Cancer

Holy cow, I've got cancer. Malignant prostate cancer. Gleason score 7. PSA over 12. Age 54. Crazy shit-- there are several treatment options, none of which seem particularly appealing. The oncologist is scared shitless of cancer cells, and believes anything that will rid me of the cancer is good. The urologists (yes, there are two!) believe it's a plumbing problem, and want to go after it now, because I'm so "young and healthy" and the whole project fills me with uncertainty. Ugggh... more to follow!

This is the same disease that killed Frank Zappa and, more recently, Merv Griffin. It's slow acting (usually), and the only symptom in the early stages is an elevated (or at least abnormal) PSA, which is only detectable with a blood test, and which is notoriously unreliable. Follow up (anyone with a PSA over about 6, maybe) is a biopsy. My biopsy was positive on one out of eight "cores" (they kind of go around the clock-- the prostate gland is roughly cylindrical-- with a damned core snipper).

Prostate cancer is also the most common cancer in men. The saying is that if you live long enough, you'll get it. Right now, I'm just thinking about it. Ths surgery is actually pretty common, and is proven to be a safe and effective treatment, though there's a damnably high risk of unpleasant side-effects, including incontinence and impotence. Of course, the side effect of not having the surgery is death, which I find somewhat more unpleasant. Jeeze...