facade of privacy.

I asked him "is this alright?" I think this is the first time in my life I ever uttered that phrase with my underwear and pants down around my ankles to another man I (or woman).  Oh well, there's a first time for everything.  Life is an adventure and mine was about to continue.

He said "Yeah, sure."  Then he uttered the phrase that all straight men fear ...."BEND OVER."

Thus the Digital Exam proceeded.  Oh wow.  Man oh man.  For what seemed like a LONG TIME, he stuck his BIG FINGER (didn't look that big when he put on the vinyl glove) up my You Know What.  He probed to the right, then to the left, then a massage of the prostate gland itself.  I could tell he's done this before.  He was VERY EXPERIENCED.  All I could think of besides when was he going to get his finger out of my ass, was WHAT A WAY TO MAKE A LIVING.  When I was in grade school my little friends would dream of becoming a policeman, fireman or astronaut.  I wonder what the Good Doctor dreamed of?  I'm going to grow up and make a living sticking my finger up in someone's ass?

The exam was very uncomfortable for me.  My back end is for EXIT only, and not ENTRY.  That's just me.  You know what I mean?  EXIT...yes.  ENTRY....no.  Well, at least he wasn't wearing any rings.

I couldn't help myself but I kept clenching. For a few seconds I expected to hear the Good Doctor utter those words "just relax."  Oh please doctor, don't say those words.  He didn't.  Thank you Jesus.

Then I worried that he couldn't get his finger out because I was clenched down too hard on it.  Am I telling too much here?  Perhaps.  I'm trying to keep this a concise as possible.

Finally he finished and removed his finger with what sounded like a "Pop!"

He told me that he couldn't find anything on the surface on my prostate gland.  That was good news.  He also said that my prostrate gland was soft the way it should be and not hard like a knuckle (which he showed me by forming a knuckle on his own hand).  He said that was good.  But then he said that my PSA "Freewill" (I think that's what he said) score was only 5% and it should be 25% or more.  He then asked me if I wanted to get a biopsy.  I asked him what that entailed (no pun intended).

He said he would do it in office.  He would take twelve biopsies which is twelve little chunks of meat from my prostate gland removed by some pincer like apparatus he has in his office.  Last Sunday I talked to my cousin Bud who is the same age as me and he had it done.  He said while it is "no picnic" he had it done.  I told the doctor I would have it done.

Thus I now have an appointment December 19th for have my in office biopsy performed.  Sort of like my Christmas present to myself.

So that's where I stand now folks.  No cancer detected yet but the PSA scores still are indicating something is amiss.

I went to work that afternoon and then yesterday morning.  When I left work yesterday I was exhausted.  The hotel was full and the many of the hotel guests needed attention. How do you pronounce "Lewes"?  "Lewis or Loose?"  Oh yes, I do more at the front desk than provide a dazzling smile and pleasant banter. I'm a Jack of All Trades.  At least I didn't have to deal with the wobbly toilet on the third floor.  Mike (the manager) took care of that.  I don't do toilets.

I have off now until next Wednesday unless I get a call to come in again to fill in for one of my co-workers who has the vapors. So that's the deal folks.

Updates as I learn them.