Visit to the doctor
November 4th 2008 06:40
I mentioned the other day that I’d felt I’d been suffering a bit from stress, probably related to the prostate business. Last Friday I made an appointment to see my doctor and today I went and saw her. I wasn’t too worried about the stress stuff; the more I thought about it the more it seemed to be a reaction to concerns I’d had after my visit to the hospital last Tuesday, and the urologist saying the word, ‘cancer’, a number of times.
Basically I just wanted today to sit down with the doctor and talk the whole thing over, get some perspective on it. I did that: asked questions, got answers – where she could give them – and was taken seriously and listened to, which is always a plus. Don’t know that I learned anything new. Had a number of things confirmed and listened again to some of the more unpleasant factors that might be involved at some point.
If the prostate does prove to have any cancerous cells (not in itself a life-threatening matter) and they decide to remove it, they somehow take it out through the penis. Now this is enough to make any male quail. I’d think the doctors doing it must even quail. My doctor assured me this is done under general anaesthetic, but I’m not sure that that helps!
Anyway, we’re going to have to face that if/when it comes. In the meantime, the biopsy, according to my doctor, is still somewhat a matter of choice. I had another PSA blood test done today, and if that shows stability since the last test, then it’s possible we’ll do a ‘wait and see’ approach. If it’s gone up further from last time, then it will pretty much confirm that there’s something needing attention, and a biopsy will be the next step. It may also depend on the urologist’s report from the hospital, which hasn’t reached my own doctor yet.
We’ll keep you posted.
Quail photo is by John-Morgan on flickr.com
Basically I just wanted today to sit down with the doctor and talk the whole thing over, get some perspective on it. I did that: asked questions, got answers – where she could give them – and was taken seriously and listened to, which is always a plus. Don’t know that I learned anything new. Had a number of things confirmed and listened again to some of the more unpleasant factors that might be involved at some point.
If the prostate does prove to have any cancerous cells (not in itself a life-threatening matter) and they decide to remove it, they somehow take it out through the penis. Now this is enough to make any male quail. I’d think the doctors doing it must even quail. My doctor assured me this is done under general anaesthetic, but I’m not sure that that helps!
Anyway, we’re going to have to face that if/when it comes. In the meantime, the biopsy, according to my doctor, is still somewhat a matter of choice. I had another PSA blood test done today, and if that shows stability since the last test, then it’s possible we’ll do a ‘wait and see’ approach. If it’s gone up further from last time, then it will pretty much confirm that there’s something needing attention, and a biopsy will be the next step. It may also depend on the urologist’s report from the hospital, which hasn’t reached my own doctor yet.
We’ll keep you posted.
Quail photo is by John-Morgan on flickr.com
| 41 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog










