Aussie reseller battles prostate cancer

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...