THERE WAS NO RESPONSE TO AN UPDATE REMINDER IN 2015 SO THERE IS NO UPDATE.

First 7 months of 2011 found me with sporadic bouts of severe back pain and cramping in abdominal and chest. Doctor prescribed a specialist/physiotherapist. Exercise just made it worse. Prescribed accupunture which achieved nothing. During this time I had to make 2 trips to hospital outpatient services to receive injections for pain control. Finally in late July 2011 I ended up in an out-of-town ER, where after 5 days of tests, no one yet knew why I was getting these severe cramps and back pain, which by now was also radiating through my hips and shoulders. The pain was brought under control with opioids. On the day before discharge a doctor of oncology decided to do a bone marrow biopsy as she thought I might have Multiple Myeloma. She also booked an appointment for me with an Oncologist for further tests. The morning of my discharge the ward doctor asked if anyone had tested my PSA. Since that had not been done I urged him to proceed. Three days later I visited my family doctor to go over the results of my most recent lab reports. When he walked into the room his face was white and he told me my PSA was 960 and there was no doubt but that I had advanced Prostate Cancer. "WHAM" like someone had just backhanded my brain into a hail storm. Think Joe, think. My slowly clearing brain heard him say he had already booked an appointment for me with an urologist for the following week. Onto the internet to find out what was in store for me and for my family, and what if anything there was which I could do.

(I had an annual medical in Feb. of 2011. No PSA was done. No digital rectal exam was done. I later found out that my Doctor did not like to touch people. Huh? Whats with that? I later found out the clinic where my doctor practiced had a prevailing opinion that PSA tests were a waste of time and money. After my annual I had some niggling thoughts about maybe going back and getting the PSA done but, well you know, one puts things off, and off again and again, until its forgotten about)

Urologist examination including DRE (digital rectal exam), CAT scan, more xrays which showed bone lesions just about everywhere, including sholder bones, ribs, sternum, full length of backbone, pelvic bones, and hip bones. The one positive - no sign of any metases in soft tissue. I started Androgen Deprivation therapy, (ADT), and within 3 weeks was feeling better and using very little pain killer. Mainly one tablet of Tramadol a day at bedtime. more later......

Joe's e-mail address is: planes1057 AT hotmail.com (replace "AT" with "@")

NOTE: Joe has not updated his story for more than 15 months, so you may not receive any response from him.