F.U.M.A.
Wondering what the hell I'm on about? Read on...
Last week I awoke at some ungodly hour with a pain in my rear end, so I got up and sat on the toilet half asleep. But the pain was still there and kept me awake all night.
I knew that having a crap wasn't going to shift the pain, I also knew that my prostate gland was the cause of it.
I've had aches there before, but this was pain.
My father has an very enlarged prostate ( he's 86 ) and it's caused him a lot of problems, but drugs have reduced it and he's OK again. But some prostate problems ( and there are many different ones ) can be hereditory.
So it was a trip to the doc's asap.
I managed to get an appointment that day, and off I went. I'd seen my doc' before and had the exam, and he knows that I'm a Survivor, so he's extra careful.
When I went into the surgery my Doc' wasn't there, but a fresh faced young man was, he was a locum. My guy was away.
The sweat started to roll, and I was stammering so much I could barely speak. But I told him the symptoms, and he said "Take your trousers off and lie on your side on the couch please"
As I fumbled with with my jeans ( why did I choose button fly Levi's? ) I managed to tell him that I was a Survivor of sexual abuse and this "Finger Up My Arse" examination wasn't going to be easy.
He smiled and thanked me for telling him, and from then on he was gentle ( well, as gentle as possible ) and explained everything he was about to do.
I also stopped sweating and regained control of my mouth. We finished the consultation completely relaxed.
The result was I had an inflamed prostate, "prosateitis", something some people get from time to time, and my attack was just a bit worse than previous ones. Nothing to worry about at all as it turned out.
My point is however, we do need ( at a certain age ) to get regular prostate checks.
It's not fun for anyone to have a doctor shove a finger inside them, even less fun for us.
But if we tell our doctors then should at the very least show some consideration. I think most doctors would be just the same as this young man was, very aware of my feelings and reactions. Once the exam was over he immediately pulled a screen across while I dressed, a simple thing but one I appreciated.
We have suffered greatly as a direct result of our abuse, and we owe it to ourselves to take care of ourselves from now on.
Is a few minutes of discomfort, physical and mental, worth risking our lives for? I don't think so.
And if we prepare ourselves, tell the doc about our SA, then that's a very small price to pay.
I know one thing for certain, living with the fear of prostate cancer would be far worse than the F.U.M.A. examination!
Dave
Last week I awoke at some ungodly hour with a pain in my rear end, so I got up and sat on the toilet half asleep. But the pain was still there and kept me awake all night.
I knew that having a crap wasn't going to shift the pain, I also knew that my prostate gland was the cause of it.
I've had aches there before, but this was pain.
My father has an very enlarged prostate ( he's 86 ) and it's caused him a lot of problems, but drugs have reduced it and he's OK again. But some prostate problems ( and there are many different ones ) can be hereditory.
So it was a trip to the doc's asap.
I managed to get an appointment that day, and off I went. I'd seen my doc' before and had the exam, and he knows that I'm a Survivor, so he's extra careful.
When I went into the surgery my Doc' wasn't there, but a fresh faced young man was, he was a locum. My guy was away.
The sweat started to roll, and I was stammering so much I could barely speak. But I told him the symptoms, and he said "Take your trousers off and lie on your side on the couch please"
As I fumbled with with my jeans ( why did I choose button fly Levi's? ) I managed to tell him that I was a Survivor of sexual abuse and this "Finger Up My Arse" examination wasn't going to be easy.
He smiled and thanked me for telling him, and from then on he was gentle ( well, as gentle as possible ) and explained everything he was about to do.
I also stopped sweating and regained control of my mouth. We finished the consultation completely relaxed.
The result was I had an inflamed prostate, "prosateitis", something some people get from time to time, and my attack was just a bit worse than previous ones. Nothing to worry about at all as it turned out.
My point is however, we do need ( at a certain age ) to get regular prostate checks.
It's not fun for anyone to have a doctor shove a finger inside them, even less fun for us.
But if we tell our doctors then should at the very least show some consideration. I think most doctors would be just the same as this young man was, very aware of my feelings and reactions. Once the exam was over he immediately pulled a screen across while I dressed, a simple thing but one I appreciated.
We have suffered greatly as a direct result of our abuse, and we owe it to ourselves to take care of ourselves from now on.
Is a few minutes of discomfort, physical and mental, worth risking our lives for? I don't think so.
And if we prepare ourselves, tell the doc about our SA, then that's a very small price to pay.
I know one thing for certain, living with the fear of prostate cancer would be far worse than the F.U.M.A. examination!
Dave
