ECN Forum Forums Safety Discussion and News Occupational Safety Discussion Prostate Cancer IS a thing.....

Hi Gents,
This thread pertains to Health not Safety, it is about your well-being, which should never be over-looked.
I recently had a scare with this and admittedly what I had was an enlarged prostate, secondary to a dose of the flu I had at the time.
However, to go to the bathroom and not be able to pee, was scary enough in itself.

Now, I understand that guys on this forum are of the age where prostate problems can be an issue, some go away without treatment, like a mild urinary tract infection.
If you have any issues with being able to pee or it feels like your bladder is not totally being emptied,
it is time to see a doctor.
Sure, no-one likes having a doctor put their finger into their rectum, but this in itself could save your life, it takes mere seconds.

A good friend and co-worker of mine died 6 months ago, because he was too stubborn to go and see a doctor, 3 years ago, as much as I ranted and raved to him about getting this simple examination done.

You owe it to yourself, your loved-ones and your co-workers, no-one wants to go to an un-necessary funeral.

Spread the word amongst your male colleagues, once you get to the mid 40's, you are prime to be tested and you should get tested.

Please, don't find out the hard way.

Mike T.

I agree Mike. I've been trying to get regular checkups in recent years, but frankly have avoided that particular exam for the past year or two.

Last year I had to have my Thyroid removed because of cancerous nodes around Halloween time and then soon after spent part of Christmas Eve in the Emergency room with a Pulmonary Embolism.

So, I've had quite a few tests done on me in the last year, but not that particular one. I will set something up in the new year.

Thanks for the reminder.

The treatment isn't that much fun.

Greg,
I totally agree, any sort of invasive "treatments" for malignant or other such tumours are never that great, they are horrendous!
It's like a situation of cut out tissue that is causing the problem or fill it up with nasty chemicals to see if the cells react to it, all of which has a nasty effect on a human being, either way.

Myself and a good radio ham friend of mine, who is not that much older than me, met up recently, after not having seen one another in about a year or so.
I was shocked at his appearance, he had been having chemo-therapy in hospital and he looked terrible.
He actually apologised for how he looked, I was nearly in tears, not because he looked that way, but because of what the chemo had done to him.
The entire left side of his face had drooped, like he had had a stroke, yet this was not the case, his speech was normal.

The one thing I don't intrinsically understand, is why cancer is now such a prevalent thing, whereas, back in say the 70's, you didn't really hear of people getting or dying from cancer.
Sure people did get brain tumours, but there seems to be so many more forms of cancer that you can get these days, maybe we live in more "enlightened times" with the internet.

Typical treatments for prostate cancer are surgical removal, beam radiation 5 days a week for a couple months or just injecting the radiation directly into the prostate (seeds). They all have serious downsides. Be sure you understand all of the pros and cons before you select the treatment.

Back a few years I lost a good friend to prostate cancer. He had just retired a few months prior to the diagnosis, and within 6 months he was gone. Before all of that he was a healthy guy.

I get a checkup annually. So far, so good.

I did the seeds. I wouldn't have done it if I really understood the problems. I seem to be OK now.

I had a PSA test in 2005 & my PSA test number had increased. After more tests, the discovered that I had prostate cancer. I had my prostate removed. I am now 15 years cancer free! I was lucky that they caught it early.
GET Checked.

Tomn,
Thank you for relating this.
Just a question, if you don't mind me asking, you can choose not to answer it.
How does life without a prostate gland compare to having one?
I always thought that the prostate stopped your bladder from emptying.

Credit to you for getting checked early and there was a better chance of the change being detected.
I hope things are going better for you now.

Regards,
Mike T.