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Y&T frontman Dave Meniketti, who went public together with his prostate most cancers battle in February, has simply undergone his first radiation remedy remedy. In keeping with an replace despatched out to the Y&T e-newsletter subscribers, it has been “to this point, so good. Now he begins the following spherical of therapies,” the replace provides. “[Dave is] very a lot wanting ahead to placing this all behind him and returning to the stage.”
The 68-year-old guitarist/vocalist mentioned his prognosis and remedy throughout an look on the April 20 episode of SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”. Relating to how he discovered that he had most cancers, he stated (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Again in 2018, I harm my again and was fully out; I imply, I couldn’t play. We needed to cancel a complete European tour within the fall, which we do religiously yearly. And I am laying on my again and I am in superb ache and it was the primary time something like that had ever occurred. However one of many issues that I used to be eager about whereas I used to be laying there may be, ‘Wow, I have not had a PSA take a look at,’ which is the blood take a look at that it’s important to display screen your self for presumably having prostate most cancers. And I am actually good about getting my yearly exams and every part else, and I noticed that I would skipped a yr or two; I believe it was the longest I would ever gone with out getting my yearly bodily or one thing. So I assumed, ‘Okay, effectively, I would higher get again on [track] right here.’ And I went and I had my PSA take a look at and it got here again excessive. It was over the common… It is like zero to 4, something in that vary you are okay, and I used to be over that by a bit bit; I used to be like 5.3 or one thing. So I went in to see my urologist, and he stated, ‘All proper, we’re gonna need to take a biopsy. And we’ll simply do a easy one within the workplace and we’ll principally ship that biopsy off and see what’s taking place.’ Effectively, it got here again damaging. However then he stated… A few weeks later, I used to be all, ‘Okay. Nice.’ After which a few weeks later, he goes, ‘Effectively, I despatched that very same biopsy to this different lab that does one of these factor…’ And I can not bear in mind what it’s, however principally they have a look at the biopsy they usually work out whether or not or not perhaps he simply missed the world the place it actually was. I imply, the prostate’s not very huge, however if you happen to’re taking 12 little samples of it, snippets of it, you may very effectively miss the precise space the place if there was most cancers, if it was there or not. And in order that got here again as a 47 p.c probability or extra that I did nonetheless have most cancers however they only missed it. So he stated, ‘So this is what we’re gonna do. We’re simply gonna watch. We’re gonna have you ever take a PSA take a look at each six months, and we’re gonna watch it.’ And it went down a bit bit the following time, after which it went up, however it wasn’t rather more completely different than the place it was the primary time it was up. And so we simply watched it and watched it. And I stored asking, I’m going, ‘Effectively, I am nonetheless over.’ He goes, ‘Effectively, there’s lots of people that may be over that quantity 4 and nonetheless be okay. It is only a unusual factor; some individuals simply stay with the next quantity. However we’re simply gonna watch it.’ And he goes, ‘If it spikes up a few numbers or one thing like that, then we’re gonna do the following step.’ Effectively, simply after December of final yr — on the finish of the vacation — I went in about December thirtieth or so and had my PSA and it was 6.25. And I stated, ‘Okay, that is getting scary.’ And I went again to him and he stated, ‘All proper. We’re gonna do the following step,’ which is take an MRI, a prostate MRI, which accurately takes 1000’s of slices of images of your prostate, to allow them to actually inform whether or not there’s one thing in there. And positive sufficient, there was. So he stated, ‘Okay, you’ve prostate most cancers. So now we’re gonna take you into the hospital and do one other biopsy which is gonna be guided rather more clearly, ‘trigger we all know now the place this factor is.’ And they also took the biopsy, and he stated, ‘You are fortunate.’ He goes, ‘We have gotten it fairly early right here, and your scores are actually good.'”
