One year

Sometimes I get so wrapped up in my daily problems and challenges I tend to forget significant dates/events. No, not birthdays (cardinal sin), anniversaries, or important holidays (like Mother’s day) – those are pretty much ingrained into my brain. With last week's marathon run and audit and the typical Chinese fire drills at work, I was a bit self-absorbed and almost overlooked a very important anniversary for me. It was one year ago Thursday I went under the knife for surgery for prostate cancer. Hard to believe it has only been a year since I crossed that bridge. 50 years old and facing the prospect of prostate cancer is not what I had in mind when I was growing up. Life has funny ways of keeping all of us humble.

I will not bore you with the entire saga (if you want to read about it, go look at my earlier blogs), but I was diagnosed with prostate cancer back in 2007 as part of a physical exam required to go to scout camp. Prognosis was good and it was caught early enough to do fix the problem. I chose surgery (Radical Prostatectomy) over the other options as it seemed to offer the best long term solution for me. So early on Tuesday, January 22, I donned that stylish hospital gown, got doped up, and was rolled into surgery. A few hours later, hung over, wired up and a couple of ounces lighter, I am back in my room trying to learn how to pee again. Few days in the hospital, couple of weeks at home and I was able to return to work/life by the end of February. Took a while to get back into my normal rhythm, but eventually, I was able to climb back into my normal patterns. I may be a bit slower on my runs, but I at least I can still hit the trails. Heck, I finally got off my butt to run my first half marathon last week, so things are not too bad.

Now to get on the soap box: If you are over the ripe age of 50, get a physical and get checked out for prostate cancer. It is a simple and relatively painless test (PSA) and could save your life. I felt I was healthy as a horse and had no indications that there were any problems. When the warning flag came up during my physical, I was pretty much in denial (no way, doc), but the facts didn’t lie: I had prostate cancer. When I was diagnosed, I tried to learn as much intel as I could about the disease and treatments. A larger portion of men will get it during some point in their life as they get older, but most die of other causes before it becomes a major issue. This cancer is one of the leading killers of men and, if caught early enough, is treatable/beatable. I got lucky. I was given enough warning to do something about it. I elected to attack the problem aggressively and eliminate the root cause. There are other options, but the key is to be aware. Early detection and prevention is the key to a long life. So, if you are the guy or have a loved one who is male (husband, father, brother), I implore everyone to get regular checkups/exams. This little condition I had is treatable, if detected early enough. I know the exams are a bit intrusive and not something I did with a high amount of enthusiasm, but it definitely beats the alternative and will keep you ahead of the curve.

Smile like your life depends upon it...