Week One

One week of treatments down and 40 balloons to go! Yaaaaay!

So far I have no side effects except having to pee a little bit more than I used to. I'm told by the veterans that you either have to pee a lot or have problems peeing. Hopefully I don't end up with the later.

My treatment times have been consistently at 8PM with the exception of Friday's treatment, which was at 7:25 AM. I requested the morning so I could get my treatment and head to AZ if I wanted to for the weekend.

Unfortunately I did not go to AZ this weekend. The cost of Diesel plus the extra cost of living here makes it kind of tight for now. Besides Jeanette is coming here for the 4th of July weekend.

So far the worst part of this whole thing is being separated from Jeanette. It gets lonely here without her. I really miss her a lot.

"Make Man Whole"

The proton treatments that I'm receiving at LLUMC are only a small part of the healing process. The Seventh Day Adventist believe in and live according to the philosophy of "Making Man Whole." Making Man Whole means to restore man to wholeness, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

They encourage you to participate in the Tuesday night potlucks and Wednesday night support group meetings. They also encourage you to work out at the Drayson Center, which is provided to you for free while you are here. It's all part of the healing process.

Last Tuesday I went to the potluck, that was held at the Loma Linda Springs club house. The newbies aren't required to bring anything the first time and they get to eat first. Some announcements were made along with some jokes to liven things up a bit, then we all chowed down. After dinner all the newbies had to introduce themselves. After the introductions a few of the guys got up in front of the crowd and told jokes, sang songs, and read poems. It was a nice time but I kind of felt out of place. I was the youngest guy there and most of the others were old enough to be my father. We all had one thing in common though, and that was prostate cancer.

Some of them were there for their last potluck because they were ending their treatment. They are called the graduates and each of them stood up and gave a short speech about their time at Loma Linda. All expressed how blessed they were to be there. They were all glad to be done with the treatments and ready to go home but at the same time they were going to miss the comradeship and the time they spent with people they had met during their stay at Loma Linda.

Wednesday night was the support group meeting that was held at the Student Cafeteria on the LLUMC campus. The meeting was conducted by Lynn Martell, Vice President of Advancement at LLUMC. The meeting was much like the potluck. All the newbies got to introduce themselves and the graduates made their speeches. This meeting is for all cancer patients and not just for ones with prostate cancer. There was one lady in the group that introduced herself. She had breast cancer and was there for a clinical study for treating breast cancer with the proton beam. There were also alumni there that had gone through the treatments years ago and were there to share their experience and success with their treatment.

Listening to all the introductions and speeches at both gatherings reminded me of when I was in the military. It made me think back eighteen years ago when I was in the same area attending the NCO Academy at the now former Norton A.F.B. in San Bernardino, California near Loma Linda.

It was the summer of 1990 and Iraq invaded Kuwait. Norton A.F.B was a Military Airlift Command base and after the invasion, thousands of Marines, Airmen, and soldiers staged on the base to deploy to the middle east for what was later designated as Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. War was in the air as all these brave men and women were finally going to do what they had always been trained to do. They were ready for war!

Little did I know that almost eighteen years later, I would be back in the same area experiencing almost the same thing. Only this time it was a war against cancer and much like the brave men and women who were ready for war eighteen years ago, these brave men and women were preparing to fight a war of their own. Each person there had experienced the shock of being told they had cancer and each person wanted to fight their cancer with the best weapons available so they would hopefully someday be liberated from the enemy within them.

Lots of time on my hands.

Okay enough about cancer! Since the treatments take up only an hour of my time at the most each day, this leaves me with a lot of time to do whatever I want.

Thursday I drove to nearby Redlands, which is a quaint little town east of Loma Linda. There is an area downtown that looks like something out of the 50's. It is lined with shops and restaurants and lots of shade trees. Every Thursday night they close off the street for a street fair/farmer's market. By the time I arrived they had just closed the street and all the merchants were setting up their tables to sell their products. I didn't get to stay because I had to get back to Loma Linda for my treatment.

