My daughter Sasha thinks I should change my profile photo because I look like I have already had chemotherapy!
Good news in the post today...I am having a picture published in the July edition of 'Lakeland Walker'. They sent me a pair of walking socks as a prize!
One of my ex Army pals asked me what symptoms he should look out for. Difficult one! Obviously if you have blood in the urine or semen then go to your doctor, it needs checking out. But most other symptoms are common to an enlarged prostate, if cancer is present or not. As the prostate enlarges in most men when they are over 50, there is simply no point in trying to look for these symptoms and reading anything into them.
My advice to all men over 50 is this. Every year, without fail, go to your doctor and ask to have your blood tested for psa, the chemical that only the prostate produces. You will get the result the week after. Even if it is slightly raised, ask your doctor to examine you internally. It may put your doctor off lunch, but hey, what price? Your doctor will then know, as mine did, whether or not to send you to a specialist. If you catch this early your chances are very good!
Before I was diagnosed I had never felt fitter, so don't be fooled into thinking that you need to feel unwell to have prostate cancer.
A big bonus once you have been treated successfully is that you will then be 'kept an eye on' for life to make sure there is no recurrance.
In an e mail today someone said 'you must be very angry that this has happened to you'. Not really, I have learnt that 'stuff' just happens. Hopefully we get more good stuff than bad stuff in life. We enjoy the good stuff and with the help of good people around us, we must just deal with the bad stuff!

I have been flooded with 'well wishes' from so many people; thank you so much.