What? What did you say? The doctor asked if I had any questions and those were the only two I could come up with at that moment.

For years I’ve been having an annual physical and for years I’ve been pretty much hearing the same things: Your sugar and cholesterol levels are a little high. At one point my cholesterol seemed stuck above 200, so my doctor put me on a statin that knocked it down to 165. It has remained at that level for years.

My blood sugar was another story; it seemed to like to stay just below or just above 100. My doctor started using words like ‘pre-diabetic’. He also said I could reduce my sugar level with a little more exercise, which I was happy to do. I’d also heard that cinnamon was good for reducing blood sugar so I started putting it on my toast and oatmeal.

One other test the doctor did was for PSA or Prostate Specific Antigen. This is the test that tells the doctor if you have a problem with your prostate such as cancer or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). This test has been around for a while but some doctors have stopped using it because of the number of false positive results it shows. My doctor is old school so he does the PSA test. My PSA has been 2.5 for years and according to my doctor that was a fine number for a man in his fifties. That’s not to say I didn’t have some problems with my prostate. Heck, most men do as they get older but I was told it was just a slight enlargement problem. Nothing to really worry about.

So once again it was time for my annual physical. I turned 61 this year but I was sure I was going to hear all the same things. Cholesterol: 165, Blood Sugar: 99–101, PSA: 2.5. And that’s almost what I heard when the doctor called. My Cholesterol was 165 but my blood sugar he said was only 91. He asked what I’d done to lower the number. I told him I’d stepped up the exercise and started using cinnamon. He told me good job and I thought the call was over but then he said you might have a problem with your prostate. I asked what he meant and he told me that after being at 2.5 for years, including last year, my PSA was now 4.8. He went on to say that 4.8 for a 61-year-old man isn’t too high, but the jump from 2.5 to 4.8 in one year was cause for concern. He suggested I see a urologist just to be safe.

I wasn’t too worried. I’ve had my share of health scares but they always turned out to be nothing. I was sure this would be too. So, I found a local urology office and called to make an appointment. I was told the male doctors were booked out a couple of months but that a female physician could see me right away. Because I knew what the first test was going to involve I thought a female doctor, which typically meant smaller hands, was a fine way to go.

A few days later I was in the doctor’s office. She agreed that a 4.8 PSA wasn’t very high but she also agreed that jumping from 2.5 to 4.8 in one year was indeed a cause for concern. She then asked if she could do a digital exam. Of course, I knew what that meant and it had nothing to do with digital technology, instead referring to the digit she was going to use. I said yes, (as if no was an option) and she proceeded, narrating as she went: The left side of your prostate is soft as it should be. I’m now checking the right. The right side is firm and on the top, I feel a nodule the size of a frozen pea. After the exam, she told me that firmness is not what you want in a prostate and the nodule—she didn’t say tumor—was a cause for concern. She went on to say that she wanted to do a biopsy. She said, I’m not saying you have cancer but this test will tell us for sure. Cancer? Why did she even use the word? I was sure it was going to be fine.

The test was scheduled for the next week and the next day I went to the gym to work out as if nothing had changed, because frankly to me it hadn’t. While at the gym I was talking to a couple of the guys I usually see there and I told them about my recent news and my upcoming biopsy. These guys were older than me and of course they both had stories about prostate biopsies. One guy said he’d had one a few years back, and that it was very painful and he was bleeding out of his butt and penis for months after. The other guy said he knew someone that had had it done and he’d told him they put a tube up your butt the size of a baseball bat with spikes on the end that stabs your prostate a dozen times or more, and you’re awake for the whole thing. Now I thought I had something to worry about.

When the day for the test arrived, I went into the office with more than a little hesitation. I looked around for this baseball bat size probe with the spikes on the end but I only saw this small tube on a table. The doctor told me that I would be laying on my side facing a TV screen where I could see the entire procedure. I asked where the probe was and she showed me the device. It didn’t appear much bigger than her finger and while it wasn’t very comfortable going in, it wasn’t the terrible ordeal I’d been warned about.

