Discovery

So, where or when, did it all begin for me?
To be honest, I'm not 100% positive. I seem to recall being 37 or 38 when I first noticed that I was urinating more frequently, but I didn't think much of it at the time. The change was so gradual that I hardly noticed it at all. Around 39/40 is when the pain started. Lower back pain at first, nothing I hadn't experienced before, just more frequent, and then sciatic pain. Again, infrequent and gradual in it's intensity. I just chalked it up to turning 40 and tried to adjust my lifestyle accordingly, hoping to "cure myself" of it.

It became problematic enough by March of 09 that I finally broke down and went to see my Doctor for a physical. I was long overdue anyway, and I had promised myself that I was going to get the "finger swoop up the shoot" in my 40th year, which I was 7 months into at that point, so, off I went.

My Doctor found that my prostate was enlarged, but, because of my age and good physical appearance (some say I'm a handsome devil lol) he concluded that I was probably suffering from prostatitis, an infection of the prostate, and prescribed an antibiotic, hoping it would clear it up. He did this twice more over the next few months with different antibiotics, none of which had any effect, so the pain and discomfort worsened. Also during this time he had me x-rayed and ct-scanned, discovering some problems with my back. He recommended physiotherapy, which I began on November 17/09. The physio did, and continues to, help with what I believe is an underlying back problem. It was also at this time that he referred me to a urologist.

While this was going on, the urinating became more frequent, and painful, and the back pain/sciatic "attacks" almost constant. Back pain during the day, sciatic pain at night. Sleep became almost impossible. My urologist appointment was set for December 10, I called him one night at 3:00am, practically in tears and left a message begging him to please try and get me in earlier. His office returned my call saying the best they could do was December 1st. Better than nothing I guess. To his credit, when that day finally came, things started moving very quickly.

On that day, after a very thorough and uncomfortable D.R.E., the urologist found what he described as a "nodule" on the left side of my prostate. Immediately he ordered a P.S.A. test, booked me for a cystoscopy for the following week and scheduled me for a prostate biopsy on December 30. Due to a cancellation he was able to do the cystoscopy the following day.