When Ian Grieve, owner of Toowoomba-based integrator Computer Ambulance, turned 47 he felt something unusual. His doctor, a general practitioner gave him the all clear after a blood test.
Almost four years later he had some chest pains and went to another GP. He completed heart checks and another blood test, however he didn't get the results straight away.
"That was October last year and part of the tests I had to do was a stress test which I kept putting off," he said. "The chest pains had turned out to be muscular and I was feeling good, except about the stress test."
After being urged by his wife, he went to go for the stress test only to find the clinic booked out until January. So he waited three months and then went to collect the results.
"I did my stress test, passed somehow, but didn't take the results to the GP because I was feeling fine," said Grieve. "In February I got a call from the GP saying I should come straight in. It seems they finally read the blood tests from October."
The doctor recommended Grieve undergo an ultrasound where they measured the size of the prostate, then it was a six-week wait for an appointment with the urologist.
"He did the digit test and straight away he knew the story," said Grieve. "The prostate was hard on one side. After that came a biopsy, 20 cores were drilled and 13 showed cancer. This confirmation was a tough time and breaking the results to the family was hard."
According to Grieve the test showed the cancer was very aggressive and rated 5+4 out of the highest score possible of 5+5.
"One test I didn't want to excel at," he said. "Life expectancy at this stage was 18 months. [Considering] my age and the aggressiveness of the cancer, there was no choice but to get rid of the prostate. There was no possibility of keeping the nerve bundles, it all had to go because of the aggressive and advanced nature of the cancer."
Had the cancer been detected earlier, said Grieve, the prostate could have been surgically removed while sparing the nerves. After recovery you are basically back to a normal life - although it can sometimes take a year or two.
"After another long wait, I entered hospital and had the prostate and nerve bundles removed," said Grieves.
Who's looked after the business when Grieve was sick and what did clients think? Read on...
He said after the operation he took a month off work and then came back for a couple of mornings a week until he got too tired.
Grieve said his business partner Mark Robin has ended up doing longer hours. Computer Ambulance has another staff member James Whitley and an apprentice Jack.
"A retired client, Peter Corey, who has been doing TAFE courses on computers, comes in three days a week to help answer phones and also basic things like killing virus and spyware, servicing etc," he said. "My wife Dawn, who looks after the books, comes in to fill in on the phones when Mark is onsite at clients and the guys are busy."
Grieve claimed the worst time for short staffing was the month or two after the operation when Dawn spent most of the days at work for him.
"Since then the chemo has only usually meant at worst a week off after the treatment," he said. "This time it was only the day after." There's no real effects of the illness to interfere with work and the only side effects are more to do with the treatment - in my case at the moment the chemo."
Grieve's wife Dawn drives him to and from work, although one of the the benefits of living seven minutes from the business means he can walk. However, he is only allowed 10 minutes accumulated sunlight a day.
"When the eyesight plays up I simply change tasks," he said. "If I am at my computer then I will change to one of the work benches and work on a repair or make a coffee."
Grieve said Computer Ambulance tends to have the older (30+ years) clients that want service rather than the cheapest price.
"Most of them have been touched by cancer with family members or friends and so they are always ringing to check on me, pass on the latest 'cures', drop in books and other goodies," he said. "It has been humbling, especially when little old ladies from retirement homes offer to answer the phones for us and they can't really, but they offer and they ring to say g'day or find out the latest news on my progress, send me jokes, and so on."
Grieve said he had been offered insurance for sickness and accident. However, the insurance pays after the first 30 days - which in his case was four weeks.
All up, the out of pocket expenses of having Prostate cancer would total $30,000. If all the other issues don't scare men into getting early testing, maybe that one will, said Grieve.
Grieve said having a sense of humour was very important. For him there have been "some funny moments".
"My kids (26, 24, 22) keep me grounded and give me a hard time, make me the butt of their jokes, I give them plenty of ammunition," he said. "I have three children and one grandson and I intend to be around as long as possible."
Blue September
Blue September, a campaign which encourages men to face up to cancer, was launched today.
Proudly supporting the Cancer Council, Blue September was a campaign to increase awareness of cancer in men.
Its website states "one in two men in Australia will be directly affected by cancer by age 85".
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