One in six of us men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in our life times..if caught early, like mine was, you have a 90% chance of being alive in 5 years...if it's not caught early, that percentage drops to only 35% chance.  I was diagnosed with cancer in March....

....I underwent surgery in June and I just had my first blood test since that surgery.  It was not what I'd hoped for, but I'm still optimistic....this is my latest video blog to keep you updated with my progress as I promised. Good or bad, I told you I would continue to share and there is still a chance my latest blood test still has residual PSA from before my surgery...so keeping fingers crossed and saying more prayers.  I'm still dealing with some of the side affects of my surgery...although some of the side affects have diminished...I no longer get fatigued as easily as I did in the first month and a half after my surgery. Unfortunately the one good side affect has also gone away....I had no appetite for the first month after surgery, but now it's back, but the good news is that I weigh about 25 pounds less than I did last year at this time...so I guess you can say cancer isn't all bad.

In case you missed my other updates you can check them out below.  I don't want to be preachy, but in case you don't recall from my earlier updates...I felt fine, I had no symptoms and if I hadn't been getting yearly blood tests, I wouldn't have know that anything might be wrong.  The day I went to the hospital for surgery, I felt great.  Had I not realized my PSA level had been slowly increasing I would not have seen a doctor, and found that I had prostate cancer until it was probably too late...so if you have cancer that runs in your family, start getting an exam at 45, otherwise start at 50. I have 3 friends that were diagnosed in their mid 40's....they are all still alive today and for all of them it's been at least 10 years.  Ladies, drag your husband to the doctor if you have to.  The 5 year survival rate goes from 90 percent if diagnosed early to 35% if it's not caught early...that's a big difference.

Cancer sucks, and I know there are many of you who are going through way worse than what I am dealing with..or have a family member who is battling cancer...I have all the respect in the world for you....because I now know it's not just dealing with cancer that is always the hard part....in some ways that's the easy part....it's the side affects of the treatments, the non stop doctors appointments and tests, the waiting for test results, the hoping for positive test results dealing with insurance companies, dealing with medical bills...the affects that it has on your friends and family...and sometimes having to deal with disappointment when you don't get results that you hoped for.....I now understand more than ever...Cancer sucks!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

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