In keeping with Meniketti, he was given “two or three” remedy choices for his prostate most cancers. “Certainly one of them is to simply take out the prostate fully, and the opposite one is to deal with it with radiation,” he stated. “And I opted for the second as a result of there are doubtlessly extra issues with taking it out at my age. While you’re youthful, it is not almost as huge of a deal, however there’s extra issues doubtlessly, like I say. And the end result for each is strictly the identical. So it is, like, ‘I am gonna take care of this.’ So [my wife] Jill and I researched it intimately on-line, we talked to, in fact, my urologist after which met the oncologist that might become involved with this choice. And so they all stated precisely the identical factor, that we had been researching and listening to from different most cancers survivors and such, that if you happen to do that explicit two-stage course of, you have acquired pretty much as good of an consequence as taking out the prostate fully. So I certainly opted for that. And it is principally they insert these radioactive seeds referred to as brachytherapy, they usually put it straight into the prostate they usually put about 30 or 40 of them in there they usually do about 70 p.c of the work at killing the most cancers. And so they simply keep there perpetually, however they’ve a few six-month quantity of placing out full radiation after which after that they stunning a lot die off. I had it about three weeks in the past, virtually, and I used to be sort of involved, ‘trigger I had reveals to play, and the primary one was the Fillmore one week after I had that surgical procedure. And I used to be, like, ‘Can I do that?’ And I used to be asking each docs, they usually stated, ‘Yeah, you are most likely gonna be simply effective. You may need a bit little bit of ache,’ and so forth and so forth. However I made it by. After which the following week was final weekend, and each reveals went off nice. And I had not that a lot ache general, so it was not too dangerous.”
As for the following step in his remedy, Dave stated: “5 weeks after they insert these seeds, I’m going for exterior radiation, and that is 5 straight weeks of that 5 days every week. And it’s totally focused. They, I assume, offer you these little tattoos — which will probably be my first tattoos, by the way in which. [Laughs]”
Meniketti went on to say that this was among the best remedy choices for his age. “I am 68 years previous — I do not thoughts telling you that, as a result of I am happy with the truth that I’ve nonetheless acquired it so far as my voice continues to be there, I can nonetheless play guitar, the band sounds nice, so I am not apprehensive about it,” he stated. “And [the radiation] begins about three weeks from now — someplace round there; perhaps two and a half; I have not gotten the date but from the oncologist when that is gonna begin. However Jill, who’s my supervisor and my spouse, had set it up in order that I wasn’t gonna play any reveals for at the least a month after the tip of that five-week remedy. As a result of although I do not lose my hair or I do not get sick or something like that, you’ll doubtlessly lose some power halfway by the remedy since you’re getting doused with radiation. So it is sure to occur. But it surely’s not chemotherapy, so there’s nothing like that sort of factor.”
Dave concluded by saying that whereas prostate most cancers is the commonest sort of most cancers in males, with one in eight males getting it, additionally it is some of the treatable, with a survival charge of over 90 p.c after 10 years. “That is a kind of cancers, if you happen to catch ’em early, you might be a hundred percent mounted — it is over; it is accomplished; you are sorted,” he stated. “I imply, positive, it might come again in some unspecified time in the future, however even when it does, they will deal with it once more. You often outlive this most cancers, if you happen to get it early sufficient. So, fortunately, I have gotten it early sufficient. And the urologist and the oncologist each really feel that on the finish of this five-week radiation remedy I needs to be accomplished. After which I’ll proceed to get PSA checks extra ceaselessly to essentially double verify to make it possible for the numbers go means down.”
Meniketti is the one surviving member of the Y&T lineup — then often known as YESTERDAY AND TODAY — that recorded the band’s self-titled debut album.
Unique Y&T rhythm guitarist Joey Alves died in March 2017 on the age of 63. Two founding Y&T musicians — Haze, 61, and Kennemore, 57, who each had left the lineup — died from problems of lung most cancers: Kennemore on January 7, 2011, and Haze on September 11, 2016.
Y&T‘s present lineup is rounded out by guitarist John Nymann, drummer Mike Vanderhule and bassist Aaron Leigh.
The long-lasting Bay Space rockers’ newest studio album, “Facemelter”, got here out in Could 2010 by way of Frontiers.
In 2019, Y&T launched its long-awaited documentary, “Y&T: On With The Present – The Documentary”, on DVD and on Blu-ray.
