Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/02/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 9:11 PM, Steve Barbour <steve.barbour at gmail.com> wrote: > > so incredibly frequent, and usually incredibly benign, but not always..... > > Steve So, my father had it, and was treated with radioactive seed implants. Dad died of other things at a ripe enough age, but too soon. As I had family history, I got an annual PSA, and it was always normal; that is until a couple years ago, when a result came back that made my doc seek a retest. Second try was still alarming, so I went to a major Urology clinic in Shreveport. Same result there, so they did a biopsy. They found a high count of cancer cells in most parts of my prostate gland. I know that if you live long enough, you are likely to get prostate cancer, and I know that most men with it die of other causes. My doctor explained that these were not just traces, but quite a lot of cancer there, plenty enough to warrant action. About the same time Dennis Hopper's story came out. Now, I haven't had the kind of life Hopper had, but I had to pay attention to my prospects. After much discussion, we decided that the prospect for a "normal" life were best, in my case at sixty-five, to opt for radiation treatment, along with chemo/hormonal treatment. I had the treatment. My life is now getting back to normal, though in some ways it never will be again. Cancer is no fun, and the treatment is less. I met people at the radiation therapy waiting room, who had a lot worse situation than I did. I don't know if aggressive treatment was absolutely right, how can I know? Now the side effects are going away, my PSA is low, my hormones are climbing back into the normal range, and I feel better, it seems almost every day. This weekend we visited our Son and Daughter-in-law. Savanna is going to have a little boy in April, and I know I'll get to spoil him. So, I guess what I'm saying is that like cameras, one size of cancer detection doesn't fit all. -- Regards, Sonny http://sonc.com/look/ Natchitoches, Louisiana USA