Here’s the deal: All along, this whole “prostate cancer” thing seemed to me like a gigantic fraud. Well not fraud, but maybe “surreal.” That all changed yesterday.
I felt fine, always did. I wasn’t running to the bathroom two or three times a night. My doctor never felt anything. I have no family history of prostate cancer. It was just a blood test, an imprecise secondary indicator, that suggested a biopsy.
Okay, I believed the biopsy, but still it all seemed abstract.
So I had the surgery. Sure, take it out. I don’t really need it. But I want to know.
This is why I picked surgery over radiation. The radiation therapy is known to be effective, but it’s still all abstract, not real.
Yesterday I went in to have my staples and catheter removed. (Yay!) (Anyone who is facing this procedure and wants to know more about it, I’m happy to share in a private exchange.) Meanwhile my nurse practitioner delivered the pathology report, and I asked her for a printed copy.
I’ll post all of the relevant parts below, followed by a few word interpretations.