Men's Health Stories

By Steve Tester

In 2012 we went on a holiday to Kefaluka in Turkey. I’m an avid windsurfer and the resort embodied everything I needed to get in some quality time on my board. I needed all of my 25 years’ worth of experience to hold onto the sail; the wind was strong and brutal at times. And as I battled with the elements, I noticed I started to get some pain and discomfort ‘down below’. Although there was no physicality to it, I guessed for a man of my age, it was probably just a hernia.

Having lived with the groin pains for a further 9 months, I finally relented and went to see my GP. The doctor firstly asked my age and secondly, if I had ever had a Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) Test. I hadn’t. PSA is a protein produced by the prostate. It is normal for all men to have a small amount of PSA in their blood, and this amount rises as you get older. A raised PSA level may suggest you have a problem so I consented and proceeded to have a physical examination ‘rubber glove style’, nothing too arduous. Initially, all seemed fine but we awaited the blood test results on the PSA level to be sure that all was ‘normal’.

1 week later and back in the doctors surgery, I was given the test results of 7.2 ng/ml (0-3 ng/ml is normal for a man of 54 - obviously this was to be looked into in more detail). I proceeded to have a further PSA test and this time, the result was 6.8 ng/ml - enough to get the alarm bells ringing…. It was time to get a specialist’s opinion. As a family, we contribute to a private BUPA Healthcare scheme which meant I could be referred to a specialist consultant quickly. Without hesitation, the consultant sent me for an MRI scan; the results were back within days.

DIAGNOSIS DAY
With trepidation, both my wife and I took a seat in the consultant’s office. This was D-day.  On his desk was my report which he had already read. He glanced up and said, “Unfortunately Mr. Tester, you have Prostate Cancer.” At this point, everything went into slow motion as if we were under water and not hearing properly. There is nothing that can prepare you for these words – we felt numb. Then, we were handed some leaflets along with his condolences. I was in total shock - can they really be referring to me, 54 year old Steve Tester…?

Being faced with your own mortality, you have two options – you either sink or swim. And the surfer in me was always going to do the latter. The hardest part of the whole exercise was to decide upon the correct form of treatment.  The consultant performed a series of biopsies – the results concurred with the scan and PSA levels - so no mistake, no mix-up – this was Cancer and it was happening to me.

Now this is the point to which you think about your life – how long will I last, what about my wife and daughter, do we have enough money stashed away for the future. To add further salt to the wound, my daughter was in the final couple of weeks at Exeter University completing her Economics degree. My wife and I took the difficult decision of not telling her my news. We are very close and I didn’t want to upset or distract her from doing well. We held off until the final exam was over.(Incidentally, I am proud to say that she went on to achieve a First!). My wife has been extremely supportive throughout. She has always had a sense of strength about her to ‘get on with it’, nothing will beat her, not even my Cancer – and that sounds weird to say - ‘my Cancer’.

As advised, I sent off for the Prostate.org pack and trawled through their website for help in coming to a decision between having surgery to remove my prostate (and with all the will in the world, the Cancer) or brachytherapy (‘brachy’)– the implant of radioactive seeds within the prostate gland itself. In parallel, I met up with a Cancer support group one lunch time to help make my mind up. It was enlightening to hear everybody’s accounts of their own specific treatment. I was the youngest there by far; at 54 it is not that common to have this form of the disease.

Some of the group had taken the surgery option, whilst others had the brachy. Both forms of treatment have statistically even success rates; however, brachy is less intrusive. Apparently you can be back to work within a few days! However, the downside is that you have to be careful around people, for example, not letting young children sit on your lap or get too close to pregnant women. Plus if you happen to lose one of the seeds in your urine, you can only pick them up with a metal spoon as they are radioactive - yikes!  On the flipside, the surgery involves four rods being inserted into your waistline and a slash vertically through your tummy button. It takes around 3-4 hours and you need to be off work between 6 to 12 weeks, so a lot more recovery time required.  Both have the same side effects of incontinence and non- erectile function and this is also something to consider. I searched on youtube for different peoples diary opinions. The accounts seemed mainly from America but were still very helpful in assessing the best course of action. Finally I chose the surgical route.

My consultant referred me to my Surgeon who concurred with my decision; he categorically felt that at my age and health, it was a no brainer to opt for surgery. Luckily for me, the Surgeon was an expert, performing at least 3 of these operations per day, 4 times a week and has being doing so for over 3 years. This gave me some reassurance at least, but of course there was no certainty I would be ‘cured’.

OPERATION DAY AND THE FUTURE AHEAD

Now at the age of 56, my quality of life is ‘perfect.’ A huge proponent of this was my surgery and subsequent treatment. I am back on my surfboard and loving life. If it wasn’t for that trip to Turkey back in 2012, with the exertion of my surfing, who knows how long I could have lived with the disease before I was diagnosed?

Prostate Cancer Surgery- My Diary- click on the image to see Steve's day 1-4 video

4 weeks after the operation - click on the image to watch Steve's video

14 days post-operation - click on the image to watch Steve's video

12 months later - click on the image to watch Steves latest updated video