Downtown Redlands
















Saturday I drove to Los Angeles and visted the Petersen Automobile Museum. I would recommend anybody interested in automobiles to visit this museum. It's a top notch museum that had something there for all ages. It even has an extensive Hot Wheels collection. The main attraction for me was the new exhibit of Recreational Vehicles dating back from the 1920's to just before WW II. If you're an RV'er like myself then you need to see this exhibit.

1929 Gilkie Tent Trailer

















1935 Curtiss Aerocar (First Fifth Wheel Trailer)
















The oldest known travel trailer in existance















I also made a visit to March A.F.B. just 15 minutes away in Riverside. The base is now a Reserve base and almost a ghost town. They still have a small BX and Commisary there but most of the buildings that were once busy with military men and women, were now boarded up and deserted. It was kind of sad to see.

What used to be the Base Hospital

















Deserted Burger King on base
















The BX

Ants Everywhere!

June 25, 2008

I just completed my third treatment and now I'm sitting here in my recliner drinking a Dos Equis while watching HGTV in Mute, and listening to Stevie Ray Vaughn singing the Blues, with my fake fire place on. Just relaxing after a tough day of battling cancer and ANTS! Yes ANTS!

It seems I parked my RV on a colony of ants and they decided to check out my RV last night. I came home from the weekly potluck and I kept seeing ants. The more I looked the more I saw. They were everywhere! So I went outside and did some investigating to see where these critters were coming from. I found out they were hitching a ride on my rear support legs. During my hunt I also found out I had Black Widow spiders camped out back behind the trailer. GEEEZ! I guess when you're camping in austere conditions like I am, these things tend to happen.

So I got on the Internet and typed in "Ants in RVs." Gosh the net is great! I found several articles on the subject with a multitude of ways to get rid of them and prevent them from coming in. So this morning, armed with all this knowledge I began my battle of the ants at the local Wal-Mart. Like a soldier on a mission I armed myself with all the latest high tech weapons and returned to the RV.

Free Bird I'm coming to save you!

I took out my secret weapons, which consisted of Comet (with bleach), Vaseline (Yes Vaseline), bug spray, and ant traps. I sprinkled Comet around any area the ants could hitch a ride on. The ants supposedly will not cross the Comet. Then I put a coat of Vaseline on my electrical cords, water hoses, and cable connection. The ants will not cross the Vaseline either.

So now that I had the outside perimeter secured, it was time to contain the ants that were inside. I placed the traps in strategic areas throughout the RV and watched as the little critters took the bait.

Lastly, I sprayed all the crevices around the pop-outs and vents to prevent any remaining ants on the outside of the RV from entering.

I think my neighbors either thought I was crazy or I was performing some satanic ritual. I should have saved the chicken bones from dinner the other night and placed them inside the circles of comet. Ha!Ha!

Did it work? Well I haven't seen any ants so far.

That was my excitement for the day.

Here's some pics from the Battle Cam.

Loma Linda Here I Come!

Loma Linda, Here I Come!

Okay, it's time to speed things up a bit to get this blog on track. It's the 23rd of June and I'm sitting here in Free Bird waiting to go to my first treatment at noon.

Two weeks ago I arrived at Loma Linda for the first time. Jeanette and I decided to take the RV to California and get things set up for the treatments and to see where I will be living for the next two months. We decided to make it a small vacation at the same time.

We arrived in Grand Terrace, California on Saturday the 7th of June. We got settled in at the Terrace Village RV Park which is about three miles from Loma Linda. The park is small and kind of tight but clean and quite. The management are all very friendly and helpful.

We also took a trip to Universal Studios and spent the whole day there. Great place and lot's of fun!



My home for the next two months.












