Biopsy Report

[Guest Ruben]

I was originally going to have my biopsy for prostate cancer August 27, but the procedure was delayed for several days at my request. The results arrived this morning, and the biopsy was benign. Naturally, I'm grateful and relieved.

 

The biopsy proved to be surprisingly easy and quick. I was walking back to my car in the parking lot about 45 minutes after I arrived in my urologist's office! I did some paper work and waited around about 15 minutes before being called in, and the entire procedure from that time on was about a half an hour. There was a bit of pain when the pain killer was injected, two injections one on each side, and that was all. I felt nothing at all when the 10 biopsies themselves were taken, and I did not have to wait aroung the office for an hour afterwards as I was expecting to do. There was little bleeding then or later, and I went out to a pre-season football game that evening. The blood in the ejaculate was another matter, though, as I was warned it would be: bright red and lots of it. Today it is dark brown, which I was also told it would be. All in all, this was an easy procedure, and the medical staff was waiting for me. They were fully prepared, professional and competent.

 

While waiting for the biopsy I did a lot of reading about prostate cancer on the internet. I began with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network because Jack mentioned it in one of his posts. I then found plenty of great and informative sites, so many in fact that I soon made a Cancer Folder for my Favorites. I concentrated on a few good sites like those from Johns Hopkins University, the Cleveland Clinic, the Mayo Clinic, the Radiotherpy Clinics of Atlanta etc. And I even had the local library check out the accreditation of several sites that impressed me but whose reputation I did not know.

 

What did I learn? I learned that my pre-biopsy layman's understanding of prostate cancer/treatment was decades out of date! I also learned that this cancer can be cured, cured through surgery or radiation and that advances in laparoscopic surgery (How do you spell this word anyway?) may be much easier on a patient with prostate cancer than is today's standard operation. All things considered, I am much more calm today about the possibility of develeoping prostate cancer in the future than I was in early August.

 

I hope this report is of use to some of you, and thanks again to Jack and all of you who responded to my initial post and request for advice nearly a month ago.

 

Ruben

[Justice]

Hi Ruben,

 

I'm happy and relieved to hear that it was benign. :-) Thank you for sharing your story with us. Thanks also to Jack and everyone else who took the time to respond. It was a great deal of very useful information. I'm sorry that you had to go through all of this, but I also learned a great deal from you. Thanks again.

 

Justice

[samwhygy]

So glad to hear the good news. More good news is that by sharing your experience with fellow posters you may have saved a few lives with the information you shared. I lost my dad to this disease. I hope that someday they can wipe it off the face of the earth. Continued good health to you.