Larry Clapp Ph.D - Prostate health in 90 days

Prostate Health in 90 Days 1997 by Larry Clapp

Published and distributed in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published and distributed in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published and distributed in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published and distributed in the Republic of South Africa by: Hay House SA (Pty), Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.za Distributed in Canada by: Raincoast: www.raincoast.com Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in

Book design by Sara Patton, Maui, Hawaii
Printed in the United States of America

ISBN #1-56170-460-1
Library of Congress Catalog Card #97-90589

The information in this book is presented solely for educational purposes. It is not intended to serve as medical advice or a prescription, or to replace the advice and care of your doctor. Be sure to check with your doctor before beginning any aspect of the program. Its also a good idea to check with your doctor before beginning, altering, or ending any health, lifestyle, or diet program.

Some respected authorities feel that prostate massage can cause existing prostate cancer to spread. If you have prostate cancer or an infection of the prostate, check with your health advisor before having prostate massage.

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1st printing, Hay House edition, July 1997
23rd printing, August 2010

FROM DISEASE
COMES A PLAN

Life was great back in the fall of 1990. At age 58, I was in a wonderful new relationship, awash with the excitement of a new love and sex life. I was living in my beautiful estate in Hawaii. Business was both exciting and profitable. As Chairman of the Public Transit Authority and numerous other public bodies, I was heavily involved in political and social issues, enjoying a high public profile. And my health seemed to be excellent.

But one day, out of the blue, urination became painful, and I found myself wanting to urinate a lot. My urologist quickly diagnosed the problem as prostatitis, a common infection of the prostate gland that can lead to inflammation, pain, fever, an excessive urge to urinate, and other problems. The doctor had me take antibiotics for three to four weeks, which immediately cleared up the symptoms, and slowly eliminated the infection.

It was pretty standard to have a blood test called the PSA following prostatitis, so I had one. The PSA test was fairly new back then so, like most people, I didnt know that it stood for prostate-specific antigen. The PSA measures the blood levels of the agent that thins the ejaculate immediately after ejaculation in order to make the sperm more aggressive swimmers as they head for the ovum. Prostate-specific antigen is manufactured both by the prostate and by cancerous cells within the prostate. A score of 0 to 4 is considered normal and healthy. Anything over that is cause for investigation, suggesting either a very large prostate, prostate inflammation or infection, or prostate cancer. My PSA result was relatively high: 7.6.

I was frightened and upset by the result. I was also puzzled because my urologist, who had been examining me at least once a year for eighteen years, had been telling me all along that my prostate was quite enlarged and irregularly shaped. But he had also said this was very common. I reminded him that I had undergone an urgent prostate biopsy eighteen years ago, at his insistence. I asked him why, if my prostate had been enlarged and oddly shaped all this time, and if something had worried him enough to call for a biopsy, he had kept telling me that everything was OK. He replied, in effect, that he had been waiting for my prostate to deteriorate to the point that it would have to be surgically removed, because there is nothing else to do. This seemed incredible; moreover, it was unacceptable to me.

An elevated PSA only suggests that cancer may be present. In order to make a diagnosis, the urologist scheduled a prostate biopsymy second. A biopsy is an uncomfortable procedure which, in 1990, was performed in the hospital on an outpatient basis, without anesthesia. (Today it

How could I suddenly have cancer when I had been pronounced one of the healthiest men in Honolulu?

is usually done in the urologists office.) An ultrasound probe is placed into your rectum; you can see the image of your prostate created by the ultrasound on a monitor. Then a long, thin biopsy needle is inserted into your rectum. Guided by the ultrasound, the doctor places the biopsy needle at suspicious spots on the prostate. Then, when he pushes a button, a spring-loaded, hollow needle jumps out to grab and cut away a tiny piece of the prostate. The ultrasound probe felt uncomfortable, but the biopsy was downright painful. With each grab, the pain grew cumulatively worse. Most doctors want six samples of prostate tissue in order to map the prostate, although Ive read of others who take 30 to 75 samples. Im glad I had only three; I dont think I could have tolerated more.

The biopsy only took about twenty-five minutes. I left the hospital feeling greatly relieved that it was over, although I had gnawing discomfort in my prostate. There was blood in my ejaculate for the next two weeks, but the doctor had told me to expect this.

Then came the long wait for the biopsy resultslonger than normal because the local pathologists couldnt agree on whether or not my samples were malignant. So the slides of my prostate tissue samples were sent to Johns Hopkins, which was then considered to be the final arbiter of prostate samples. I called my doctor often during the next, suspenseful ten days, hoping for good news. Finally, his nurse called me to make an appointment to come inwith my familyto discuss the results. I chose to go alone, which upset the doctor. I preferred, however, to manage whatever news I might receive in my own way at first, without concern or pressure from others. I knew I would eventually want my loved ones to be involved, but I wanted to examine my own feelings and make some tentative decisions on my own first. I wanted to be alone should the results be bad.

And they were bad. The pathologists at Johns Hopkins had decided my biopsy samples were malignant, giving my prostate cancer a Gleason score of 6. The Gleason scale rates a tumors aggressiveness on a scale of 2 to 10, with 10 being the highest, and most aggressive. A 6 on the Gleason scale is definitely not good news.

The next diagnostic step was to determine whether or not the cancer had spread beyond the prostate. If it was confined to the prostate, my doctor told me the odds of getting it out were good. But if it had metastasized out of the prostate and spread, then there was nothing to do except prepare for an extremely painful death. I went in for a bone scan and CT scan. The tests themselves, which took two to three hours each, were minor inconveniences. But the cold, bureaucratic attitude of the hospital staff and their deeply fearful, guarded demeanor, suggesting imminent death, was annoying and pretty frightening. The staff was unable or unwilling to answer any of my questions, or to discuss the side effects of the tests I was undergoing. I asked whether the radiation I was subjected to would have an effect on my body. Didnt I have the right to know what these effects might be? The staff didnt seem to think so, and clearly resented my questions.

Again, I had to make an appointment with my urologist to get the test results. And again he wanted me to bring my family with me, but I went alone. The conference was shocking. The doctor began by telling me that I was scheduled for surgery the next day. But that was good news, he insisted. The test results were negative; the cancer had not spread beyond my prostate, so the entire thing, prostate and cancer, could be scooped out. He quickly added that immediate surgery would save my life. I