The Hood














Having a little fun with Matt Damian at Universal Studios














Sarge eat your heart out! (Sarge is my gay cat by the way)













I was scheduled for two appointments on the 10th and the 11th of June. The first one was my initial consultation with the Doctor who will be monitoring my treatment while here at LLUMC. I met Dr. Rossi and his nurse Sharon for the first time. They are both wonderful people and everybody here at LLUMC seem to operate like a well oiled machine.

My first visit to the proton treatment center was a reality check for me. I entered the reception area and saw several people with different types and stages of cancer. There were women with no hair, people in wheel chairs, and ordinary men that seemed perfectly healthy.

One couple in particular stood out from all the rest. They appeared to be a husband and wife in their fifties. The wife had her head on her husband's shoulder and she appeared to be sound asleep. I was thinking the husband was there awaiting treatment for prostate cancer and his wife was there by his side patiently waiting his turn. Well, I was wrong. A nurse came in and called their name. The husband stood up, he gently helped his very sick wife stand up and slowly walk toward the back area. She was so sick, she could barely walk. This is something I have not seen before in my life, a room full of people with cancer. People that were a lot sicker then I. I felt so sad for his poor woman. I wondered, what kind of cancer did she have.


In the months I spent waiting for this day I kind of put the fact I had cancer in the back of my head. Sure there wasn't a day I didn't think about it, but today reality struck. I have cancer! I'm another statistic!

The next appointment was the preplanning. This is where they make your pod. The pod is a big PVC pipe cut in half. They have you lay inside while they pour a substance around you that dries and forms around your body. This is to keep you immobilized while they zap you with the proton beam.

After the pod is made they take a CT scan of your prostate area while you are in the pod. In order to keep your bladder away from the treatment area, you need to have a full bladder. Then they insert a balloon up your rectum and fill it with water. This aids in keeping everything out of the way while they zap your prostate. This is a very important step in keeping you from being incontinent after treatment.

LLUMC












This is where I will leave my cancer behind.









Finally caught up!

Well, I'm finally caught up!

I woke up this morning for my first treatment. Ironically, Loma Linda had an earthquake at about 7:15 AM. My wife and I heard a noise about that time but did not realize it was an earthquake until I turned the TV on and saw it on the news. Luckily it was only a 4.0. I think it was a subtle reminder from God to Loma Linda that they better take care of me or else. Ha!Ha!

My appointment is at Noon and my nurse told me to arrive at 11:30 with a full bladder. So I start drinking water at about 10:30. Now keep in mind I had already finished two cups of coffee and a glass of juice about an hour before. Let's say my bladder was full.

I arrive on B level and check in. I got to pee but I can hold it, no problem. Everything seems to be on time and there aren't a lot of people sitting around waiting, which is a good sign. I have been assigned to the HBL crew. The HBL is a horizontal beam that is different from the other gantry type beams.

My wife and I are sitting in the waiting room watching through the glass windows behind us as technicians move pods on carts from one room to the other. My wife and I laughed because it looked like something out of the movie "Cocoon."

Okay, we have been waiting for about thirty minutes now and I really have to pee BAAAAD! So I went up to the receptionist and asked her how much longer it would be, and tell her in my best Forest Gump imitation, "I got to go pee." She gives them a call and tells me that I could go ahead and pee some, then drink more water. I'm thinking to myself, how in the heck am I going to pee some. A woman can cut it off in midstream but I don't think a man can. So I go to the can and try it. Oh god it felt so good I didn't want to stop! Okay here it goes! Well guys, let me tell you, it's hard to stop in midstream but it can be done.

I go back out to the waiting room and sit down beside my wife. I'm partially relieved now so I take a few swallows of water like the receptionist told me to do. Hey I'm just following instructions. That's the military in me. Big mistake!

About fifteen minutes later I'm greeted by Jose. Thank God! I'm up! Jose leads me to the dressing room where I change into my hospital gown. I'm then led into the room where I will receive the powerful proton beam. I'm greeted by Phillip who shows me to my pod like a chauffeur opening the door to my limousine. Phillip explains to me all the high tech stuff that will be done. I'm trying to concentrate but all I can think of right now is, I got to go pee. Let's get this show on the road so I can get to the restroom!

