Thank heavens I went to the doctor for help
Being diagnosed with cancer is a real shock. i was having trouble passing urine and went to see my doctor, who reassured me that the problem was a benign enlarged prostate. He arranged a prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test to make sure. When i phoned for the result, i thought it would be a formality, but my doctor said my PSA was high: a person of my age should have a level of less than four and mine was 36. She said i should have a biopsy as soon as possible. My heart was racing, but i managed to keep calm when telling my wife. At hospital for the biopsy, i met two wonderful members of staff, who were reassuring and caring. They have my utmost admiration: they saved my life. My wife came with me to hospital for the result and the opening statement from the consultant’s assistant was something we will never forget: ‘You have prostate cancer. if it has spread to your lymph nodes, it’s terminal.’ i can’t remember anything else he said in the next 20 minutes, but he gave me a pack detailing what happens next. i took tamsulosin, which gave me immediate relief, had an MRI scan and an x-ray to see if the cancer had spread. When and what do you tell your children? it was the longest two weeks of my life, waiting to see if i might die because i’d found it difficult to pee. i was told it hadn’t spread: i wasn’t going to die. The relief was staggering, the elation life-changing. i had an aggressive cancer, but it was contained in the prostate. The next process was to reduce my testosterone, for which a nurse injects a slow-release drug into my stomach, renewed every 12 weeks. no big deal, but you get hot flushes when you’re distressed. Radiotherapy was the only option due to the aggressive nature of the cancer. i had to travel 36 times to the amazing Rosemere centre in Preston. A month after my last radiotherapy session, i had another PSA test and it had gone down from 36 to 0.4. My consultant was thrilled. i still get hot flushes and my wife says: ‘Welcome to my world.’ Thank heavens i’m still part of it.
TERRY GREENWOOD, Thornton, Lancs.