I visited my urologist again today. He smiled and said “great news”. After what I have been through in the last few weeks, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. He said “Robbie, you don’t have cancer”. I was stunned. How could that be true when my family physician told me I had prostate cancer and the evidence appeared to be overwhelming?

I of course asked him how he could be so sure. He said my latest PSA score had dropped from 30 to 16 over the period of a week. He said the when you have prostate cancer, your score goes up, not down by almost 50% in a week.

When I had visited the same urologist a couple of weeks ago, he performed a DRE (digital rectal examination aka finger up the butt) and he told me he was fairly certain that I didn’t have prostate cancer. His reasoning was that my prostate was soft and smooth on the surface, and he just “knew I didn’t have cancer”.

When I was chatting with him today I was really curious as to why he was so confident that I didn’t have prostate cancer even before he had the opportunity to analyse the follow up PSA test results. He informed me that he had been doing DRE’s for a long time and he can just tell by the feel of the prostate. I did some quick math and it turns out that he has done about 225,000 DRE’s based upon 30 examinations per day for 30 years. It boggles my mind that a person could stick their fingers up 225,000 butts…..225,000. When I told him the math, I said “holy crap, that’s a lot of butts”, he laughed and said that he doesn’t tell his Mom what he does for a living. He is an extraordinarily talented and humble man and I wish there were more like him.

20 Suggestions

1) if you are 50 years old, or 45 with a family history of prostate cancer, get a DRE every year
2) dont’ get freaked out or jump to conclusions if you have a high PSA score…..statistics show that PSA tests provide false positives 22 times for ever time there is actually cancer present that requires treatment. A high PSA score on its own should not cause alarm (it does cause alarm, but try to keep it in perspective based upon the 22 times number).
3) GP’s recognize the basic symptoms and the know just enough about most things to be dangerous….heck, I could have read my PSA score and known that it was way above normal….a GP’s job is to detect a symptom (in my case a swolen prostate on a 54 year old man), run some standard tests (urine and blood), analyse the results, and if anything appears out of the normal range, they order more tests (transrectal ultrasound) and refer you to a urologist.
4) GP’s should be calm and supportive when discussing cancer or any other ailment to patients….my GP was furious that I hadn’t visited in three years and was very angry when he stared at me and said “you know you have prostate cancer don’t you”….this from a man that I have been dealing with for 20 years…..I have to admit that I want to punch the guy in the head for what he has put myself and my family through based solely on a single elevated PSA test result and a DRE performed by another doc at a walk in clinic…..he didn’t even perform his own DRE before scolding me and proclaiming I have cancer….I won’t punch the guy, but you can be sure I will be finding a new family physician….my urologist on the other hand was calm, reassuring, and extremely knowledgable.
5) Be pushy if you have to be pushy…..nobody likes a pushy person, but if I had waited for the system to work through, I would have waited 2 weeks before being able to see a urologist and it only took me one day…..instead of waiting, I drove to the guy’s office and insisted that I get an appointment right away….while two weeks seems like nothing to the medical system, let me tell you that the seconds tick by very slowly when you think you have cancer growing in your body.
6) Insist on getting at least 2 PSA tests and more if the results remain high…..there are different types of testing methods for testing for a PSA level and they can produce different results
7) High PSA reading can result from many causes….in my case, I had a chest cough when I went in to the walk-in clinic and it appears in hindsight that the infection caused the high reading….having a chest cough may not sound unusual, but I haven’t had a cold or any type of common cold for three years since I started drinking ionized water….if your PSA result is high, think about any possible situations that vary from the norm that might explain it.
8) Have your lab results sent to as many doctors or clinics as you can….it is surprising how many doctors are away on holidays, or the staff is too busy to follow up on test results….I don’t begrudge doctors their holidays but I don’t want to be sitting on pins and needles when my guy is sipping margaritas on a beach or his office administator is having a bad day!
9) I had the triple whammy…1) enlarged prostate 2) very high PSA level 3) nodule in my prostate measuring 8mm in diameter……each and every one is a strong warning sign of prostate cancer…..but I don’t have cancer so what does that tell you about symptoms.
10) a positive attitude is really important…..whether you have cancer or not, the days are going to drag by while you are waiting for results and appointments….you can have good days or bad days when it comes to your mental attitude but the days are just the days….it is all up to you…..if you are having a bad day, it is understandable…..however, the sooner you realize that both your health and your family will benefit if you have a positive attitude, the better.
11) you will likely be showered with love and best wishes but you will still feel alone…..that’s OK, but you are not alone and you will be surprised how many people actually care
12) cancer is not a death sentence but it is really important to get checkups…..the sooner that you get diagnosed, the better.
13) If you have prostate cancer and it has not spread outside the prostate, there is virtually a 100% chance that you will live.
14) Dont get a biopsy unless your urologist gives you a compelling reason…..my urologist said “absolutely not” when I asked him about a biopsy…..he said that when you get a biopsy, they usually stick a needle into the target area 5 to 7 times…..think of your prostate like an orange…..when they stick the needle in 5-7 times, they are pulling out orange juice each time they remove the needle…..if the suspicious nodule is cancerous, my readings indicate that the chance of it spreading increase by at least 50% if you have a biopsy.
15) When you go to have diagnostic imaging (ultrasound) done, you will have to drink 40 ounces of water beforehand……if you can, drink ionized water because you won’t feel the discomfort of being full from the water…btw, the wand up the butt is no treat, but it sounds worse than it is
16) If you prostate is soft and smoothe, you probably don’t have prostate cancer
17) There are many protocols for dealing with prostate cancer, so ask your urologist about them and investigate other alternative protocols….everyone has different feeling about this, so don’t be afraid to go with what feels right for you.
18) I have a lot of faith in the healer that I visit as he has had a tremendous track record in dealing with prostate cancer (my guy is working with 28 cases of prostate cancer at the moment)…..medical docs are not the only way
19) when it comes to cancer, I strongly believe in the healing power of sunshine (vitamin D), becoming alkaline which means eating an alkaline diet and drinking alkaline water, exercise, and removing as much stress as possible from your life
20) focus on yourself and getting better as this is the time to be greedy

I’m really happy that I don’t have cancer. I was devastated when I first heard the news like anyone else would be, but I was also confused. I’m a big fan of ionized water and have been faithfully drinking it for the past three years. I have been personally very close to many stories where the water helped people with cancer, from lowering an elevated PSA level to ridding cancer completely after people have been told by their doctors that there is nothing that can be done and they recommend that the patient settle their affairs. It just didn’t make any sense to me that I could have cancer. I feel relieved that my faith in the water remains unshakable, but I can tell you for sure that I will continue to have my PSA monitored every year. Combining allopathic and natural medicine just makes sense.