Another technician is in the room and her name is Jan, Jan explains the process of how they will make sure I'm properly positioned, and prior to ordering the beam they will page the Doctor,who will then double check the positioning. Again all I can think of right now is, well you know.

I then tell Phillip that I have to pee real bad. He tells me that it will be at least another ten minutes and if I can't hold it any longer to let him know. I said okay. About a minute later, I tell Phillip, I can't hold it any longer. Jan brings me a urinal and I partially empty my bladder. Oh God that feels better!.

The positioning is checked and double checked and they order the beam. All the Technicians leave the room and I hear what sounds like a door on a missile silo being shut. I then hear the sound of the accelerator spinning followed by several beeps. The beeps I'm told is the Geiger counter. I've been exposed to radiation in the military while working on Nukes but this is ridiculous!

On the wall above me there are several family photos taped up from other patients for motivation and inspiration. I'm looking at the photos and thinking, Dang! I got to pee! Seriously though, in between concentrating on holding my pee, I thought of my Father, and wished that he could have had treatment like this when he had his cancer. The whole proton beam treatment took about two minutes and Phillip came out from the bomb shelter and told me I was done. I said Good!, where's the restroom! I carefully got out of my pod without peeing myself and briskly followed Phillip to the restroom. And the rest is History! 45 more to go!

HBL, My Pod Awaits













Two thumbs up! I got my Jeep hat on and ready to go!












Locked and Loaded and ready to Rock!

"Free Bird"

"If I leave here tomorrow Would you still remember me? For I must be travelling on, now,cause theres too many places Ive got to see.But, if I stayed here with you, girl,Things just couldn't be the same.cause I'm as free as a bird now,And this bird you can not change.Lord knows, I cant change."

"Free Bird" By Lynyrd Skynyrd.

One of my all time favorite songs and what I named our fifth wheel that Jeanette and I just recently purchased. It has been a dream of mine for a long time now to travel around the country in an RV when I retire. It's something Jeanette and I have discussed from time to time while just sitting around dreaming together. Wouldn't it be nice to just get away from it all and go see the U.S. of A.

It's amazing how cancer can totally change your outlook on life. Things that once bothered you are no longer an issue. Dreams of things you have always wanted to do but for some reason always took a back seat, now seem attainable.

While I was waiting to find out where I would go to cure my cancer, that dream of owning an RV became more of a reality. Jeanette and I went to the local RV show and checked out all the new RVs. We looked at motor homes, trailers, toy haulers, and fifth wheels and spoke to Lot's of RV salesmen, chomping at the bit to sell us an RV. We came home with a bag full of brochures and I spent my free time looking over every one of them like a kid with a toy catalog before Christmas.

Jeanette and I decided, "What the heck." You only live once so you might as well enjoy it while you're here. So we purchased our first RV! A 31' Heartland "Big Country" fifth wheel. What accelerated this decision to buy an RV was the fact I had cancer and the treatment to cure my cancer takes at least two months to complete. Not only would the RV provide me a place to live while undergoing cancer treatments, but it would also provide us a way to get away from it all and live our dream.

I was thinking of a name for our new RV. Something that had meaning. I thought, this vessel would take me to wherever I needed to cure my cancer, whether it be Houston, Texas, Jacksonville, Florida, or Loma Linda, California. Wherever I would end up going, it would be to cure my cancer and to be cancer free. I thought, how about Freedom Bird? No, better yet, "Free Bird." It fits perfectly! I love the song, and the lyrics say it all. Free Bird it is!

So let me introduce you to "Free Bird."

Let's Getter Done!

Recovery & Getting Back On The Trail to Start The Rebuild

"I found my anchor to be my wife Jeanette. I hooked my line up to her and she pulled me up out of the hole I had fallen into."

