This is so strange. About a decade ago I was rubbing androgel into my body on a daily basis and I felt like Superman ... eh, that may be a bit much. Probably more like Ben Afflack's Batman. Then I aged out of the Medicaid program and Medicare would not cover the androgel so I simply forgot about it. I began to put on weight and didn't have the energy to exercise. Then 2 years ago I raised the subject with my new primary care doctor. She sent me to the local Quest office for a blood test and one of the findings was that my testosterone levels were really low. So she referred me to a Urologist who had me go back to Quest for another blood test. When he got the results back he talked to me a bit about what Medicare would cover and I began going to his office where one of the nurses shot me up with some form of supplemental testosterone once every 3 weeks. This started in the Fall 2 years ago. After the Christmas holidays passed I told the doctor that I saw no change at all in my body. Off to Quest again and it was then that I began to hear the letters PSA with numbers atthere was also "the Gleason score" but that went in one ear and out the other. He took me off the supplemental testosterone, waited a month, got new readings from Quest and was told I needed to get a biopsy because it looked like I had prostate cancer.

My memory of the next 2 months are kind of hazy. I had ultrasound, then an MRI. He pushed me into the advanced robotic prostate cancer surgery, which I had on June 16th 2022. My entire prostate was removed. I went home the next day and once the catheter was removed a few days later I began to stain my wooden floor blood red. It took about a month before I regained some control over my bladder, and that there was an obvious decrease in the blood mixed with my urine.

A few weeks ago I joined Planet Fitness. I have not actually worked out there yet, because as I stepped out of my bathroom a week after joining I noticed that there was an odd bulge in my lower right abdomen. It looked like the alien in the film Alien. Like something was ready to bust out of my body. Yup, it is a hernia. After spending an hour with Google I found that ever since a European study done in 2013, it has been known that there is a linkage between prostate cancer surgery and hernias. There are standard recommendations of things NOT to do that may keep a hernia from developing after the surgery.

Too late now!

Up until a year ago the only surgery that I ever had was circumcision and tonsils removed. I honestly hate being in the hospital and I'm not too keen on people in the medical field. I've dealt with the past 6 months largely thru denial. I did everything I was told to do but in a robotic fashion.

So to sum up: Last Fall very low PSA. After 5 months of testosterone supplementation to no effect had a series of blood tests. Led to other tests, led to surgery. I never did experience the joy and wonder that I experienced a decade ago when using androgel. And now it seems that sex will be just a distant memory, because I don't intend to create an itch that I then am compelled to scratch.

Why didn't I become Tarzan with the second series of testosterone supplementation? Did I already have prostate cancer, or did the hormone therapy induce the cancer? Can I live with a hernia that mainly shows itself when I'm on the toilet and then gradually recedes, or is that just asking for trouble?

I've posted the same story 2 or 3 times in these forums. You guys must be getting bored! I intend to stay off the forum for awhile until I have something new to contribute. Happy holiday wishes.