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Understandably there is plenty of focus on covid-19 at the moment and the devastating impact it is having with increasing death rates.
However there is also another silent killer, which kills an average of 32 men each and every day here in the United Kingdom and it’s one men are reluctant to talk about – that’s prostate cancer.
It has now become a reality in my life and I have written a blog about my journey, which I would like to share.
I know most of the members of this forum are male and if what I have written makes just one of you get tested then it is worthwhile, even if you are a female reader share it with any house trained male you may have.
An interesting read, and having lost my Dad to Prostate Cancer just over 9 years ago I can relate. Having gone into the local A&E just a few weeks before his death that was the first we knew about his condition, for him it was too late and he died early in February 2011 at the age of 76, tomorrow would have been his 86th birthday if he was still alive. Like your dad he never went to the doctors, but having varicose veins he had 3 visits from the GP in the last year of his life and non picked up on his cancer, it was only the doctor at the A&E that suspected. My uncle maternal side of the family also had prostate cancer but with him he had caught it early and had it treated (to my understanding).
Having lost my Dad to prostate cancer I decide to go to the doctors myself to be tested, the test as described in your blog is unpleasant, but the alternative is worse in my opinion. My result was clear but will keep going for tests in future years.
You've got to accentuate the positive.
Eliminate the negative.
Latch on to the affirmative.
Don't mess with mister in between.Well done with telling the doctor, Paul
I use to be such a wimp with doctors giving blood etc but since my kidney problems feel nothing much bothers me now with regard the tests they do etc.
I do remember having my kidney biopsy and having to lie on my front for about 24 hours and it felt like a week
Can I share you blog on facebook, as you say you can’t have too much exposes for this type of thing and anyone reading with symptoms could push them in the right direction of a check upGaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
I had a blood test through work over 12 months ago and I really must revisit as I can have a drink and then be desperate for a wee within ten minutes. I don’t get up in the night too often but I do find my ability to hold it in is getting less and less. I have always had a “weak bladder” since my late teens (early fifties now) and can go to the loo 5 or 6 times in a couple of hours, it’s always been a bit of joke with friends and family that I’ll be the first to visit the loo when we’re out, but you’re absolutely right I need to revisit.
Sorry to hear about your Dad Red Rum ….. it’s a sad reality that most cancers get picked up in A&E departments, at which point it’s generally too late.
Nathan – yes, of course you can share it.
aaronizeez – please get tested again, most prostate problems are “innocent” but it’s always worth getting checked regularly, especially as you’re now in your 50’s
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I’m stuck in the middle of this at the moment – Had MRI in February, I’d put two appointments off as I don’t like enclosed spaces or things stuck in my arm, but with the help of Mr Valium I got through it. One of my brothers died at just 61 so I knew that I’d have to face this when I started to get up 2 or 3 times a night for a wee.
Got letter a couple of weeks later saying that I’d need a biopsy with general anaesthetic, this means a night in hospital. The wording was ‘ MRI shows a small irregular area in part of prostate’ Was waiting for date of biopsy when this Covid-19 lark started, so I’m at back of queue now I guess, and rightly so.
Will be a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire when the Covid-19 is over as I’m dreading the biopsy- I get wobbly just walking past a hospital! May not even go ahead with it as prostate cancer is usually a slow grower, as Paul mentioned in his blog, and many men die with it rather than because of it.
Thanks for the article Paul. Your tale could have been mine as I had a biopsy about three years ago following an elevated PSA test of about 12 and a ‘finger up the bum’ rummage. This followed the familiar story of finding I had to get up frequently during the night for a pee and also noticing an increasing urgency to do so during the day but taking ages to satisfactorily empty my bladder
Fortunately all I had was an enlarged prostate (benign prostatic hyperplasia) which has been shrunk by the drug Finasteride which I have to take daily and for evermore. I’m on a ‘watchful waiting’ regime and now just have to have an annual PSA test which I’m glad to say has been steady at around 4 since the investigations and drug help, and nightime voiding and urgency has been greatly reduced
All men over the age of circa 50 should see their doctor pronto if they notice a change in bladder habit and I hope your article makes those on this forum take note
Good work
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Good to see survival posts and I do think that there are maybe too many biopsies done? Most don’t show cancer or a slow growing one as mentioned. Of course for people who don’t have a fear of going through this, then it’s no sweat and better safe than sorry, and I know that some biopsies for this can be done under local anesthetic and no overnight hospital stay. as I know someone in Somerset who had one quite recently. They probably just want to knock me out because it will be in my notes what a baby I am with needles etc.
We’ve all got to weigh up the options of this. I don’t want to spend a night in hospital, you can catch a nasty bug and may come out worse than when you went in. I probably wouldn’t have bothered my doctor when starting to get up more in the night. It was only the fact that I’d lost a brother at too young an age and I kinda thought I owed it to him, if that doesn’t sound too daft.
Play safe
Tank – you are not sounding daft at all and your apprehension is perfectly normal. You did the right thing in going to your doctor.
Just remember though you are at higher risk because of your sibling. The biopsy is normally done under local anesethetic – I’ll be honest I was absolutely bricking it when it came to have mine and was a nervous wreck before I went in. My “defence mechanism” when stressed is to make inappropriate jokes and I actually got told off at one point for laughing too much whilst I was having my biopsy done.
There is a compromise solution to avoid having a general anesthetic, which I found out about after I had my biopsy, is they will, if you ask, sedate you. Depending on how nervous you are it could just be gas and air or it could be a stronger sedative – have a word with your clinic, that way you can have it done without the overnight stay and GA.
In terms of the suitability of biopsies …. this has been an area of debate and I had quite a discussion with my consultant before agreeing to have mine done as I wasn’t initially convinced. The bottom line is there is no 100% effective test for detecting early cancers and neither MRI or biopsy alone are not sure indicators but the two together are the current “gold standard” to give the best chance of detection.
I would have been happy to have had just the MRI but that only showed BPH and not the cancer cluster.
In the end it’s down to informed choice by the patient.
Despite my fears I’m glad I opted for the biopsy – at least I now know I’ve nothing immediate to worry about.
Like Paul, I had the biopsy done under local anaesthetic and was offered sedation if I felt particularly nervous at the prospect, which I declined. It was really just an uncomfortable experience, no more; and I really just kept telling myself that the procedure was no big deal for the practitioner and attendant nurses, just their job, all in a day’s work
Which reminds me of a friend of my father’s who was a proctologist. He was fond of describing himself as ‘the Epstein of the arse’. Sir Jacob Epstein was a famous sculptor
Thanks Paul. It is important at the moment to keep an eye on any body changes as most of us are looking out for Covid-19 symptoms in both ourselves and loved ones and perhaps taking our eye of the ball a little. The cancellation of events where these are also highlighted is also having an effect on awareness.
I do remember having my kidney biopsy and having to lie on my front for about 24 hours and it felt like a week
Bloody hell Nathan I’d last about 10 minutes and then I’d just have to turn over.
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Paul, thank you so much for your informative reply. I had no idea that there was a compromise between local and general anesthetic. This will be something that will help me greatly when the time comes to face up to a decision. I’ve been going through hell just thinking about it tbh, but the fact that I’m re- reading ‘A spot Of Bother’ by Mark Haddon at the moment probably hasn’t helped – if you are familiar with his work you will know what I mean – also liked the way you kept up the inappropriate joke theme when you mentioned the ‘bottom line’ even if you hadn’t meant it as a joke!
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