I’m being very un-hamlike, spending a lot of money on radio gear. In fact, I’ve even bought the wrong accessories for my new handheld radio and it only made me go out and buy the correct ones. I figure I’ve been doing this since, what, 1978, so it’s not like it’s a whim. I have found out several things from my new Yaesu VX-8R radio.

1. It’s hard to use but the instruction booklet tells you exactly how to do more than you ever would need to do (unlike the Chinese POS).
2. I can listen to all sorts of things like aircraft but I need a better antenna.
3. There ain’t no one talking on the ham radio.

I still have to admit that the Chinese POS got me interested in radio again.

I’m really just waiting for my new antenna to arrive so I can get back on the low bands and talk to all sorts of odd exotic locations. I have to buy more cable, and I have to find where I packed my radio away. Hooray for geeky hobbies!

DON’T READ THIS IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE SUBJECT IN THE TITLE.

So, this isn’t the most pleasant thing to read about, I’m sure, but I just wanted to see if I can get this into the google search results and say, it wasn’t as painful as the rest of the intarwebs made it out to be. The worst part was insertion of the probe which felt, well, larger than was comfortable. The numbing of the prostate with lidocaine was only a warm sensation and the actual biopsies felt uncomfortable but weren’t that painful for me. Sitting was uncomfortable for a couple hours afterwards (like while I was driving myself home) but it got better fairly quickly. I only had to lie down and read a chapter of the Steve Jobs biography before I was mostly back to normal.

The worst part was finding blood in my bodily fluids. They warn you that you may see blood in your stool and urine, but they didn’t tell me that even after knowing it would happen that actually seeing it would make me feel a little panicky.

I guess I was a bit of a smartass about the whole thing. A nurse and an ultrasound tech both asked my name, birthdate, and if I knew what I was having done. I replied with my name, my birthdate, and that “the doctor is going to shove something big up my ass and stick pins in my prostate.” I also told them that I searched the intarwebs and they had one opinion (“the most painful thing that could happen to you”) which is not what the doctor indicated. Once again, the intarwebs were wrong.

In any case, I got the biopsy because of a slightly elevated PSA test. Not dangerously high, but it was higher than normal for an Asian male in his 40’s. Since my dad had prostate cancer, my doctor wanted to do a biopsy. Since I trust him (he’s geeky like me) I went in for the biopsy. And that’s my story. Results come later.