Following Advice, Saving A Life Two Times

Since I posted my initial blog on Saturday, I have been enjoying developing a list of future blog post subjects and creating a few articles as a backlog. It has been cathartic for me and hopefully the blogs will be insightful to you. I had planned to post one of the articles I wrote yesterday. However, I decided on a hard right turn for the post today.

Part of being a good leader is being healthy. One of my former employers convened a management conference where one of the invited speakers talked about the importance of being healthy and physically fit (apologies couch potatoes). He indicated that Olympic athletes train for peak performance and try to build their training so that their physical performance peaks just in time for the competition. Similarly, I have had several friends who are marathon runners. Each has indicated that when they train, they never run the full twenty-six miles until the marathon. Training is almost always twenty miles and where you hit the wall during a marathon. You train to overcome the wall. The day of the marathon is the peak performance time and you go the full distance. Sorry folks, no personal experience on marathons, so I rely on the actual participant's input. I like to run but have stuck to 5K or 10K races. At this point in my life, I stick to my daily five mile walk or run. Regardless, the conference speaker indicated that leaders need to prepare for peak performance too. A leader’s peak performance is during that time of high stress ---- the crunch times. Your employer expects you to be able to perform effectively --- with stamina, strength, clarity of mind, adrenaline pumping. You need to be at peak performance --- be at your best --- to make good decisions, lead the team, adjust direction as necessary, etc. It increases the probability of success.

Which gets me to my point today. I want to honor someone who saved my life. Twice.

When I was right out of college, I had to find a new Dr because the family Dr that I had grown up with retired. I happened upon a retired Marine Colonel who had gone into private practice as a General Internist (now called a Primary Care Physician) and whose name was Walter E Hood. He passed away a while back, so I never got to give him this feedback. I want to honor him today with this post.

Dr Hood gave me some life-changing advice as a 20-year-old. His advice was to get an annual physical, get a chest X-ray every five years as a new baseline, and know your (lab) numbers.

I have followed his advice religiously all my adult life. Every year when it was time for me to sign up for my benefit enrollment for the next calendar year, I would get a physical and save my lab results in a medical history file.

I have been blessed to have pretty good health most of my life ---- until 2020. That story starts in 2017. A few years earlier, I was diagnosed with marginally high blood pressure and went on a very low dosage of blood pressure medicine. As many of us have seen in our lives, my insurance company directed me to move to a generic in 2017. In 2018, my PSA (test for a certain protein that is an indicator of prostate issues) went from what had been 2.6 (on a scale of 0 – 10.0) to 3.6.   No big deal, it happens as you age. In 2019, two things happened. In August, I got a phone call from my Pharmacy and just afterwards from my PCP Dr to stop taking the prescription I was currently taking. Do not finish the current prescription. A new, different prescription is ready for me at the Pharmacy. At my annual physical in late October, my PCP indicated that the FDA had recalled the generic because one of the fillers in the generic was carcinogenic. Late in 2019 we did the normal physical blood work, and my PSA had increased to 5.6. 

This is where Dr Hood's advice saved my life the first time. Looking at my previous lab results, my PCP Dr and I had a discussion about why a PSA level that had been 2.6 for 40+ years had changed from 2.6 to 5.6 in two years.

Trust but verify is a core principle for me.

The abridged version of the story is that I went to a Urologist as a precaution. Upon exam, he thought everything appeared ok, but wanted to do a biopsy as a precaution.

Trust, but verify again.

After the procedure, he still thought everything appeared ok. Biopsy results in a week. It was during the holiday period, and I would be in Atlanta with family when the results became available. We assumed that everything would be ok and planned an office visit for the first week of January, but he would call the next week if the biopsy came back positive.

That call came the following week while I was in Atlanta ---- taking down my Mom’s Christmas tree. Three of thirteen biopsies were positive, one of those was aggressive.

I retired from my employer in March 2020, just as COVID was changing all our lives. I looked at a number of options, but selected surgery as the treatment for my cancer diagnosis. The day of surgery was a surreal experience all around --- stories for another day. The Medical Director at the hospital had to sign off on the surgery in April as being non-elective. Fortunately for me, the one aggressive biopsy was the reason it was non-elective. By the time the surgery had occurred in late April, the cancer was stage 3 but caught early. Had we waited for COVID to wind down, the cancer would have been terminal.

Dr Hood’s advice saved my life for the first time.

I recovered and believed harvesting the organ and cauterizing around the removed organ meant I was free and clear. Four and a half years passed, the PSA levels at my annual physicals and quarterly urologist blood work seemed like I was free and clear. Survival rates if you make it five years are really good.

Dr Hood’s advice saved me the second time.

At the four and one-half year milestone, my luck changed, and the PSA levels kept going up. Cancer recurred and resulted in seven weeks of daily radiation and six months of hormone treatment in 2024.

The good news is that I am good again. Free and clear will be a while.

The purpose of this blog was NOT to review my medical history. I have told many people this story in the past five years. I say I am a man on a mission for men to proactively monitor and diagnose prostate cancer as early as possible. Survival rates for early detection are really good these days. Did you know that the genetic marker that is a predictor of prostate cancer in men is the same genetic marker that is a predictor of some forms of breast cancer in women? I participated in a genetic study last year doing research in that area.

Cancer is an epidemic in our society. Dr Hood’s advice applies to us all. I was astounded five years ago as I learned about the prostate cancer levels across ethnic groups (African, Asian, and Caucasian). Breast cancer levels in women are similar.

As a side note, my radiation oncologist recommended a book to me in 2020 that I have referred to as my Prostate Bible. Excellent reference that I have gone to frequently and highly recommend.

Dr Patrick Walsh – Guide To Surviving Prostate Cancer

Dr Hood’s advice is good for all of us. His advice was to get an annual physical, get a chest X-ray every five years as a new baseline, and know your (lab) numbers.

The key point to the blog today is that as Leaders, we owe it to ourselves, our family, our organizations, and our employers to be at our best physically, spiritually, and emotionally. That requires staying “fit” in all those areas. You need to be at your best when it is most required at your job and in your family.

Dr Hood’s advice applies to us all.

Thank You, Dr Walter E Hood. You saved my life twice. Sorry I never got the opportunity to tell you that personally. Your message has saved a number of lives too. Your legacy lives!