Okay, I took a wrong line on the obstacle and I took a hard roll off the trail. I received some bumps and bruises, but now it was time to recover from the shock of it all and get back on the trail and start the rebuild.

It takes a strong winch line to get a Jeep back on all four wheels during a recovery after a roll. But once you get back up you got to dust yourself off, check your fluids, and start it back up. It may sputter a bit and blow some smoke, but you can still drive a Jeep off the trail and get back home safely after a roll.

I found out my winch line to be my family and friends. Without them I'd still be out there on my side just rotting away in the desert sun as the vultures circled around waiting to finish me off. A good winch line also needs a good anchor. Something to attach that winch line to in order to make a successful recovery. I found my anchor to be my wife Jeanette. I hooked my line up to her and she pulled me up out of the hole I had fallen into.

I can't say enough about my wife Jeanette! She has been there for me through thick and thin. She has taken care of our two boys, maintained the household while I was deployed during Desert Storm, picked up and moved from stateside to overseas and back again. She has been there by my side through good times and bad times for 27 solid years.

After plenty of research on treatment options I made up my mind that I wanted Proton Beam Therapy. I read Robert Marckini's book, "You Can Beat Prostate Cancer, And You Don't Need Surgery to Do It." I highly recommend this book to anybody facing the dilemma of choosing a treatment option for PC. I won't go into all the technical stuff involving this type of treatment, but I will tell you it is very promising when you consider the quality of life after treatment. My worries of wearing a diaper and being impotent rapidly diminished after researching this treatment and reading his book.

Proton treatment is only available at a handful of locations in the U.S. The treatment is very expensive, somewhere in the area of $200,000 plus. Some insurance companies don't cover it, but with persistence you can usually get them to agree. I have Tricare from my military retirement and my wife has Coventry which is primary. The only reason we opted to get my wife's insurance was for the dental, which is better than what Tricare can provide.

I really wanted to get my treatment at Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC). They are not only closer to home, but they are the pioneers in treating people with the Proton Beam. After calling Loma Linda I found out that everybody else wants to be treated there too. They were not taking anymore patients at the time and told us to call back in a month. A month! What am I going to do? I have cancer and I want it out! Now!

I called to the other treatment centers, MD Anderson in Houston, University of Florida in Jacksonville, and MPRI in Indiana. I narrowed it down to Florida or Houston if I couldn't get into Loma Linda.

My wife Jeanette has been working in the medical insurance field for several years now so she knew all the hoops you have to jump through to get something approved. Jeanette took it upon herself so I wouldn't have to deal with the stress of the insurance companies and all the red tape. She wanted me well and she wanted me to get this proton treatment as much as I did. This is where my winch line's anchor went to work to get me back up on the trail so I could start the rebuild.

Like a General in an Ops Center, Jeanette got the ball rolling on both Florida and Houston, while at the same time she kept calling Loma Linda with hopes that maybe they were going to take new patients earlier then what they said.

Then one day after much persistence and patience, like calling a radio station to win a prize, she called LLUMC first thing in the morning. She was caller number one and we won the prize! They were accepting new patients and, I got in! That day our prayers were answered. We couldn't believe it! Now I don't have to drive way out to Texas or Florida. I can get it done just six hours away in beautiful downtown Loma Linda!

While Jeanette was coordinating between the different treatment facilities she was also battling the insurance companies . Her insurance, Coventry, denied the treatment and said it was experimental. Experimental my butt! Do some research and you will find out it is not experimental. Medicare covers it why wouldn't you?

Thank God I had good ole Tricare. They covered it 100%. All they needed was a letter of denial from Coventry. I spoke to one of the Tricare representatives over the phone one day regarding some issue and I told her I was so thankful I had such good insurance. The lady came back and corrected me. She said, "Sir, this is not insurance, this is a benefit you earned for your years of service to your country, Thank You!" I had to hold back the tears from my eyes as I thanked her for her kind words.

The shock of my life!

"I'm a cop, I can't wear a diaper to work!"

