How a Routine Check-Up Caught My Prostate Cancer Early

As the adage says, “life comes quickly.” I never imagined that prostate cancer would be part of my story. At 37, I felt healthy, I focused on a new job and my family and I settled in life after moving to Austin. Cancer was not even on my radar. So when I went for a routine assessment, the last thing I expected was the news that hinted that something could be seriously bad. The adage is therefore correct: life can change in an instant.

In the summer of 2018, I went for my first official control with a new family doctor after having moved to Austin the previous year. My doctor, Ann Hathcock, was strongly recommended by my parents-in-law, who had seen her for years. She was meticulous, asking detailed questions about my family’s health. I shared that my grandmother had stadium breast cancer that had spread to her lungs and that my aunt had recently received a diagnosis of breast cancer at an early stage, a few weeks before my appointment.

I had no symptoms and I never even considered prostate cancer as a concern. But DRE Ann, based on her research and professional development, has decided to include a PSA test in my blood. “It cannot hurt to check,” she said in hindsight, when I asked her what made him pass this test. I had never heard of the test before. It measures the antigen specific to prostate in the blood, and high levels can be a sign of early alert of prostate cancer. I felt completely well: no pain, no changes, nothing unusual. However, when the results returned, my PSA was higher than normal.

At first, Dr. Ann suspected a prescribed prostate and antibiotics infection. But after two cycles of antibiotics over two months, my PSA climbed even higher. It was then that my world started to move. Even then, cancer did not cross my mind. I always believe that it is because I felt perfectly healthy that I chose not to worry, but I simply followed everything that Dr Ann recommended.

Dr. Ann quickly referred me to an urologist. I had my first appointment to meet the urologist, who wanted me to come back for a biopsy. This urologist seemed a little cold from the very beginning, to the point that I did not even realize what the biopsy implied until my arrival for my second visit and was on the table. I did not feel rushed into itself, but I certainly didn’t have the impression of having explained everything.

After a biopsy, the truth was clear. That night, I was told that I had stadium prostate cancer. Hearing these words at 37 was surreal, something that I associated with older men, not mine.

November 1, 2018, the night I learned that my diagnosis remains burned in my memory, not only for cancer news itself, but for the way it took place. A week after my biopsy, I came back for the results. However, even if I had already paid the biopsy, the urologist refused to see me to review the results without another copyization. My wife protested, insisting that we should not have to pay just again to receive results.

After almost an hour in the hall and the waiting area with my children in a trailer, he finally called me and told me that I had prostate cancer. I immediately reacted with disbelief, shocked that I could have been sent home with nothing more than a graph on paper, leaving me to find the results for myself. Whenever I think of this night, the mixture of fear, frustration and sadness of this obstacle returns.

After my diagnosis, I had to act quickly. On June 13, 2019, I underwent a radical prostatectomy with Eric Giesler, MD, who was the best urologist I could have chosen after the problem with the first urologist. I chose to undergo surgery during the summer because, at the time, I worked for a school district and I moved away from summers.

Once my prostate has been deleted, my cancer turned out to be an aggressive stage 2. My hypothesis is that since this cancer was aggressive, it probably went from stage 1 to stadium 2 between November 2018 and June 2019. This is either that or it may have been an erroneous diagnosis with the first urologist. However, because it was caught early, my prognosis was good and I could maintain my quality of life. I was grateful for Dr Ann’s instinct, for early detection and to be there for my family.

The most difficult part of everything was isolation. At 37, I was the youngest patient that my urology team ever treated, and the support group I was looking for, we Too Austin, was filled with more decades. I remember that when I attended my first meeting, which was before my operation, it scared me so much that I told my wife that I no longer wanted to go with treatment. (Fortunately, I continued with treatment.)

After surgery, reflecting on my experience, I knew that my story could not end with survival. Many young men do not know that prostate cancer can affect them and families often avoid discussing health history. I associated myself with Zero -he End of Prostate Cancer and I co-founded the rose and blue affair of Bastrop County to raise awareness of prostate cancer. My urologist even started to refer to me newly diagnosed young men, so they know that they are not alone.

I learned much later that my uncle had survived prostate cancer five years before my diagnosis. With hindsight, if I had known, I might have been screened earlier.

Without this blood test, I may have never known my prostate cancer before it was too late. Because prostate cancer at an early stage has no symptoms, I felt perfectly healthy. It was only because I went to a routine exam that my diagnostic journey started. Without going for a physique, I might not be there to tell this story. It only took a few months from this first PSA test at my biopsy and my diagnosis, but in this short time, my life has completely changed.

If my trip teaches something, that’s this: do not wait for the symptoms, do not know your family history and put pressure for tests, even if you are young. Prostate cancer gave me no warning, but a routine blood test grabbed it early.

I learned later thanks to the plea and to educate myself that prostate cancer is more aggressive in men of color, but can also be quieter in the previous steps, just like mine. Now my goal is clear: not only survive but also to help other men to avoid feeling as blind and alone as me.