My Week in a Puerto Rican Hospital: Why it happened and Why I Need Your Prayers

A few months ago, I used a hammer drill to remove a concrete step in our carport. I spent about 2 days using a little plastic carton as a stool. I sat on that thing for about 6 hours both days as I chiseled out all the concrete. I got a bit of joint pain and a sore bottom later and took some Ibuprofen and didn't think any thing of it.

Over the next few weeks, the pain did not go away. The pills helped, but I was afraid of hurting my liver and kidneys with too much medication. So I went to Dr Jordan, our family Doctor. He sent me to get an x-ray to check for arthritis or a damaged ligament.

Nothing

Then he sent me to the Gastroenterologist for a colonoscopy. The results:

He: "Your fine."

Me: "Why do I hurt?

He: "Check with another specialist"

Back to the family doctor. This time he guesses the prostate may have swollen when I was sitting on it so hard for so long, and swelled and pinched a nerve. So he sent me to a Urologist for a prostate exam.

So I went to the Urologist. During digital exam:

He " It is slightly enlarged. Do you have any trouble usung the bathroom?"

Me: "None whatsoever"

He: "Just in case, we will schedule for an ultrasound."
Me: "Could sitting on it make it swell and cause nerve pain?"
He: "What? Who told you that? I never heard of such a thing."

So...

The ultrasound showed a small nodule, which lead to a biopsy, which lead to an infection and prostatitis, giving me all the symptoms that I didn't have before I saw the doctor. So I have to spend over a week on intense antibiotics to purge myself of a microbe that I didn't have before I went to the hospital. After all the medication I was given, I actually got worse the first 3 days I was here.

I am typing right now from a hospital bed, hoping to return home sometime next week. I just had a consultation with Yuri, an infectious disease specialist who will be planing some tests for me. The closer I seem to going home, the harder it gets. Please pray that I make it back home.

All this did find some localized, early stage cancer. Even though the cancer did not cause any of this pain, it was the pain that led to it's discovery. We don't want to fool with cancer, so we opted for the complete removal, maybe near the end of May or early June. Please pray for Tina and me as we face this new challenge of cancer and some unpleasant side effects that may occur.

The doctor says that prostate removal involving an early caught and localized prostate cancer has a very high success rate.

After all this...

Me: "Doctor, Is this the reason I am having pain in my lower regions? Will this help me sleep without using medicine?"

Him: "Nah, It's probably hemorrhoids. You should see a Proctologist!"