Biopsy Results

We had a longer wait for the urologist than I expected, but when he finally appeared the news was good. No cancer. Dee and I rode that wave all day. Out of the blue, she kept smiling at me, saying, “I’m so happy.” I felt the euphoria too.

And there was more good news. The urologist wasn’t pushing for bladder surgery either. When I asked about “something natural,” he suggested Saw Palmetto. I was surprised and delighted. My doctors don’t usually seem open to herbal alternatives.

And it fit. A week earlier, I’d driven Dee to Queens, to a first appointment in with a holistic guru, an hour and a half each way in hideous traffic. Much to my surprise I liked the Queens lady who thought she could help Dee without loading her with additional meds. Dee’s follow-up was the day after my urology appointment. I signed up – couldn’t quite believe that I was doing this – for my own initial eval. I was bracing. If my guy said “surgery,” I wanted to hear an alternative. I was ready. I began following the nutrition lady’s advice to Dee, gave up my adored non-fat Greek yogurt – which is part of my almost-daily brunch – for an organic brand.

The next morning the good news, the euphoria was fading. I was remembering. The urologist was sending the biopsied tissue out for “confirmation.” What if the good news wasn’t confirmed? I was happy to be battling the traffic again. I was still open to alternatives. I’d held off on ordering the Saw Palmetto. Dee’s nutrition response testing looked so hokey to me, but I’d realized during the week that I don’t understand the “western medicine” of my doctors either. What the hell.

So far so good. “Keep doing what you’ve been doing,” was my initial nutritional instruction, only adding a few more supplements. I’m in no hurry to give up the meds which are keeping my blood pressure and cholesterol in the healthy range. But I am bracing to change my yogurt again. I can hardly believe it, but I am going to make the switch to full fat. Me, of all people. My mother, who was ahead of her time, had me drinking skimmed milk in elementary school. Now the guru says low fat milk is processed food. Processed food is bad. Well, Mom was ahead of her time, but she’s been gone twenty-five years. I can’t expect her to have kept up with the evolution of nutritional wisdom. Let’s see if full fat helps. I’ll keep track of my cholesterol. It isn’t going to skyrocket overnight.

I began taking the new supplements. No idea what they are really. Don’t know what my cholesterol and blood pressure meds are either. High school chemistry is so long ago. The way I’m figuring I just have to trust someone and take a chance. Which doesn’t mean I don’t pay attention. I’ll watch the outcomes. Will I feel better? Is it possible that if I adjust what I’m eating and change up my supplements, that my need for blood pressure meds or cholesterol meds will go down? Will my prostate health improve? As with everything else in life, I’ll step from the Zen master’s 100-foot pole and see what happens.