He said I was “a five”. It was August 2023 and I was in the doctor’s consulting room to find out the results of a scan. I’d gone to the appointment fairly upbeat.
There’s prostate cancer in my family so I’d been getting regular PSA checks, then my levels went a little high hence the MRI scan. Nothing to worry about, surely. I had no symptoms.
I felt fine. I was confident I’d get good news at the hospital. So when the doctor said the scan showed I had a high risk of cancer – on a scale of 1-5, I was a 5 – it was a shock.
A biopsy followed in October and confirmed: I had prostate cancer . It’s been a challenging 12 months. I had surgery in December, hoping that would remove the cancer.
But there’s a bit left. So next is radiotherapy, which is due to start soon. Physically, I feel fine.
I’m still active and working as usual. But mentally it’s unsettling, not knowing what the future holds. This whole experience has been the hardest of my life.
My mental health has suffered, and I’ve felt very low at times. I thought the surgery would happen and the cancer would be over, but now I’ve had to get comfortable with the unknown. And yet it’s surprised me how there have been numerous positives from the experience too.
I have learnt so much about myself, and I’ve become more of an active participant in my life, rather than simply let it roll out before me. Because while I’ve no control over what happens to me, I’ve a choice about how to deal with it..