Two weeks after my biopsy I was scheduled for a follow-up where I would find out the results.

My wife and I sat in the office and waited for the Doctor to bring us the news. I know it will be good news, I'm too young to have prostate cancer, I thought to myself.

The doctor came in and he did not have a happy face on. He never did any other time, but this time I could sense something different. He had a folder with my name on it and he opened it up and said, " The results came back and it appears you have Cancer."

My wife and I were shocked. There was complete silence. I'm thinking, how could this be? Maybe they got mine mixed up with the other guy. This can't be right. I had no symptoms, yeah I pee a lot but I thought that was normal. At that moment my manhood began to turn to tears. My wife was beside me and she also began to cry.

The doctor went on to tell me that I had two cancerous tumors on both lobes of my prostate and a third that was suspicious but most likely cancerous. My Gleason Score was a 6 which is considered moderately aggressive. He tried to make us feel better by saying that prostate cancer is a slow growing cancer and totally curable. Yeah but I had already read about the side affects and they weren't very promising. Plus I saw what my father went through with his cancer.

He recommended surgery right off the bat. No way! I read all about surgery. They separate your prostate from around your urethra and try to slap it all back together again. You become impotent and incontinent.

My cousin who is a Doctor in Dallas told me about a procedure called proton beam therapy and I asked the doctor about that. He said it was a gimmick.

I took my nice little folder my Urologist provided me with my results inside, and went directly to my parents house where I told them the news. My Father was saddened and I think he felt guilty for passing the cancer gene to me. We all cried and both my parents and my wife comforted me and provided me with positive thoughts like they always have throughout the tough times in my life. But this was by far the toughest!

I'm a cop, I can't wear a diaper to work! I can't perform my duties if I have to pee every 15 to 30 minutes. What am I going to do now? I still have nine more years until I can retire.

All kinds of thoughts ran through my head as I began to ride on the Emotional Roller Coaster. At times I felt angry and sad and other times I felt like I just wanted to lay down, go to sleep, and wake up from this nightmare.

Hook up that winch line and let's get back on the trail!

The Dreaded Biopsy

"Drop your drawers, lie down on the table and face the wall in a fetal position"

January 26, 2008, the dreaded day of my biopsy.

I read all the horror stories of this procedure called the biopsy and it scared the CRAP out of me! My appointment was at 5 PM and my wife and I arrived early. There was another couple in the waiting room and I wondered if he was there for the same thing. We didn't speak to each other but I think we both knew we were there for the same thing.

They called him in and as he walked through the door towards the back he jokingly said to his wife, "If you hear me screaming come and get me." My wife and I both chuckled and went back to reading outdated magazines provided by our wonderful Urologist.

About thirty minutes later he came through the door looking white as a ghost. He told his wife, "Let's go", and he walked precariously but quickly out the door.

Now it was my turn. I followed the same path as my predecessor did just thirty minutes ago. I followed the nurse through a maze of twists and turns to the farthest and darkest corner of the office. As I entered the room another nurse was sitting there and she asked me to sit up on the examination table while she took my blood pressure, and asked me a few questions to make sure I followed the instructions that were given to me prior to the biopsy. After all that was done she told me to drop my drawers, lie down on the bed and face the wall in the fetal position.

Neither of the nurses spoke very much or explained to me what was going to happen. I felt like I was just another slab of meat in a processing plant. I kept thinking about the other guy that was just in there and how he looked as he walked out of the office. Man oh man! what have I got myself into? The one nurse finally broke silence and told me she was going to stick a sonogram device up my rectum so the doctor could see my prostate in order to take the biopsies and that I would feel some pressure. No Kidding! There's a scope going up my butt, I'm going to feel pressure! Before I know it I'm lubed up like a Dana 44 and being sodomized by a scope. Talk about pressure, it ain't nothing compared to what I'm about to experience.

