My name's Clayton. I'm from East Tennessee right now living in Covington, Louisiana. It started when I went to the doctor, a urologist, for a kidney stone. And after the kidney stone, he asked if I ever had a PSA test and I, "What's a PSA test?" He said, "Well, we'll do one because apparently you've never had one," and that was when my PSA test started. It came back of over four, which means high chance of cancer.
I really didn't feel like the doctor was very well concerned because he almost sort of just passed it off as, "It's a low number, no big deal. Let's keep going." So I started looking for a different doctor that I thought would take my PSA score serious, because to me, four high cancer is pretty serious to me because it was the word cancer.
So I found a different doctor through a friend, went to him and he said, "Yes, it's high. Let's go ahead and do a biopsy." Did the biopsy, it came back negative, which was good. I thought, that's great. So right back to, "Let's do more blood work and keep an eye on your PSA." Then we changed insurances, which is always a disaster, so I had to find a different doctor. And I found one, I go to him, high PSA, "No problem. Let's do a MRI." So I do a MRI. He says, "Yes, I see some concern here with the test, but we don't need to do anything. Let's just watch it and see what happens."
Okay, that didn't really seem well, so I found a different doctor. I went to him. He said, "Yes, your high PSA, you've got an MRI. Let's do a biopsy." So he biopsies me and comes in a room, says, "Hate to tell you this, but you've got cancer. What do you think we should do?" I didn't know what to do. Just found out I've got cancer.
He said, "Well, it's not terrible, your Gleason score, so let's just watch it and see." It's always back to, "Let's just watch and see with the cancer." So I'm home Googling trying to figure out what these Gleason scores mean and some of the information says, "Ah, a three plus three Gleason score isn't really cancer," but it really is cancer. Even though it's low grade, it's still cancer. And what I've learned is overlooking a lower score and ignoring it can create problems because you may not be proactive on keeping up with your test and thinking it's going to be okay because it's low grade, but you've got to still stay up on it because it's still cancer.
So my doctor that just did the testing and diagnosed me ended up taking a leave from its practice and did not pass me off to anybody else. So back again, trying to find a doctor. Couldn't find one, but I did go to an oncologist because I know I had cancer. I'm thinking, let's just go to a cancer doctor. He did a bone scan, abdominal scan, checked my PSA, which was in the seven, said, "Yes, you still have cancer. Gleason score of six. Let's keep an eye on it, but you need to find a urologist." So find a urologist. Went there, he ordered a MRI and said, "Let's do a biopsy." I go back to his office two weeks later and he says, "Good news, your cancer is gone." Now I'm cancer free according to this doctor, but the MRI says I'm not cancer free. So back to another doctor search.
Went in for a new appointment with the new doctor. He said, "Yes, you've still got cancer. They just didn't pick it up on the biopsy. Hate to tell you, we got a stick you again, you have to have another biopsy." So now I'm scheduled. When I get back, I have to go in and get another biopsy to see if my Gleason score is still a six or has it changed to find out what kind of treatment they're going to come up with so there can be a plan of how to treat my prostate cancer other than just waiting and not knowing what's going on.
Being diagnosed with prostate cancer and going from doctor to doctor is very overwhelming. Looking at the information online, trying to learn all you can and be an advocate for yourself not being knowledgeable to the medical field is difficult. I trust the doctors who are trained for this and it seems like some get it right and some don't, and how do you know which one gets it right and which one don't? So my biggest hurdle is who do you trust, how do you know when to trust them? Because you're giving your life over to them and hoping they make the best decision for you.
What I've learned so far is since my mom had ovarian cancer, I've been told I'm more susceptible to have prostate cancer, which I did not know. Knowing that, I wish I would've had PSA testing earlier, knowing that I was a higher risk to have prostate cancer.
Having your prostate and having prostate problems can lead to situations with the man that feels like things aren't going to be the same in the future. So I've thought about and talked to other people. Is it good to seek counseling to help mentally address cancer? Because it's a lot of mental stuff that goes into how to take this diagnosis and be positive about it and have an optimistic outcome. I think with my cancer diagnosis, what's helped me get it is my friends that I trust that I could talk back and forth with that would just tell you, "Take care of it. Whatever you got to do, it's better to get the treatment and stay alive than worry about all the other stuff you've mentioned." That stuff doesn't matter. What matters is getting treatment and staying alive. Other stuff is not important.
If you're diagnosed with prostate cancer, that's not the end. It's just the beginning of how you're going to solve your problems. Make sure you trust your doctor. Get a second opinion. Do the research. If you don't know going in what to ask, they may not tell you. Are you comfortable with your doctor? If you don't get a good vibe, go get a second or third opinion. I've been to quite a few doctors until I found the one that I feel like they're an advocate for me to save my life and help my health and not just push me out the door and say, "We'll see you in six months."
When I found out I had prostate cancer, I went home that day. My daughter was still young with training wheels on her bicycle, and I was determined, today she's riding that bicycle. Her dad's going to teach her how to ride a bike because what happens if I'm not there one day? Who knows how long that would be? I just found out I've got cancer. So I made sure that day those training wheels came off and she rode a bicycle and I started approaching life as, let's just get it done today. You never know if you've got tomorrow. Just go for it.