During my colonoscopy, they discovered that my prostate is not enlarged but that it is “nodular.” My doc seems pretty unconcerned. I’ve decided to backburner it until I get squared away with the PsA and the atrial fibrillation. There are only so many days a month I care to spend at the blasted hospital! I stopped getting the psa (?) tests and digital business some time ago. The docs just seemed to lose interest in these formerly “essential” testings, and I happily went along with their indifference. I’ll revisit the matter down the line.
You have no clue. Years ago I worked for an organization called WAMI which was a cooperative medical school that included some states that didn’t have a med school. These kids were doing residenceys among the states involved. My job was to proctor the clerkships for aspiring med students and first year residents in my state. In those days EVERYTHING was around the the physical exam. A couple years ago, the lady whi took the job when I left had a medical issue convinced me to fill in for her which I was MORE than willing to do as she was the retired chairman of pediatric Rheumatology department and I really needed input from a pediatric specialist for my grandaughter.
The first day on the job these “primary care doctors” showed up to physical exams and didn’t even have a damned stethescope with them and looked at me like I had three eyes when I asked why. A physical exam involved typing 100 wpm on their lap top filling in a form that faxed automatically lab and imaging orders based on the facilities protocols. They were so damed busy completeing their EMR (Electronic Medical Reords) forms they didn’t even have time to talk to their patients let alone "examine them. Their explanation were trained to leave “specifics” up to the specialists. Not one of them could clearly explain how they knew when to involve the specialist. Apparently it was pretty much up to the patient. Now maybe I am exaggerating a bit but not much. BUT it did seem to me that all they ever did was pass out anti-depressents and statins. Thank God Judy came back much quicker than originally planed. AND needless to say when a "doc walks into a room where I am the patient with a lap top, I pretty much walk out. Any damn fool witha three month training program as an "office assistant"can do what they do (and sadly often are the primary contact during a physical. The physical exam/history was and still is worth 1000 time more than imaging and labe tests.
I do understand, so I may have at least a partial “clue.”
I am dealing right now with PsA and with atrial fibrillation. I choose to get these matters dealt with before attending to the matter of my nodular-but-unenlarged prostate. One plays the odds. My PsA is quite severe and progressive; my atrial fibrillation threatens me with the quite frightening prospect of a stroke. I choose to deal with these problems first. That your individual (idiosyncratic) experience may suggest a different priority does not make my prioritization any less rational. The PsA is an immediate concern, attended as it is with threats of pain and disability; the prospect of a stroke is a dire one. A lumpy prostate takes third place in my hierarchy of concerns. One does what one can, after all: any number of things might do me in, and something or other no doubt will. My prostate will have to wait its turn. Yours, perhaps, demands more urgent attention. Fine. So be it.
Boy I blew that one, Sorry. I meant no clue as to how significant your statement" The docs just seemed to lose interest in these formerly “essential” testings" The number of things that are the result of “incidental” findings during scans and testing that should have been hinted at (at the very least) during ones annual is worrisome. BTW a lumpy prostate by DRE is pretty meaningless. what they are lookong for or SHOULD be looking for (feeling for actually) is benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) which is when it feels large and smooth. A lumpy gland or hard simply means if they haven’t run a psa, they should, and then repeat in a few weeks/months to compare levels. The lumpiness is as often the result of lack of ejaculations than anything. With the benign prostatic hyperplasia ones, it could be simply PsA. That why the blood test AND exam should be “essential” testings.