Waiting for Biopsy Results is the Pits

This blog appeared on 10/14/16 on Prostate Cancer News Today:
How to Wait For Biopsy Results

After your biopsy, it can take anywhere from one to three weeks to receive your results. For many men (I’m in this group), waiting for your biopsy will be a highly stressful time. For me, each passing day of waiting was more miserable and stressful than the next. I don’t wait well. In the express lane in the grocery store, I’ll count how many items are in the carts of people in front of me. To the everlasting embarrassment of my wife and children, using a loud voice I might say: “Doesn’t the express lane have a 15 item limit?” There’s no doubt in my mind, if I had to drive to face a firing squad, I’d be in the left lane passing everyone I could. How I waited for my biopsy results taught me a few valuable lessons I’ll share with you.

Online, I found this definition of the word wait: “To remain inactive until something expected happens.”

I divide the waiting period into two phases. Phase one is the time you spend with no information about your biopsy results. Phase two is the day you receive your results. Here are some of the things I did in phase one.

I knew absolutely nothing about prostate cancer, so I went to our public library. I checked out a dozen books. I wasn’t reading to obtain facts about prostate cancer. I focused my attention on the worst information I could find. I ignored and dismissed the fact that “Nearly 100 percent of men diagnosed with prostate cancer while the cancer is in early stages are still alive five years after diagnosis.” I locked into the fact that “prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of male cancer-related death in the U.S.” I was selectively filtering the information I was reading in order to prove to myself that a diagnosis of prostate cancer is a death sentence.

The more frightened I became, the more I relied on mood-altering behaviors to help me cope. Examples of mood-altering behaviors are using drugs, alcohol, TV, computer games — anything that removes you from reality to avoid experiencing reality is a mood-altering behavior.

I used food. As I ate more, I gained weight. As I spent too many hours in front of the TV, I distanced myself from my friends, family, and my wife. I set myself up to experience isolation at a time when I needed lots of support.

If I had a do-over, I would:

• Read a lot less
• Spend more time with my family
• Take my wife on a weekend or week-long romantic vacation
• Spend a lot less time in front of the TV
• Exercise regularly
• Eat less junk food
• Find people further along in the journey to talk with both in person and online
• Listen to my wife’s fears and concerns
• Rely more on my faith and spend more time in prayer

Which (if any) of these suggestions appeal to you and/or your partner in your time of waiting for your biopsy results?

Overcoming Fears of a Prostate Biopy

This blog appeared Oct 6th 2016 in Prostate Cancer News Today at this link:
Overcoming Biopsy Fears

After my urologist felt “a suspicious lump” and scheduled me for a prostate biopsy, anxiety and fear became  my constant companions. There were two primary sources of my fear. The first involved my fear of the procedure. The second involved the fear of receiving my biopsy results.

Knowing next to nothing about a prostate biopsy, I did what is second nature when needing information. I went online and searched “preparing for a prostate biopsy,” and received more than 150,000 Google hits. My eyes glazed over. The amount of information was overwhelming.

I allowed my fears to determine the questions that needed answers. I’ve come to believe that anyone who is told they need a prostate biopsy should receive a list of Frequently Asked Questions. Here’s my list of questions; hopefully, the answers will reduce your fears as it did mine.

How is a prostate biopsy performed? A transrectal biopsy is the most common method used. A  thin needle is inserted through the rectum, into the prostate. Several thin cylindrical “cores” of prostate tissue are removed and examined for prostate cancer.

Is the procedure painful? The experience of pain is highly subjective. You should know if or how your urologist plans to reduce your pain. If you’re told there’s no need to reduce the pain, it’s my suggestion you insist on pain relief. With pain relief,  I’d say my pain level was at six on a scale with 10 being the most painful. Thankfully, the test doesn’t take very long.

What are the ways to reduce the pain? My urologist injected lidocaine, which is a numbing drug, into my prostate to reduce the pain. The good news is the injection worked. The bad news is the injection to reduce your pain is mildly painful.

What are the risks of a prostate biopsy? You’ll receive and sign a form detailing the risks of a biopsy. The most common risks cited are bleeding at the biopsy site, rectal bleeding, or infection. You may see blood in your urine. Your semen may be blood-colored for a week or so. Temporary impotence is not listed as a risk, but I was in the minority of men who experienced temporary impotence, lasting approximately two weeks, after my biopsy.

Can a prostate biopsy rule out cancer? Yes, but a negative biopsy is not necessarily a guarantee of being cancer-free. According to researchers at the Oregon Health and Science University Cancer Center, up to 25 percent of prostate biopsies give a false negative.

What do I need to know in order to understand my biopsy result?  Your Gleason score is a measure of how aggressive your tumor is likely to be. It is made by a pathologist looking at the cancer under the microscope.

Receiving the answers to your questions and concerns before your biopsy is the best way to prepare and reduce your fears about this procedure.

Just My Imagination Running Away With Me

This blog appeared here on Sept 21st 2016 In Prostate Cancer News Today: Here's the link

Just My Imagination

Receiving the news I needed a biopsy was the first time in my life that I had to deal with the possibility I had a life-threatening disease. For a doctor, telling someone they need a biopsy is a regular occurrence. For the patient receiving that news, it’s both traumatic and life changing.

