Shedding Pounds By Shedding Organs

Standing by the hospital bed, the two nurses discussed the patient’s status. They reviewed recent ultrasounds, CT Scans, and the importance of “you have to go before you can go”. At some point I just looked up at the two of them and said, “I am being transformed from a 61 year old man to a 29 year old in the Maternity wing.”

Welcome to a very special Health Insurance Issues With Dave. It must now be obvious that some of the posts of the last year dealing with doctor interaction and cancer treatment were, in fact, about me. I apologize for being less than 100% transparent. I kept waiting for my Emily Litella moment. It just never came. (By the way, the links are footnotes that attempt to make these posts more informational and entertaining. Take a moment to enjoy Gilda Radner).

This post will discuss my last two weeks in stark detail. The picture above was taken Thursday, after I got home. Yeah, Happy Ending. Still, my story is still evolving and so is yours. And though less than pleasant, this is very relevant to you.

My annual physical has always included bloodwork. My PSA started to climb a few years ago. Nothing shocking. Not too high. No spikes. I didn’t have ANY problems, but I could hear my prostate calling. I finally had a biopsy last fall. The news wasn’t good. I had a Gleason Score of 7.

In some countries an otherwise healthy, asymptomatic man in his early 60’s would be monitored. Prostate Cancer moves slowly. In the US we aggressively tackle Prostate Cancer now, while the patient has the best opportunity to not only withstand the process of surgery or radiation, but to lead a long, normal life post-treatment. I opted for a combination of hormonal and radiation treatments. This was detailed in my last post.

I was invited to participate in a clinical study. Part of the protocol was another CT Scan. My last was just outside the timeframe. OK. One more test. The test results were fine, except that there was a shadow on my left kidney. The subsequent ultrasound was not determinant, but it wasn’t good. The next CT Scan was focused on my kidneys. I had a mass, approximately 10 cm wide, on the base of my left kidney. It didn’t matter if it was benign or malignant (probably), it had to come out. The radiation was put on hold for a couple of months so that this could be resolved.

Please click here to read the balance of this post.

:>wj\