I watched the probe on the video screen reach the prostate. The doctor told me I would feel two slight stings as a numbing shot of Lidocaine was injected into each side of my prostate. She then pointed out a white, circle-looking thing in the upper right corner of my prostate and said that this was the tumor. That was the first time she used that word. She then said that a needle would shoot out from the probe into my prostate and remove a small piece of material. This was done twelve times and though I could hear and see the needle fire into the prostate, I didn’t feel a thing. The whole procedure only lasted about fifteen minutes and then I was on my way. Before I left I was told the results would be ready in a couple of weeks and we set an appointment for me to return to hear the news. I still wasn’t worried. I was 61 and I had two older brothers, neither of whom had prostate problems. Why would I be the first?

The two weeks went by quickly and I returned to the doctor for the results. My wife went with me and while we sat in the doctor’s office we joked around about where we would go to celebrate the good news we were about to get. We were talking about whether we should go out for pie or ice cream when the doctor came in. She saw we were all smiles and laughing and for some reason decided she would just cut to the chase. You Have Cancer she said. What? I replied. You have prostate cancer. Are you serious? I felt like I’d just been punched in the stomach.

My wife and I were sitting in chairs in the office. To our left was one of those little beds with the white paper on it. The doctor sat on a rolling chair and rolled towards the bed and starting drawing on the white paper. We pulled our chairs closer so we could see. She drew a picture of the prostate. She made circles where she said they’d taken biopsies. She drew a larger circle on the top right of the prostate and labeled it ‘tumor’. She drew a darker circle on the upper right and lower right and said this is where we found cancer. Then she began reciting some numbers. She said since you have a tumor I could feel we have a T, and because the cancer is on one side and at the top and the bottom you have a T2b, and based on how the cells looked you have a Gleason score of 6. She went on to say a Gleason score of 7–10 is bad and a score of 1–5 is not bad, but I’m a 6. So, there you have it. I have stage 2 prostate cancer, T2b with a Gleason score of 6. Now what?

The urologist told me I have three options. One is watchful waiting. Two is radiation. And the third is surgery. She stated that option one isn’t really option as at this point she didn’t think the cancer has spread, but if it does I would likely die fairly soon thereafter. Now we’re getting serious. So that leaves radiation or surgery. She said radiation certainly isn’t guaranteed and it was usually reserved for people who couldn’t tolerate surgery, leaving me with option three, a radical prostatectomy. She said she would refer me to a radiation oncologist and a surgeon. They’ll tell me what they advise, and based on that I’ll have a decision to make.

I still feel like I was punched in the stomach. I’ll let you know what I decide to do and will continue to write about this new challenge in my life. But as the title of my book states, I will Get Back Up.

My advice:

  1. Since most men, if they live long enough, will have some issues with their prostates all you can really do is postpone it and one way is with diet and exercise. So, make sure you’re getting plenty of exercise and eating plenty of Cruciferous Vegetables like broccoli and taking saw palmetto. There is a lot of information on this subject available.
  2. Make sure you’re getting a physical every year and having both a digital rectal exam and your PSA levels tested.
  3. If your doctor finds anything out of the ordinary with these tests go to a urologist right away.
  4. Have the urologist rerun the tests. If they are still positive have a biopsy of the prostate. This is the only sure way to find out if you have cancer. Don’t fear this test. It isn’t pleasant but it is not as bad as you might hear.
  5. When you go to get you results it’s ok to hope for the best, but plan for the worse. I was so certain I didn’t have cancer that I was not prepared with any questions. By the time I got home I had plenty.
  6. If you hear the dreaded C word get educated. There are plenty of great sources on the internet and great books like: The Guide to Surviving Prostate Cancer by Dr. Patrick C. Walsh.
  7. Get support. Don’t be afraid to tell family and friends. This is shocking news and it will create some stress for you. Being surrounded and supported by people who love you will help more than you know.

George A. Santino helps people who want to break down barriers, including self-imposed barriers, to success. Check out his Amazon bestselling book, Get Back Up: From the Streets to Microsoft Suites.