I Have Prostate Cancer, Really?

This blog is as much an on-line Diary as anything else to document my upcoming Prostate Surgery w/ information - though not in any way meant to be a technical resource - and feelings as the day approaches that will change my body forever.  Also in case for some reason anyone is reading this to get an idea what I have gone through, I will be a bit more explicit in some areas than I normally would be in normal conversation.
All my life I have had what I always considered as a weak bladder, noticing that I always seemed to have to visit the men's room more than most people I know.  This was always a matter of consternation to my Father on our long drives from Philly to Florida for vacations back in the early 60's, as he always said that if you stop for 15 minutes you get set back an hour on the road, but we managed somehow by planning certain stops along the way to deal w/ it.  At the time  we made a game out of it by rating the bathrooms along the trip.  I seem to remember the place we stopped in Maryland to get Crab Cakes for lunch - I think it was called the Maryland House - was the cleanest, while the Pirates Cove in Savannah GA was the coolest, and any White Castle was usually the grossest....but I digress - which will not be the last time here. ;)
It was only in recent years that we have been bombarded w/ TMI on different Urinary and Impotentiary conditions that I started to think about going to a Urologist to see if this was unusual, or something could be done about it.
About 3 years ago my PSA tests started trending way upwards - started @ 1 then went up to 4 in a years time, so the Dr recommended I get a Prostate Needle Biopsy.
This fun procedure basically involves having a probe and what sounds like a Cap Gun being put up my rear end into my prostate and 12 - 15 pin prick samples are taken to be biopsied.  Every time the gun goes off there is a stabbing feeling going all the way up to the end of your penis, but otherwise except for lying in a strange and vulnerable position, it was not that terrible.  It is tough to sit for the rest of the day though, so it was a good excuse to take the rest of the day off work. One also has to live w/ days to weeks of seeing some amount of blood in your urine and semen, but as long as it is not excessive or lasts for an extended period of time, it is nothing to worry about.
As they told me this is a small sample of the prostate so it is possible even if nothing is found it does not mean something is not there.
This time they found nothing and even the digital exams showed no enlargement of the prostate so I went back each year to have a PSA and exam - meanwhile taking Flomax to ease some of the frequent urinary symptoms some - and my PSA stayed steady until this year when it shot up to 8, so another Biopsy was scheduled.  This took place on 9/15/11
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