So I'm laying there with a scope up my butt and the Doctor enters the room. This Urologist has a bedside manner of a Rock. After he chats with the nurses on some technical matters dealing with the scope he tells me that he will be giving me a local anesthetic. Local! Hell I want some drugs to put me to sleep! Well I didn't get my wish. I couldn't see anything since I was facing the wall but I felt it as he entered a long needle through the scope and into my prostate. YEOOOWWW! God I swear that needle felt like it was coming out my penis. Oh my god!

Am I at Home Depot in the tool section, because I swear I can hear a Nail gun!

The Doctor then said he would begin the biopsy. Wait a minute aren't you supposed to wait until that thing numbs up a bit before you start? All of a sudden I hear a nail gun go off and feel extreme pain. Holy ?&%#! I wanted to scream but I had to maintain my manhood at the same time so I grit my teeth, locked it in 4 low and held on to the edge of the bed as I endured eleven more of these painful snatch and grabs. Each time I heard that nail gun go off I just held on for dear life. About halfway through I asked how many more were there to go. He said, "Four more." Son of a @#$%!

After the last one was done he took the scope out and left the room without saying a word. The nurse gave me a pantie liner and told me when I felt okay to walk, I could leave. I put the pantie liner on(I think it had wings, not sure), pulled up my pants and walked back to the waiting room. I waved to my wife to come on and walked right out the door without stopping, pretty much like the guy before me did.

The aftermath

I came home and went straight to bed. I felt humiliated and sore. I had some cramping, bloody urine, and bloody bowels for a few days until it healed. I also had bloody semen for about a month. Let me tell you that's a scary sight!

My first encounter of the obstacle on the Trail of Life.

Trail Briefing

I'm starting this blog to chronologize my two month long treatment for prostate cancer at the Proton Beam Cancer Treatment Facility at Loma Linda University Medical Center in Loma Linda, California. Hopefully by sharing my experience, it will encourage other men to take control of their lives and get themselves checked for prostate cancer on a yearly basis.


My hobby and one of my passions in life is four wheeling in my 2004 Jeep Wrangler. I'm from Arizona and since I have owned my Jeep I have been on many trails. Each trail has a name such as Highway to Hell, Ecstacy, Anaconda, Bad Medicine, etc. and each trail has a series of obstacles that are also named such as, Gate Keeper, Bee Falls, Predator, etc.


As I embark on this two month journey to being cancer free, I will treat this just like any other obstacle encountered on one of those rocky 4x4 trails, only this one is called "Life" and the obstacle is "Prostate Cancer.


Air Down and Preflight before starting the trail

January 2008

It all started in January, 2008 when I made an appointment with my physician for a routine exam. The last time I had a physical exam was about four years ago and like most guys I kept putting it off and putting it off until I got so tired of my wife's nagging that I finally made the dreaded appointment. (By the way, my wife's nagging saved my life.)

Let me give you a little history of my family genes. My Father was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1984 at the age of 56. Back then the PSA test did not exist. He started having severe problems urinating to the point he had to go to the hospital. He later found out he had prostate cancer and the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes and later to his bones. The doctors gave him radiation and hormone treatment and told him he had six months to live. My Father never gave up hope and he is still with us today at the age of 80.

I told my doctor about the history of cancer in my family including my Mother's battle with breast cancer and he ordered a PSA test for me. This would be my first PSA test. I'm only 47 and had always heard that a PSA test wasn't neccessary until age 50. Later I would find out just how wrong I was.

The PSA test results came back and my Doctor left me a message on the phone stating my PSA was a little high for my age. It was a 5.2 and it should be below 2.0. He told me he would prescribe an antibiotic to rule out any infection and would have me retested.

I completed the antibiotics and obstained from sexual activity and was retested. The PSA was a bit lower but still too high for my age so he suggested that I see a Urologist.

So off I went to the Urologist. My Urologist suggested that I get a biopsy done to rule out cancer, due to my PSA count and family history of prostate cancer.

Stay tuned for all the gory details of The Biopsy Obstacle!