Trevor Laffan: A simple test for men that will help you to be ‘elderly’ like me!

I don’t consider myself to be an old man, but my passport and my birth certificate both state that I was born in 1958.

That wasn’t today or yesterday and so I guess I have to accept the facts. I’m not getting any younger and that’s confirmed when the media refer to people my age as elderly.

There was a headline recently in one newspaper declaring that an elderly man was robbed in Dublin and when I read into it, it turned out he was a year younger than me.

Evidence of old age is all around me. My children are in their thirties, and I have three grandchildren.

If that’s not bad enough, it’s ten years since I retired and many of the men and women who were students under my supervision during my working life are also now retired or retiring.

It gets worse. Events that occurred the year I was born further emphasise the passage of time. 1958 was the year Ireland was admitted to the United Nations, sending the first Irish UN soldiers to serve in Lebanon. Dr Noel Browne, as Minister for Health, began a campaign to eradicate tuberculosis - which was completely successful by the way.

Dr Ernest Walton, of Trinity College, Dublin, with Sir John Cockcroft, won the Nobel Prize for Physics, for their breakthrough in splitting the atom.

Ireland began to participate fully in world cultural programmes, initiating such international events as the Wexford International Opera Festival, and the setting up of Ardmore Film Studios.

There were some major global events in 1958 too, including the launch of the first U.S satellite, and the establishment of the European Economic Community (EEC), the forerunner to the European Union (EU).

The Munich air disaster also happened, when a plane carrying the Manchester United football team crashed in bad weather, killing several of the players.

The microchip was invented that year, and stereo recordings came into being.

Is it any wonder I often feel exhausted? I’ve been around for a long time, but I’m not complaining.

In fact, I’m very grateful because far too many men didn’t reach my age for various reasons. Some of them fell victim to prostate cancer.

Medicine has made great strides in recent years in the treatment of that disease. We know a lot more about prostate cancer thanks to awareness campaigns like Movember.

This is an annual event that occurs during the month of November and encourages participants to grow moustaches to raise awareness about men’s health issues - particularly testicular cancer, prostate cancer and suicide.

It drives me mad that there is still so much ignorance around the subject of prostate cancer, despite all the publicity highlighting the need for early detection and intervention. There is no shortage of men over the age of 50 who are not having regular prostate checks because they have no symptoms, and that could prove fatal.

As we head into Movember, you will hear plenty of testimony from survivors of prostate cancer who never had symptoms, and whose cancer was only detected because they were being monitored by their doctor or through a PSA Test.

Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) is a protein made by the prostate, which can be measured in your blood. A simple blood test measures the level of PSA in your blood and can be useful as an indicator that something might be wrong.

It’s not a perfect test. Your PSA level can be raised when you do not have prostate cancer, and it can be normal even when you do have prostate cancer so, on its own, it isn’t definitive.

The controversy surrounding the reliability of the PSA test might be putting some men off.

Some experts have said PSA screening will save some men’s lives, but at considerable cost to others because the test also picks up cancers that might never have posed a serious threat, raising issues over harms of over-diagnosis and overtreatment.

Fair enough, I’m not medically qualified to get involved in that debate, but there are many hurdles to overcome before a cancer diagnosis is confirmed.

It’s not just a case of having a PSA test today and ending up in a hospital operating theatre tomorrow.

In my case, my GP decided as I approached 50 years of age that I should have my PSA checked annually. For the next nine years, the readings were normal, but then things took a different turn. The levels were rising and that set off alarm bells.

There was a digital examination first, which caused my GP some concern, so he sent me to a consultant.

The consultant did another digital examination, and he was concerned enough to send me for an MRI.

The result of that showed something was not right so he sent me for a biopsy, which confirmed the presence of cancer in the prostate.

It was only after all of those procedures had been carried out that we went down the surgical route and had it removed, and I have no regrets. Once I heard it had turned bad, I just wanted it out of my body as soon as possible.

That’s just my experience, and I learned one thing from it; you can’t afford to wait for symptoms. I had NONE.

Many others in the same boat had none either, so my advice is simple. Don’t wait for symptoms to appear because it could be too late by then.

Every man in his forties, particularly if there is a history of prostate cancer in the family, should have that conversation with their doctor as soon as possible. They will give them the best advice, but the main thing is not to ignore the issue. That could prove costly.

So, be proactive and give yourself a fighting chance. Early detection, and intervention, is vital if you want a chance to be referred to as an old man.