PROSTATE EXAMINATION ACT NOW !

Dear All,

Every male from each of the three services who was ever in the Vietnam War Zone and is over the age of fifty and that is all of us should have a PSA level done as well as a physical examination every three years as a minimum. You will all have a degree of Prostate pathology benign or malignant so just accept it. What you need to know is will it carry me off?

The answer is NO if detected and treated. The only way to detect it is to have the blood test and have the physical examination. Do not wait until you think you have some related symptoms, because if it is malignant and you have symptoms you are dead meat. I had cancer of the prostate with no symptoms and a normal blood test but an abnormal examination. At surgery the malignancy was on the point of spreading outside the prostate, so I was most fortunate. Only because I had both tests at age sixty will I now to be around for the long haul. Just do it.........all of you, no buts!!

Regards,

Rod Bain.


Dr Roderick Bain MBBS FRCA FANZCA
Chairman RSL National Advisory Committee on Veterans' Health
Tel 02-43237998
Mob. 0417604450

P.S. DVA has a brilliant small book on the subject; read it and you

My story is similar to Dr Bain's. No symptoms, a normal PSA blood test but the physical exam showed a slight enlargement of the prostate. In short I had a vicious cancer, but still confined to the prostate.

The prostate was removed and for 13 years now there is no evidence of cancer in my system. I do have an annual PSA done.

I believe in the states they recommend an annual exam for those over 50. Its easy enough to check with your doctor or do a search on the net, Plenty of excellent sites for good info.

AS the good Doctor said.

Just do it.........all of you, no buts!!

My story's the other way around. Normal physical exam but a slightly elevated PSA (5 to 6) and a free PSA below 20%. The doctor strongly recommended a biopsy. That showed I had early cancer on both sides but it was still inside the prostate. I had one of the newer radiation methods last year that was completely painless and I haven't had any side effects from it. Everything still works like before. My last PSA was 0.2.

It's really, really important to catch it early while they can fix it without breaking anything else. I had a friend who didn't and he was gone within a year of when they did find it.

It's very curable early on so don't put off checking.

fremmel wrote: I had one of the newer radiation methods last year that was completely painless and I haven't had any side effects from it. Everything still works like before. My last PSA was 0.2.

I read somewhere about the new laser procedure.I understand it is very expensive though!Did you have it done in Thailand?

That may be how they described the procedure I had but the radiation itself was from Xrays. The system is called IGRT for Image Guided Radiation Therapy. The setup is fairly involved with CT scans and stuff but the treatments were simple I just had to lie real still for 15 minutes. The lasers were used to position my body very precisely so that they could target the prostate within 2 mm. That was why they could minimize any side effects. The older types aren't as precise so they tend to damage some of the other sensitive tissue around the prostate. When I had this done last summer they didn't have the equipment in Thailand but I have heard since that Bumrungrad now has it. But I can't swear to that. I had it done in Singapore. It was under $20,000 US. So it's more expensive than some of the other therapies but less than things like proton radiation and robotic surgery and the results are very good. Fortunately my insurance covered it.

If there's any interest I'll be glad to give more details of the procedure, where I had it done, etc., either with a posting or with a PM.