The specialist doctor to which I alluded in yesterday's blog is a urologist. Nearly two years ago I was suffering from swollen feet, and one of the varied tests that I underwent was an ultrasound scan of my lower body, to see if there were any leaks in the blood vessels that might cause liquid to build up in my legs and feet. The scan was clear but it showed that my prostate gland might be enlarged.
On the basis of this, I visited the urologist: his opinion was that there was no problem but he also said that men aged 60 and over should have a yearly (? I don't remember now) checkup. As my father had had prostate cancer in the 1980s, my chances of having prostate cancer are slightly higher than the average man. Fortunately the blood tests showed a low level of PSA and that topic dropped off the radar.
Several years ago I discussed the topic of the PSA with our then family doctor and he was inclined not to pay too much attention to the results. There are many false positives and false negatives, and so the result on its own is not an indication of anything. As it's only a blood test, the cost (not monetary) of the test is low and so it's acceptable to do it. More demanding tests with false positive or (worse) false negatives are a different story.
Last September I did urine tests and also had the dubitable pleasure of undergoing a digital rectum examination (or as someone less polite than me would say, a finger up the bum) that showed that the prostate indeed is not enlarged. The urologist asked me to repeat the blood and urine tests in six months time, which is now.
The blood tests were fine as far as the urologist is concerned but the urine test shows two problematic values: the RBC (red blood cell) was 25 and the erythrocytes count had increased slightly since my previous test. These two tests indicate the presence of blood in the urine - a microhaematuria. I had been diagnosed with this during my army days but the condition had seemed to improve. The urologist wants to get to the bottom of this and find out what's causing the condition (as does my nephrologist) , so now I have to undergo a CT and worst of all, a cystoscopy. Just saying the word makes me shrivel. It occurs to me that this is the final body orifice to be invaded, after the mouth, anus, nose and ear. Maybe this will be like the adrenal venous sampling procedure as far as I am concerned: local anaesthetic and no ability to move nor see what's happening.
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