Somthing about YOU

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Mike, just to try and give you a little support, and hope everything goes well for you.

[Mike Vogel]

It will be fine OH, thank you. Julian's wart is being well and truly zapped.

mike

[Mike Vogel]

Rooster, I've found the picture of my allotment. Its on this forum [General Chatter] in the thread "How Big Are Allotments". I posted it on Sept 11 2006. Can't get it back right now, but it's still on the thread.

mike

[Di]

Mike,
very sorry to hear you have cancer, I hope the treatment is over soon and your health fully restored very soon. I'm sure everyone on this forum will say the same.

all the best
Di

[pongeroon]

We most certainly do.

[Chantal]

Good luck Mike, a very curable form of cancer as I understand. I do hope so

[Compo]

Echo what everyone else says Mike, Good luck and keep us posted, are you having radiotherapy? Seriously though as there are a lot of us chaps in here, and a few of us if not most of us are on the wrong side of 40 it might be good to offer some education as to what to watch out for, I went to the doc about ten years ago and had mine checked but should we go more often, what do we watch out for?

Compo

[Mike Vogel]

I'm as fit as a wotsit at present and hardly worried at all about this extremely small growth. I'm having 3 months on hormones to starve the cancer of testosterone [which prostate cancers thrive on] and then 7 weeks' radiotherapy while the hormones continue to shrivel Julian's wart.

My wife knows more than I do about these things.

mike

Hello, I'm Sue, Mike's wife, and I speak from extensive experience in cancer research until 2002:

Most prostate cancers grow slowly. As for things to watch out for - prostate cancer mimics other conditions of the prostate such as prostatitis or enlargement of the prostate. In many men, the first difficulty is in urination, either a weak stream or occasionally obstruction which necessitates hospitalisation.

There can also be blood in the semen (rare) and pain in the testicles and lower abdomen.

I am almost evangelical about routine PSA testing in men over 40 and particularly where there is a family history of prostate cancer. PSA (prostate specific antigen) is an indicator that something is not right in the prostate (NB it is NOT necessarily an indicator of cancer), and a raised PSA can indicate that a biopsy is needed, which need not be particularly uncomfortable and may save a man's life.

More information can be found at:

http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=2657

Hope this helps,

Sue Vogel

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Mike and Sue, i would just like to thankyou both for your last reply.

[Mike Vogel]

But I forgot to thank Di, Pongeroon, Chantal and Compo and others for your good wishes.

I've been for my bone scan this morning. They say it infuses as much radioactive material into me as 100 transatlantic flights. So why didn't they give me any air miles? I have to stay away from children and pregnat women because I remain radioactive for 12 hours. As darkness approaches I'm going to try to save electricity by glowing in the dark, or turning on the lights without touching anything.

Sorry Rooster, I've rather hijacked your thred. I'll stop.

mike

Never throw anything away.

[retropants]

Hi Mike, apart from the obvious, which is to say, Good Luck and very best wishes for a speedy recovery, I have to say about the bone scan, that I did not know that. 12 hours? Really? that is amazing, you learn something new and interesting every day.

[Rooster]

Absolutely no need to apologise Mike, may I add my good luck message to you and your family. It sounds like you've got plenty of suport here and more importantly at home, all the best,

Regards, Ian

[pongeroon]

And good advice, to keep away from pregnant women and children. I do whenever possible.

[Compo]

Mike the information is very useful and I don't think Rooster minds at all I think it is both helpful for you to be able to post on here and feel supported / heard and if we all share information about our diseases / ailments / conditions, hopefully we will feel better equipped to alert ourselves to get medical help / advice when things don't feell good or right.

Good luck with thre treatment Mike, expect you will feel exhaused in the next few weeks as the cumulative effects of the radio-therapy kicks in. Good luck and best wishes, Compo.

[Mike Vogel]

Thanks Compo, and I'll keep you posted. I'm a fairly youngish and fittish 60-year-old who cycles, walks, allotmentises, etc whenever feasible. I expect I'll feel all the things you say, but so far, touch wood, I'm feeling no less energetic than usual. I'm planning to do everything as if there is no problem at all and if I'm tired, so I'm tired. If everything goes according to schedule, the treatment will be complete by mid- to end-June, just in time to dig in the broad beans and dig up the garlic.

I'll be in touch

mike