Second Corinthians chapter one, verse nine is the passage I've chosen for my journey through prostate cancer. Although Paul was speaking specifically about the persecution he and other Christians endured for the Gospel, the emphasis is on the purpose. Persecution or trials of any form solely exist to make us rely on GOD alone, and not ourselves. They happen in order for us to exhaust ourselves of any self effort in order to realize that our total dependence should be on the One Who created, sustains, and has sovereign authority over everything, including our individual lives. One of the Lord's greatest pleasures is when we surrender all to Him so that He receives all the glory He deserves from us, especially those of us who claim Him as Lord. We must avoid using religious cliches and "christianese" to flatter God and make us appear spiritual to man. Yes, it is true – God is good all the time... But, is He good only when things are going good for me??? God is good because it is Who He is, whether our world is good or not. One of the hardest truths to swallow is the fact that prosperity and adversity come from the same Source.

To be clearer, God will sometimes break us in order to use us. A vessel broken by the hands of the Potter will often provide better service to Him because of a clearer understanding and greater reverence for the Maker. Broken or not, we must fully confess and admit to ourselves the words of the Lord Jesus: "...apart from Me you can do nothing."

Visit the blog archive and read from earliest to latest to get the details in chronological order.


7.01.2007

Part Two: The Phone Call

Less than one week later from the free men's prostate screening at my church, I'm at work getting ready to go on to the State Fair with my fellow employees. It's one of those cool perks that we have that keeps us wanting to come to work! It's the best job that I've ever had (more about that later)!!!

As I'm walking to check on something before heading to one of the buses, my cell phone rings. It's the Methodist Hospital's healthfair coordinator, Tim Upshaw. He coordinates the screenings with churches and other organizations. He also makes the phone calls to the men regarding their screening results. Well, I was one of those who got the call from him this time. At this time, I'm really ignorant to a lot of the things that pertain to prostate cancer. But he proceeded to explain to me what I needed to know so that I wasn't in the dark about any of it and was trying to comfort me at the same time. Tim told me that my PSA numbers were higher than they should be. The normal PSA range is from 0 - 4 for men in general. It's 0 - 2 for African American men! My PSA was 7 (7.47 to be exact). A big chill went through me. Tim went on to say that it doesn't always mean cancer - and that it could just be an infection, or prostatitis, which is specifically inflammation of the prostate gland. This is treated with the right kind of antibiotics. Now my mind is thinking, "That's what I hope it is." Tim proceeded to inform me that I need to get to a urologist as soon as possible to find out for sure. He also suggested a real good urologist at the same hospital and gave me the name of one who is, in his opinion, the best.

Just as I'm about to call my "worrying" wife, she calls me. Tim called the house first so that explains that. She told me that I need to go see the doctor today!!! So, I went to the fair with my job and my wife told me that she would be picking me up at the front gate at a certain time. She was able to get an appointment for me later that afternoon. As she arrived at about 2pm and I walked to the front and hopped in the van. My wife asked me how I was feeling. I told her I was fine, but I was a bit nervous.

Well, we met with the urologist, Dr. R. Carrington Mason. After asking some important and routine questions, he told me that he wanted to check me for himself (the dreaded index finger!!!). Man, that was the most uncomfortable finger check that I ever had! I almost peed on the floor!!! Actually I did a little bit as I frowned in discomfort. He was a little rough, but his purpose was to be thorough. Like the doctor at the church screening, even he said that he didn't feel anything, although he mentioned that my prostate felt a bit spongy to him. Don't know what that means, but it was enough for him to say something about it. Dr. Mason then said, "We need to do a biopsy." Say what??? In other words, he needed to get some samples of my prostate so that they can be sent to a lab to run tests to see what's really going on. How was he going to do that? I found out one week later...
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