Dolphin: Voice of the Hawkeyes and health vigilance

The best call Gary Dolphin ever made wasn't in front of a microphone.

Given a choice this summer between taking antibiotics for a presumed infection of his prostate or having a biopsy done, the announcer of University of Iowa football and men's basketball games chose the biopsy.

“I said ‘I'm 60. I don't care. Let's do it.' It's not the most pleasant thing in the world but I'm glad I had it done.” Dolphin said.

The biopsy showed cancer. Within the next 10 days, Dolphin will begin a series of 42 radiation treatments at Wendt Regional Cancer Center at Finley Hospital in Dubuque. He works at U.S. Bank in Dubuque and lives in nearby Peosta.

Everyone should use the good sense Dolphin has displayed when it comes to being vigilant about his health.

“The Dolphin family history has bad hearts,” he said. “My dad died when he was 36, his dad died at 48. So I made it a point to try to stay in shape. I've worked out three or four days at week minium at a fitness place in Dubuque. I've always gone to a cardiovascular specialist in Dubuque every six months for my heart. They do all the blood tests.

“Two years ago, the doctor gave me the old ‘Hmmm.' He said my PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen Test) was out of whack a little bit, was there any cancer history in my family? No, not really.

“He had me checked by a urologist. So we've been monitoring this for two years. The PSA would be up six months, down the next. One alarm is if it ever doubles no matter what the score. Mine went from 2.8 to 5.7. But it's usually not an alarm unless it hits double figures, 10 or 11.”

That's when Dolphin was asked if he just wanted to try some antibiotics, and he instead opted to go straight for the biopsy. Good call, Dolph.

Thirty percent of 12 samples were found to be cancerous. But the good news is they were contained to the lower area of the prostate.

“The bone scan, the CT scan, the lymph nodes - all those checked out clean,” Dolphin said. “That's why I'm doing radiation. I'm banking on the fact there will be lesser side effects.”

Since the diagnosis last month, Dolphin has been taking a daily potent pill to shrink the prostate.

“It weakens the tumor and shuts off the testosterone manufacturing capability,” he said. “Testosterone fuels the tumor.

“It takes a month or a month-and-a-half to take full-blown effect, so I had to wait 30 or 40 days before doing the radiation.”

Dolphin expects no interruptions of his broadcasting duties. He said he has plenty of offers from friends to drive him to Iowa City on Wednesday nights to host Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz's radio show.

The 20-minute radiation treatments will be on weekdays. Dolphin has told him he can postpone his Friday, Nov. 25 radiation until the following Sunday so he can work the Iowa-Nebraska game in Lincoln. He expects to handle all game-day assignments as normal. Or close to normal.

“I like to stand during games,” Dolphin said. “I'm going to try to sit more. (Iowa football analyst) Podolak has learned to sit more (because of injuries he sustained last winter from getting hit by a car), so I can. Between his broken bones and my prostate, we've got a lot to talk about.”

The voice of the Hawkeyes became a listener when all sorts of Iowa fans and other concerned folks contacted him after the news broke about his cancer.

“I've heard from people who got prostate cancer at 42, 49, 72,” Dolphin said. “The age thing is non-discriminatory. It knows no ethnicity. It's a guy thing.”

Sometimes, “guy things” include being stubborn and not getting regular checkups. Because of early detection, Dolphin said he fully expects to have this issue resolved in the most-satisfactory way by winter.

To that, he added “If you're over 50, at least get a blood test. Get the finger test once a year. It's a rite of passage.”

Now that's a voice of reason.