NORFOLK, Va. — Today is the day! Today is the first day of my radiation treatment at Sentara's Oncology and Radiation department.
This follows my prostate cancer diagnosis back in December. Since that time I considered all my options and today is day one of a five-week treatment of radiation.
READ: The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press story about Kurt's cancer journey.
I started out documenting my journey because I felt it would help raise awareness about how I found out — it wasn't through the PSA blood test used for screening for prostate cancer, but through the physical exam — the digital rectal exam.
Watch: Kurt makes a treatment choice
Some doctors and medical practices allow that to be optional. If I had passed on that 20-30 second exam, which some call the "finger wave" — and I jokingly call a visit to "Dr. Jelly-finger — but if I had skipped that visit, I wouldn't know about my prostate cancer diagnosis. My PSA blood test score was well within the normal range.
But hats off to my physician at Urology of Virginia, Dr. John Liu. He insisted, as he always does, on doing the "finger wave" and afterwards he mentioned he felt a rough patch, something abnormal and as a result, recommended a biopsy.
And a big reason he felt strongly about insisting the "finger wave" is because of my family history and being an African-American male, which has the highest rate of prostate cancer in the country.
I invited the cameras in for that biopsy in December and when the results came back, it showed out of the 13 samples taken, four showed traces of cancer, with one of them indicating an aggressive form.
Health
Kurt Williams will start prostate cancer treatment this month
What followed next in January was full PET/CT scans and once again the cameras were invited along to share that experience.
I also documented my search through various options for treatment from surgery to proton therapy to conventional radiation. I also explored implanting tiny, radioactive seeds directly into the prostate.
That's how I got here today. I'm going with a hybrid approach, five weeks, of daily conventional radiation, which starts today. Once I wrap that up, a month later, I'll have the surgery for the radioactive seeds.
A lot of people are asking how I'm feeling? What has been a tremendous source of encouragement is my belief that God has my back on this.
Watch: Kurt talks with Dr. Melvin Marriner about prostate cancer diagnosis
And when you have so many people offering prayers on your behalf, that's been so encouraging! In going public, there has been a tremendous outpouring of support from the community, people emailing, commenting on social media, stopping me out in public, sharing that they're praying for me!
That's been awesome! And I did a story on that as well, interviewing one of my pastors, as well as hearing from the senior chaplain at Sentara Norfolk General hospital, who both spoke to the value of having hope while dealing with something like prostate cancer.
Also what's encouraging, my 92-year-old dad who was successfully treated for prostate cancer 30 years ago——and he's going strong, because he caught it early!
Keep those prayers coming and I'll keep updating you on my journey!
