If you are a man over 50 or know a man over 50, this thread might just save your life.
Being blokes, we don't like talkiing about these things. 2 months ago I entered an alternative reality full of people I previously thought of as healthy, but with health issues. Yesterday that journey concluded with me being diagnosed with prostate cancer. Don't worry about me, they caught it early and it's treatable, what has shocked me is just how common this is, and how few blokes know about it and how to get tested: this is an epidemic that we blokes are simply not aware of. It was only by opening up about my condition that I discovered others had it, friends and people I have know for decades.
The test is a PSA test, a simple blood test. It's belitted by some of the medical community inclusing some GPs and even a GP I know, but it has just saved my life. I had no symptoms, a company was offering mass testing so I paid my £22 and went along with a group of mates. I was rather shocked to get a "Red" result, as was one of my best mates, in fact over 10% of those tested got a "Red" i.e. get to your GP fast. Following more tests, MRI & CT scans and biopsy, it's been confirmed I have prostate cancer. So have 5 of my mates, all in our 50s, and I don't have that big a circle of friends. The NHS have been brilliant, I had 3 hospital appointments in the week of the doctors strike, cancer diagnosis gets priority. Speaking to the doctors, they are even finding it in men in their 40s now, but there is no national screening programme unlike breast cancer. Caught early, it's very treatable. I asked why this wasn't an issue for my father's generation, the answer was that they were simply all walking around with it unaware, and when you heard about someone having cancer it quite possibly could have started as prostate cancer and spread.
So get tested. If your GP refuses, find another way of getting tested. It may well save your life, as it did mine. Thanks for reading.
Being blokes, we don't like talkiing about these things. 2 months ago I entered an alternative reality full of people I previously thought of as healthy, but with health issues. Yesterday that journey concluded with me being diagnosed with prostate cancer. Don't worry about me, they caught it early and it's treatable, what has shocked me is just how common this is, and how few blokes know about it and how to get tested: this is an epidemic that we blokes are simply not aware of. It was only by opening up about my condition that I discovered others had it, friends and people I have know for decades.
The test is a PSA test, a simple blood test. It's belitted by some of the medical community inclusing some GPs and even a GP I know, but it has just saved my life. I had no symptoms, a company was offering mass testing so I paid my £22 and went along with a group of mates. I was rather shocked to get a "Red" result, as was one of my best mates, in fact over 10% of those tested got a "Red" i.e. get to your GP fast. Following more tests, MRI & CT scans and biopsy, it's been confirmed I have prostate cancer. So have 5 of my mates, all in our 50s, and I don't have that big a circle of friends. The NHS have been brilliant, I had 3 hospital appointments in the week of the doctors strike, cancer diagnosis gets priority. Speaking to the doctors, they are even finding it in men in their 40s now, but there is no national screening programme unlike breast cancer. Caught early, it's very treatable. I asked why this wasn't an issue for my father's generation, the answer was that they were simply all walking around with it unaware, and when you heard about someone having cancer it quite possibly could have started as prostate cancer and spread.
So get tested. If your GP refuses, find another way of getting tested. It may well save your life, as it did mine. Thanks for reading.
