Long Time 914 Suppporter Mechanic needs Moral Support, Wes from H & H Enterprises is In and Out of the Hospital Options

[PanelBilly]

Gentlemen,
RIP Wes Hildreth. Earlier this evening, Our community lost a man of character, honesty and integrity. When his wife of almost 5 decades died a few years ago, part of Wes died then as well. Now they are together again.
His knowledge of air-cooled Porsches and VW's was remarkable and that experience will be missed by all. Please pray for his son, Jay and daughter, Jeanine. No notice for services.
old914dog
mike floyd

Amen

[SirAndy]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[brp986s]

My boss just went thru this. Early 50s. Diagnosis. Chemo. Remission. Spread to hip. Surgery. Death. I've heard of false positives with PSA. I can deal with that. How about false negative? Does that happen too?

[rhodyguy]

the psa test is part of the equation. an indicator. throw in BPH and you need to act prudently and promptly. thing is, most men get all embarrassed with the digit exam. so they shine it on. shine it on too long and a doctor feeling your prostate with his or her finger will be the least of your problems and as least invasive as the process will get. i won't even get into the $ for the numerous procedures and tests. if mike was going to do the manipulation i'd ask for a pretty, young, female resident instead.

[Dr Evil]

This sucks for sure.

Some clarifications:
PSA is no longer, and has not been for a while, considered a good screen for prostate cancer as there is no limit of things that can raise it causing false positives. It is used to track treatment once cancer has been identified.

Most prostate cancer is very treatable and very slow to grow. There are some that move quick and seem to take you by surprise.

Prostate cancer grows from the outside in. So, the digital rectal exam (DRE) is a great test once symptoms are noted. Recent guidelines have changed regarding the use of DREs every year from 50yo on. They found that there was no appreciable increase in detection nor a decrease in mortality. Thus, the test is useless, uncomfortable, and actually keep guys away from the doc which is a negative effect. The college of Urologist argue against this and still insist on doing DREs as screening tools, but they also get to bill much better than PCPs for the service. So, derive from that what you will.

So, how do you know if you might have prostate cancer?
- Difficulty stopping or starting urine stream
- Feeling of fullness in the groin, particularly behind your junk.

When you have symptoms is when you should talk to your doc and have you butt poked. Dont hesitate. We hate it, you hate it, but when it is necessary it is necessary and can save your life.

[Dr Evil]

More info, to counteract the incorrect/incomplete info above:

BPH is more likely than prostate cancer and is not a life threatening disease. It is a nuisance. It happens when your prostate completely swells (or at least not just the outside as is seen with prostate cancer). It is easily treated and you need a DRE to rule out the cancer and rule in the BPH.

[Dr Evil]

We have lost so many good folks this month already (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) At least we were enriched knowing them.

[rhodyguy]

quite a few over the last 10 years when you think about it. rip wes.

[brp986s]

Again, I'm ok with false positives. It's a basis for further inquiry. But, if your PSA is low, is prostate cancer ruled out?

[rhodyguy]

perhaps a prostate thread in the sandbox would be more appropriate. i know i went ot too.

[Dr Evil]

Again, I'm ok with false positives. It's a basis for further inquiry. But, if your PSA is low, is prostate cancer ruled out?

Actually, false positives are a crappy thing. They mean more money and testing and stress. Any test with a high false positive is not very good. As for false negatives, yes these can happen, too. They are less frequent, but that is why the PSA is a post diagnostic/treatment tool. Symptoms + positive DRE = further investigation. No PSA in that initial equation. Pretty simple. Many old docs that are not up to date on the current research will still do PSA, DRE, etc...

[rhodyguy]

was 5.02. now just over 1 iirc. 2 meds.

[worn]

Pretty simple. Many old docs that are not up to date on the current research will still do PSA, DRE, etc...

Probably best for the sandbox, but who has more prostates than this group? It seems that PSA is best at determining how effective surgery or radiation has been. Once you know you have it the source of the PSA is nailed down better. A more important test is determining whether you have the cancer that grows and metastasizes quickly or the type my grandfather had that couldn't grow fast enough to kill him. Genome-wide screens show promise in this arena, but some are reluctant to get the news. Some docs don't want to do that sort of test either, for reasons that elude me. I am not a physician, more of a gene jock.
I worry about my two boys though. In a family of 10 sons that included their maternal grandfather all 10 ended up with prostate cancer. All my ancestors died of heart disease (probably with PBH).

So also keep taking those antihypertensives even though they don't seem to do anything, and know where the fire extinguisher is, etc. I still want to meet you.

[EdwardBlume]

Thoughts and prayers to him, his family, and those who knew him. RIP.

[02loftsmoor]

I lost my Father to this, guys get checked

[Dr Evil]

Gene screening is expensive and has not shown that the number needed to treat has been low enough yet to justify the expense. That is why it is not just done.

BTW, every man gets prostate cancer if he lives long enough. Fact. The prevalence of prostate cancer in ~80yo is something like 90% and in the older group it gets close to 100%. We will all get it if we are lucky enough to live that long. Find it and treat it and you get some more years of peace.

If anyone feels that using the tragic passing of Wes as an in to talk about what killed him and how to go about preventing/screening/treating it, please do speak up and I would not balk at being told not to post any more about this here. If it were me that died of this, I would want this, though. I feel, in my own way, it is how I truly honor the memory of Wes.

[scraperhand]

RIP Wes you will be missed

Dr Evil, thanks for your up to date information

[tat2dphreak]

I wanted to tell a bit about what Wes meant to me... When I first got a 914, Wes was the person I found before even finding the forums. Joe yoder stopped me trying to find brake parts at Midas and told me about Wes.... He reminded me of my grandfather, also a vet. I would bend Wes' ear at times, or just stop by the shop and hang out... Usually eating chicken.. But I was doing the work at home... Later my job changed and I had more money, less time and less patience... So it took my car to Wes to help get it back on the road... He took me in like he'd known me forever.. I paid him to work on the engine, of course, but he let me use his lift, tools and shop all the time... I'd bead-blast parts and paint them or rebuild Alfa calipers... He didn't care... We'd hang out, smoke cigars and shoot the shit, too, of course...

Bottom line... I'll remember him, and all the times we had, and all the other friends I met through Wes... He was a good man.

[dknechtly]

This is very sad. A great man. He's helped me wth my car since the early 80's. Any word on services? I just checked the internet and couldn't find anything.

[tat2dphreak]

This is very sad. A great man. He's helped me wth my car since the early 80's. Any word on services? I just checked the internet and couldn't find anything.

I have not heard anything, but I'm also wondering if that is by design... I would understand completely if the family wanted to keep it a small affair.. instead of having the motley cast of characters that hung out with Wes every saturday (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)