When you receive the news you need a biopsy, it’s highly unlikely the medical system will acknowledge or address the emotional needs of the person receiving this news. I was totally unprepared to cope with the possibility I had prostate cancer. I left the doctor’s office in a daze. I couldn’t believe it was possible to have a potentially life-threatening disease, without any symptoms or warning.

On my first night, my imagination turned against me. I spent a good deal of my sleepless hours reliving how everyone I knew who was diagnosed with cancer had died. I had a host of people to remember, both personally and professionally. As a medical social worker, I witnessed people die from cancer in a hospital setting. Most of these deaths occurred before the hospice movement. In pre-hospice days, most doctors would not provide adequate pain control. In those days, the primary medical objective was to avoid creating drug dependency, rather than eliminate pain.

I suspect that’s the reason every cancer death I could recall involved people who suffered a great deal before they died. I replayed their suffering multiple times. After wallowing in those gruesome images, I inserted myself into the story. I imagined it wouldn’t be long before I’d be one of those people in chronic pain, dying from prostate cancer.

Unfortunately, most of the people I knew who’d been diagnosed with cancer had died within a year of receiving their diagnosis. From my perspective, a diagnosis of prostate cancer was the equivalent of a death sentence. So I began to imagine everything I’d miss out on. Three of the most painful losses I experienced that night were:

*Not living long enough to walk my daughter down the aisle

*Not living long enough to be a grandparent

*Not living long enough to enjoy retirement with my wife

I was convinced I’d die before any of these events occurred. By the time morning arrived, I was convinced my survival depended on my receiving a rapid diagnosis and treatment. I believed the only way to delay dying from prostate cancer depended on my ability to find a urologist who could get me in for a biopsy in less than 30 days. Even if it meant I’d need to travel to another city. I would have flown to the moon, if necessary, to cut down on my waiting time. Convinced my life depended on receiving a diagnosis and treatment as quickly as possible, I began the task of finding a urologist who would perform my biopsy in less than 30 days.

I’d entered into a race against time to diagnose and treat a silent enemy capable of killing me.

Why I Left & Why I came back

A few months ago, I was approached by BioNews Services. I was asked to blog about prostate cancer. I had mixed feelings about their offer.

The Pro's
1. They offered to pay me for each blog. Not a lot, but it is nice to be paid for your work.
2. They offered me greater exposure. The number of people who read my blogs on this site reach to         the double digits. On occasion I'll reach a three digit number.  On their site, all my blogs reach
    several hundred people. For me it's more rewarding to reach several hundred people rather than           twenty.
3. They spruce up my blogs with graphics and a more appealing and professional look than I could         give them.

The Con's
1. My original agreement was that I couldn't post any of my blogs here. (Which explains my absence)
2. They determined the length of the blog. In other words my word count was limited. Which meant I
     have to sacrifice details in order to keep the word count down.

For me the pro's outweighed the cons.  I currently blog for BioNews Services.

Recently they changed the agreement and allowed me to share my blogs on my personal blog. So I'm going to link my blog here, so those who want to follow me here can do so. It's a pleasure to be back!

Where do men get support coping with erectile dysfunction?

It's been estimated that erectile dysfunction is involved in the breakup of 25% of marriages that fail. One of the most frustrating things for partners to cope with is the anger and defensiveness of men who refuse to seek help. In addition to refusing to seek help, most men withdraw both emotionally and physically with their partner.

I'm asking men who are coping with ED to share what (if any) forms of help they've tried:
1. Consultation with a Physician
2. Talking with their partner
3. Joining an online ED forum
4. Attending an ED support group
5. Seeking advice, support & information from a friend or family member
6. Reading articles about ED online
7. Reading a book(s) about ED
8. Going at it alone without doing anything

If you've had a positive experience(s) seeking information, help or support please share the source and the results of that help.

If you've had a negative experience share that, and what you've done since that time.

If going at it alone has caused both you and your partner nothing but misery check out the book my wife and I wrote:
Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Erectile Dysfunction and Penile Implants

Don't Allow Erectile Dysfunction to Ruin Your Life

Men are stubborn creatures. When coping with erectile dysfunction their natural instinct is a flight or fight response. They'll withdraw from their partner. They'll get angry or defensive when their partner makes sexual advances or talks about the need to get help. If you are one of those stubborn men or a partner to one of those men, I have great news. You can receive effective help in the privacy of your on home.
Don't take my word for this, here's what an an Amazon reader said:

"The authors are professional in their field and their book shows it. Very well written, concise, informative, laced throughout with psychological, therapeutic and spiritual guidance, (Everything...) is a masterful journal, a handbook with extensive research, Q&A chapter endings, a lifeline for ED patients, and their partners, emotionally devastated by a future of permanent impotency and the threat of broken relationships.....
This book is highly recommended. It deserves some kind of literary award...a must reading for ED sufferers overcome with stress, shame, humiliation with no relief in sight."

Do yourself a favor, treat yourself and your partner with respect. Check out this link, search inside the book at no charge, read the reviews, then buy the book.


The Gateway to help Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Erectile Dysfunction and Penile Implants

My New Blog Site

Blog will no longer be blogging at this site. Here's the link for my new site:

My new blog location.

I made this change so I could have the opportunity to reach more people. The move accomplished that goal. On this site, each blog averaged a few dozen hits. On the new site my blog has hundreds of hits.

After careful consideration I've decided to blog in BOTH locations.