Tag: cancer

I’m on a Roll

Yesterday, I drove to the doctor for my PSA blood test. I was expecting to wait the usual 15 minutes but to my shock there was not a soul in the waiting room. I checked in and a minute later the blood drawer called me back. Total time from beginning to end: 7 minutes.

I am about to send some US savings bonds in for redemption. For tax purposes, I want to send some in 2026 and the rest in 2027. This will require two notarized redemption forms. I didn’t want to make two trips to the notary so I called the Treasury number on the form and got my second shock of the day. After about five seconds navigating the usual “Press 1 for this and 2 for that” menu, I received the following message: “Your expected wait time is zero seconds.” No way, I thought. Immediately a voice came on the line and a pleasant man greeted me. In less than a minute I had my answer : a notary’s signature is recognized for this purpose for six months. Problem solved.

This morning my phone pinged. My PSA test results were ready, less than 24 hours after my blood was drawn. I went to the doctor’s patient portal which I accessed with my four-digit code (easy peasy) and saw my results. My PSA score is 3.8! That’s normal for someone half my age and the lowest score I’ve had in years. I attribute this medical miracle to two factors. First, as I said in my last post, I stopped riding my upright bike and switched to my recumbent for the last three or four weeks. Also, the day before the test we had torrential rain so I didn’t ride at all. (My wife and I went to see The Odyssey instead.)

When she heard the PSA test result, my wife said that if I want to stay cancer free, I should buy a recumbent trike. I wonder if my health plan will cover it.

Big Nellie and the Great Cancer Dodge

I am about to turn 71 and have so far, knock wood, dodged the Big C, cancer. This assumes that all the screening tests that I have done have been accurate. (A grad school roommate of mine was not so lucky. He had a “clean’ colonoscopy that missed his cancer. It killed him. Irony alert: his professional specialty was health economics.)

So far this year I have been screened for four types of cancer. I celebrated the new year with a colonoscopy. I have a family history of colon cancer so I’ve been having them every few years since I was in my early 40s. The gastroenterologist found and removed some noncancerous polyps. So far so good. See you in 2029, doctor.

I go to the dentist twice per year. He does a thorough visual screening for oral cancer. He looks in my mouth every which way and so far he’s only seen normal tissue. Smile when you say that, mister.

During my youth I routinely had bad sunburns owing to my heritage from the British Islands. Between running and bicycling I have spent thousands of hours under the sun since I turned 22. My skin is a cosmetic disaster. I go to a dermatologist twice a year for skin screenings. My most recent visit resulted in a biopsy. The tissue was noncancerous. Just to be careful, the doctor froze the bejesus out of the tissue near the biopsy site.

Next week I go for my sixth prostate cancer screening blood test. This involves measuring the amount of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in my blood. During a routine test in 2024 at my primary care doctor’s office, my PSA measured above 4 ng/ml which is indicative of a non-zero probability of prostate cancer for people in my age cohort (60 to 70) with a family history of prostate cancer. My doctor sent me to a urologist who has ordered four subsequent PSA tests and an MRI.

The MRI showed that I have an enlarged prostate (not unusual for old men) and no sign of cancer. An enlarged prostate tends to secrete more PSA into the blood. This alone could cause a high, but innocuous PSA level.

PSA levels also increase with age. Having just turned 70, I have entered a new PSA cohort. My threshold for concern is now 6 instead of 4. Being old has its advantages, I suppose.

Doctors hate when their patients introduce some random wisdom from the Internet. As it turns out, I heard from multiple sources online that bicycling can cause a rise in PSA levels. It seems the pressure of the saddle of a conventional bike on the perineum in turn causes pressure on the prostate gland leading to the prostate secreting abnormally high amounts of PSA.

In August 2025, I repeated one PSA test after having taken a couple of days off the bike. There was no change in my PSA level. (A friend of mine did the same and his PSA fell. As they say in med school, your mileage may vary.)

In February of this year, however, I had a more promising result. The weather was bad that I rode recumbent bikes indoors for about a week before the test. Low and behold my PSA level of nearly 6 in November fell to nearly 4. I felt young again.

In anticipation of my PSA test next week, I have been riding my recumbent exclusively for the last few weeks. I am hoping that Big Nellie is just what the doctor ordered.

Amanda Buy the Bike Already – and Other Thoughts

  • Amanda works with me. She keeps talking about getting a bike. I just can’t seem to get her from talk to action. On the way home from work, I took a picture from the Dyke Marsh bridge on the Mount Vernon Trail.

Image may contain: tree, sky, outdoor, nature and water

Amanda was really surprised. I keep telling her my bike commute rocks! I haven’t told her about having incoming jets fly right over my head as the land on the second runway at National Airport. Or the dozens of downy egrets in the river. Or the morning glories in bloom in the wetlands north of Old Town. Or the opera singer. Or…..

  • I have confession to make. I feel like a jerk. I am short changing some friends who are asking for donations connected to one charity bicycling event or another. A month ago I gave money to support Mike who is doing the Bike to the Beach ride. Proceeds go to autism support and research. Today, Emilia announced she is doing the ride too. I gave money when Katie said she was doing a Climate Ride. About two months later another Katie announced that she was doing another Climate Ride. Then Grace announced that she was doing a Climate Ride. How do you manage all these donations? You can’t budget for them. You feel bad if you give different amounts to each of your friends. Can you tell I was raised Catholic?
  • Watching one friend stress out over raising money made me decide to drop doing a charity ride this fall. It’s a good event for a good cause, cancer. I feel bad not doing it because so many people in my family have had cancer. (My father, my mother, a sister, a brother, my wife, three aunts, two uncles. Sorry kids, the gene pool’s a complete mess.) I want to focus on preparing for my tour to Key West and making sure I am ready to ride to the Pacific next summer. My aging body probably has only one shot at making it. Spending my summer stressing out over fundraising just didn’t float my boat.
  • There are two things to do if you are in DC this weekend.
    • You should go to the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. The water lilies and lotuses are in bloom. I’ve never been there and the pictures I am seeing online are driving me nuts.
    • And then there is the Tour de Fat. It’s a party put on by New Belgium Brewing to raise money for local bike charities. There will be live music and cold beer. I volunteered to work in the beer tent again.
  • And finally a note about the #bikedc DL. Dave just got cleared to get back on a bike after breaking his leg doing an Arte Johnson. A day or two ago, Alex collided with a salmoning cyclist. (When you ride against the flow of traffic, you are salmoning.) She broke her jaw. So Dave and Alex, be patient. You’ll be back to (your abnormal version of) normal in no time. The Rootchopper Institute sends you its thoughts and prayers (because we are waaay to lazy and cheap to bring you a beer.)