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[page 12]
Then, in my late fifties, I began to experience symptoms of
what I later learned was called Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH
for short) - a common, non-threatening, yet nagging condition: the
constant urge to urinate, especially at night; difficulty starting what
was usually a diminished stream; a nagging drip after going that forced
you to tear off a piece of toilet tissue before you started to urinate so
you'd have something to sop up the dripping with - insidious and uncomfortable reminders that your prostate was enlarging, tightening up
on the urethra like a clamp on a hose, and would continue to be a
constant, annoying presence.
And yet my PSA (prostate specific antigen, for long) scores
remained well within the normal range, and no doctor's finger ever
detected any unusual outcroppings that might indicate anything was
amiss.
When I was almost sixty-one years of age, I became even more intimately acquainted with this obstreperous gland. On March 30,1994,
I was informed that my prostate was cancerous.
My primary care provider was (and still is) Gerald Dominguez,
a Tampa, Florida, and board certified internist with a sub-specialty in
gastroenterology. (I hate the term "internist;" it leaves me wondering
if they neglect to notice your outsides.)
It was the twenty-first of February, 1994, at the second "report" visit of my annual physical and I wasn't listening all that hard. I
felt strong and energetic and besides, was accustomed to, and fully
expected to hear, "Your heart's strong, lungs are clear, blood pressure is that of a twenty-year old," the usual. But as I was reaching
down to pick up my bag, ready to dash, Doctor Dominguez looked
up from his reports and said, "Your PSA's doubled. Last year it was
three point seven, this year it's seven point five. I don't like that. I
want you to see a urologist." It wasn't just his words that affected
me. Dominguez's voice, normally a warm, southern comfort alto, had
transposed into a chilly baritone, and it was that vocal shift of gears,
even more than what was actually said, that I found disturbing.
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