About 6 years ago Jerry was sent to a urologist because his PSA numbers were a little high. Upon examination it was discovered his prostate was enlarged. A biopsy was done and the results were negative. His urologist, a well known fellow in the realm of urology, suggested that although clinical trials were inconclusive, he had seen very good results in his patients if they daily added to their diet the following: Green tea, tomato juice, soy milk, vitamin E and Selenium. He said he couldn't guarantee that Jerry would never get prostate cancer but he said he strongly felt that this regimen was the best protection available in prevention.
Since that day, Jerry has started each day with tomato juice. He drinks iced green tea for lunch, uses soy milk on his breakfast cereal, and has selenium and Vitamin E in his pill container. He is faithful in his use of them. If nothing else, Jerry is consistent!
We moved to Riverside County in 2005 and have had two HMOs in the last three years. The Kaiser urologist had a biopsy done, which also came back negative. Finally his most recent urologist, with yet another HMO, was alarmed by his PSA and the increasing size of his prostate and ordered another biopsy. He indicated a likelihood of cancer and asked Jerry to give some thought as to what kind of treatment he would want if the biopsy did, in fact, come back showing cancer.
In order to inject a little levity in an otherwise grim situation, I told Jerry the upside to having a bad outcome is that he would get to drink real milk again! And so that became the joke of this last two week waiting period... he ran out of selenium so he didn't buy any, just in case; he checked prices for real milk at the grocery story. We tried to lighten up the waiting. I also suggested that he prepare for a good outcome and just make up his mind that he'd never get to savor the taste of cow's milk ever again!
This morning we went to see the doctor for the results. The doc came into the exam room smiling, thrusting the lab results at Jerry. He said due to the size of the prostate he took many, many samples from all over the gland, and not a one of them showed a single cell of cancer!
I'm sure doctors would a lot rather deliver this kind of news than the other kind, so he was happy as a clam. And we certainly walked out of that office with our feet off the ground. What a good way to start the day!
We will replace the selenium pills as soon as we can get to Clark's Nutrition Center in Loma Linda, where we buy lots of the healthful foods that we've learned to eat since we learned of them. It was our lucky day when we met Dr. Franklin Chu in San Bernardino, who set Jerry on this most healthful path.
No comments:
Post a Comment