Good news and bad news

The good news is I am still alive.  The bad news is, I had prostate cancer.  They performed a radical prostatectomy on Monday, 06 Dec.  Now we must hope the had part of "had prostate cancer" is correct.  They take the prostate gland, seminal vesicle, and a couple of lymph nodes and check them all.  They check for cancer on the outer layer of the gland, and for cancer cells that may have migrated from the gland to the other two.  We are still awaiting the pathology report on all of those.  I don't expect any word before Dec15th, when I hope they will ex-foliate me ( remove the Foley catheter ).

I am at home now attempting to recover from the surgery.  What a great vacation.  No worries about work.  Sit and watch movies all day long.  Julie does not pester me to take out the garbage.  It hurts whenever I move.  I drag a urine bag with me wherever I go.  Yes, it is truly a great vacation.

No development yet.

In September I went in for a 5 year physical exam that I should be doing every 2 years.  At least that is what I was told by the people who make money by doing physical exams.  The short story is, my PSA number was just shy of double what it was previously, and I have a firm spot on the left side of my prostate.  I could involve the "C" word, or it could be a calcium deposit, remnant of a UTI.  Last Wednesday I went in to have them do a biopsy.  The biopsy sample is obtained via an ultra-sound guided rectal probe.  They gave me valium and some other drug that causes short term amnesia.  The last thing I remember before the procedure began was laying on the table under a paper cover, naked from the waist down, and wondering if the nurse was going to leave before the doctor began.  I don't remember getting dressed afterward, and the valium seems to eliminate inhibitions.  Julie claims that I asked the nurse if she had seen my bum.  According to Julie, the nurse affirmed that she did.  Totally humiliating.  It is a good thing I don't remember any of it.

The result of the biopsy should be available by about Wednesday the 27th.  If I can face the finding, I will post an update.  If not, you will know by the old adage "no news is bad news".

Until later then . . . . . 

We're not Old, . . . . really.

We just got 20 years younger.  It was easy.  All we did was create a blog for ourselves.  I have not looked in the mirror yet, but Julie looks awesome now.  Next we'll lose another 10 years by getting a Facebook account.  Blogging is officially only for young people.  Old fossils like us don't even know how to turn the dang computer on.  But, we gave in to the peer pressure, if you can call our children, nieces, nephews, and their friends, our peers.  Now we are bloggers.  We blog.  Look, we're blogging !