So, I have Cancer.

[alan]

[Mysterae]

Great news!

[Snoopy1969]

just:

[cbclotus]

Thats great news Kimbers .Mike and family

[yeller77]

[Exploded]

Finally some really positive news

Keep on taking care of yourself!

[softlips]

Great news

[Al]

Nice Christmas pressie

[73JPS]

Excellent news: an important milestone!

[basalte]

That`s great news ! -to say "a relief for you " probably doesn`t do it justice !

[rclark]

For 3 weeks, coming up 4, I have been diagnosed with Cancer and am currently undergoing treatment while they liquify a part of me with a direct Chemotherapy treatment.

I haven't said anything, other than to my direct family (Bibbo included as he is, apparantly, my brother from a different mother), because I didn't want the fuss and don't want or need to dwell on it. It's one of those things!

However they tell me they may have to operate, in which case I will be missing for a while. Hence I thought I'd better explain just in case I go missing for a little while.

The most important reason I wanted to air this is because of where it is. I posted a thread recently about the 2000 guys a year who die because they are too embarrassed either to check themselves or have the sort of intrusive examinations it takes to diagnose.

If me relating my experience, no matter how graphic, can make one person, who reads this, find something and get it checked early, then I will have done my bit.

I must admit, I was embarrassed at first, however I find that after dropping my trousers for more women in 4 weeks than I have done in 44 years, I don't get embarrassed anymore.

Don't just look at the area's you hear about, check everywhere. If you find yourself urinating more or with poor flow then get your bladder and prostate checked.

Mine is extremely rare, but luckily the Norfolk and Norwich have one of the only specialists in the country on Penile Cancer. So I am lucky. The prognosis is good and, apart from the horrid treatment, I am still the normal me (whingeing moaning and being a pain in the ass!.....sort of like some of the checks I have been having...Arf!).

Please. Everyone. Check yourselves regularly and don't be scared to go see your doctor.

To those that have been encouraging me to talk about this, thanks for your support. It's appreciated.

Wow, sorry to hear about that! I'm new here and don't know you (yet), but I wish you the best of luck in your fight against cancer! Let's hope we start getting cures for this disease sooner rather than later. It has caused far too much heartache to all of us, I'm sure.

[andydclements]

Ryan, if you knew Kimbers you'd know that given a few pints (perhaps some of them contain alcohol but I'm not certain that is an absolute necessity) he'll be showing all and sundry the scars of the op.

 

Now that's a nice vision to joint the forum with.

[Moxie]

I'm having dinner with him tomorrow night and am hoping he'll drop his drawers in the restaurant after sufficient libation. Think of it as dinner theater.

[Kimbers]

NEVER!!!......well, maybe.

[USAndretti42]

Good news, Tony.  It's not been nice having to think about your todger.

[johnpwalsh]

Hi bud, you dont  know me but we have something more in common than othesr. would know, and I dont mean our cars, I went through a similar thing 8 years ago, prostrate cancer, I was lucky and had it treated early and came out all the better for it, it give a complte change in attiitude and outlook on life. I now work to live and not live to work, people ask me why I am often heard whistling away when I am working, my normal answere is well I got up again today. well done for going public it's not easy. I know this posting is a few years old now and I dont know the outcome but wishing you the best.

[Kimbers]

Well. I don't mean to re-start this thread for any other reason than as a warning.

 

Michael Douglas (bless him) may seem a little crazy in this article but where he thinks he got his throat cancer is actually where I did get my Penile Cancer. HPV (thanks Bibbo for pointing me towards the article). Just wanted to re-iterate people. Always check yourselves. Just because you haven't heard of something like Penile Cancer doesn't mean you aren't at risk. But also don't let it worry you or stop you having fun! I have my first 6 monthly check this week, looking forward to getting the first out of the way.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22751349

[softlips]

Good luck with the check up Kimbers.

Some states in the US are now vaccinating boys against HPV (just as girls are now done here).

I've just talked my GP into allowing me the have a PSA test for prostate cancer. I'm 45 and he wasn't keen "few men get prostate cancer at your age". I pushed him and asked if he'd ever seen it "oh yes we have a handful at the moment under 50 with it". I personally have had a few friends diagnosed with it under 50 (both had early treatment as they'd requested a PSA test themselves. In addition another friend of mine who treated one of the above for his prostate cancer now has the disease himself. He was featured in the Daily Mail recently:

John Anderson - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2291798/Prostate-cancer-In-cruel-twist-fate-prostate-cancer-experts-ALL-hit-disease-Their-stories-vital-reading-men--loved-ones.html

It is likely the test will be routinely offered in the coming years as it is in other countries. The concern has always been you get false positives so men who don't have the disease may be alarmed while they wait for the result to be checked.

[molemot]

Men will be alarmed? What a feeble excuse. Yes, false positives exist, for sure...but so does the disease and it won't stop progressing on it's own. My prostate cancer was diagnosed because of gout! I was at my place in France when I was laid low by a recurrence of gout and dragged myself to the local doctor. Dr. Pitt. He saved my life; not only did he prescribe the drugs to treat the gout, he said I needed a PSA test...just on the basis of my age. So, when I returned to the UK early in 2007, I saw my doctor and asked for one... I received the "Lots of false positives, you know" guff but pressed ahead....after the PSA test had returned a result of 22.3 (normal for my age was under 5) and the subsequent biopsy had confirmed that I had a cancer as advanced as it was possible to get, without actually spreading anywhere else, I have had hormone therapy, pills and implants... intensity modulated radio therapy and a trans urethral resection. The team at the Royal Marsden under Prof. Dearnaley have dealt with the problem and I now go back every six months for a blood test and all seems well; all treatment was stopped over 2 years ago. 

 

Had I been tested earlier, the disease would have been easier to treat and the treatment itself less traumatic. I would advise anyone over 50 to get tested, forget about false positives...if it turns out that you get a false positive,at least you will know the score rather than drift along to where it all becomes more terminal. 

[mdw]

The Uk government in its wisdom has decided to only vaccinate girls against HPV not boys to save a few quid. Just the same as they don't vaccinate kids against TB any more.

We are thinking about paying for both our boys to have both jabs.

Edited June 3, 2013 by mdw

[Kimbers]

Good Idea Malc.

[rogerch]

There was a memorial service in Ipswich last week (yes Ipswich UK) a school chum, a little younger than me died of the dreaded cancer, really sad. I still find it hard to realise he's gone, and won't be picking me up from Heathrow when I next come over.

 

Get checked out guys, you can't do it too soon, but you can do it too late.

[Kimbers]

Great News. Consultant is happy with 6 monthly check and moved me to 12 monthly!

 

Bad News, I celebrated last night with too many beers till the early hours. Gonna suffer tonight as I am on nights!

[rogerch]

                

 

(About the news, not the hangover)

Edited June 7, 2013 by Roger the Dodger

[mdw]

Great new Kimbers. My wife got moved from 3 to 6 monthly scans at the Marsden after yesterdays appointment so ive got some idea how you feel. I am slightly nervous about the big gap between but I guess they know what they are doing!!!