Page 15 - COBH EDITION 2nd NOVEMBER DIGITAL VERSION

I elected to have robotic surgery and I met my surgeon on 20th September in Dublin as
the procedure was set to take place in the Mater Private Hospital. He arranged for me to be
admitted the following Monday, 24th September and the surgery was carried on Tuesday. I
rested on Wednesday and I was released on Thursday and sent home to recover. Done and
dusted.
I have had my eyes opened for me during these last few months. I had always believed that
early detection is vital for a for a positive outcome when treating cancer because it’s all I ever
heard. We are constantly being advised to watch out for changes in our bodies and to contact
our GP if we find anything suspicious.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in men over fifty years of age.
We are told to watch out for the symptoms that include having difficulty in urinating, urinating
frequently and having to get up during the night and being unable to empty the bladder com-
pletely. These are indicators that something might be awry. When the prostate is enlarged,
it affects the flow. My GP described it to me as being a bit like putting your foot on a garden
hose.

PSA or prostate-specific antigen, is a protein produced by normal, as well as malignant, cells
of the prostate gland. The PSA test measures the level of PSA in a man’s blood. For this test,
a blood sample is sent to a laboratory for analysis. The blood level of PSA is often elevated in
men with prostate cancer. It’s not conclusive and there are other reasons why someone might
have a raised PSA, but it is another indicator.
Fortunately, I have been having my PSA checked for years by my GP. I have been with this
man for more than 40 years and he has never let me down, so I have great faith in him.
When he said it was time to go further, that was good enough for me, but it was from that
point on, that things got a little complicated.
Like everyone else, I am used to hearing stories of a crisis in the HSE but it’s not until you
see it for yourself that you get a real appreciation of how seriously screwed up it is. As a lay-
man, I’m not well versed when it comes to medical matters, but I have learned through first
hand experience that our health care system is broken.
The word cancer sends a shiver up the spine of most people and as my mother, father and
sister died from the disease, I had good reason to be nervous. No matter how often you hear
that prostate cancer is very treatable, and you shouldn’t worry, it doesn’t do much to reas-
sure the person who has it. As far as I was concerned, I had this thing growing inside me that
had the potential to end my life and I wanted it out. The sooner the better.
I didn’t get this sense of urgency from the first consultant I dealt with. I had to wait a few
weeks for the biopsy to be arranged and a further six weeks before I got the result. I was
then advised that I needed an Isotope Bone scan and that appointment was set for 5th No-
vember, more than ten weeks after receiving the result of the biopsy.
This, to my mind, went against all the advice about early detection. Afterall, what was the
point in finding the cancer early if you have to wait over ten weeks to discover if it has spread
somewhere else? When I queried this, I was told that there were others who were in a more
serious condition than I was, and they also had to wait. This was due to a huge waiting list
and there was nothing they could do about it.
I wasn’t prepared to accept that, so I contacted the Bon Secours Hospital, where there is no
waiting list by the way, and had the scan arranged and completed within four days and my
GP was given the result two days later. The consultant on the other hand was also given the
result but I would have to wait another three weeks if I opted to get the result from him.
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