Hi All,

Well, a lot has gone on since my last post that included my final diagnosis and farewell. I wanted to stop by just to let you know just what else I have had to deal with over the last month or so.

I visited my new PCP, who is very thorough, meticulus, and great at his job, and my lab tests were reviewed and a starteling high PSA level for my Prostate was found. Normal range is 0 to 2.5 with a maximum on the scale of 4.0. Well, mine was 6.7 and became an immediate priority for investigation of possible cancer. I was referred to a Urologist immediately and got in within the next week. He confirmed the PSA and scheduled me for, what was originally a 6 section biopsy, and ended up to be a 12 section biopsy of the Prostate. Not a bad procedure. No real pain as they numb the sight with Lidocain. They used ultrasound for visual guidance, perforated the Colon, Prostate and Urethra with a needle biopsy thus leading to bleeding in all areas for upto the next six weeks............oh joy!

I received a call from the Urologist last night at 8pm telling me I didn't need to come in for my followup app today because everything came back as benign and negative for any cancer. Good news for me, not that I was even worried about it as I take things one at a time and deal with it as it comes up.

Next, or virtually at the same time, my PCP scheduled me for a cancer screening of my Colon and thus I had a Colonoscopy a week earlier than the Prostate Biopsy. Ironically the Conscious Sedation had no affect on me and I was wide awake during the entire procedure and watched it on the patient monitor. Pretty cool if you ask me. He found two very large Polops that needed to be removed and clamped to be physically drawn out of my Colon as they wouldn't fit in the vacuum device. The third smaller Polop was able to be removed and vacuumed out. Being as I have "bowels of steel", according to my PCP and wife, it took me six hours to exspell all of the gas used to inflate my Colon. Quite a bit of cramping during that time, which I didn't expect. BTW, the prep was not that bad at all. I drank the gallon and a half of the clean-out solution in about three hours. Never had to rush to the bathroom or take up temporary residence, slept through the night and hit the bathroom one more time before I went in for the procedure.

Results were called in to me on Friday night by my Gastroenterologist. The smaller Polop was benign or negative BUT the other two larger Polops were end stage precancerous! Now I have to go back in a year for the same procedure instead of five years just to followup and watch the cancer situation. There is no treatment required under these circumstances, only wait and watch. How many of us have heard that before?

My new webstore business construction is going well and I expect to go live within a few weeks. I will be marketing fine jewelry online and am really enjoying the process of learning and building my own website for business.

I hope all of you are doing as best you can and I hope those that aren't diagnosed yet keep on fighting for the right neuro and a firm diagnosis. I will lurk around and try and stay in touch with all of you. From my last post, thank you for all of the positive and supportive comments. They made a real difference in my life.

My thoughts and prayers are with all of you. Thank you for being there when I needed you.

Craig,

I envy you going into your online business. I would like to do that someday too. I wish you the best of luck and I hope you have great success, you certainly deserve it!

And BTW, I hope your medical issues all fade into the background and you'll have some uneventful years ahead of you.

Glad you've not permanently abandoned us. Gosh...prostate and colon both giving problems? Not fair or fun.

I've heard of several people lately for whom the conscious sedation has not worked during colonoscopy. If any of you are preparing to undergo it, please let your doc know of your concerns as well as any difficulty with meds in the past.