This is a post to me from another forum about the cancer and a members dealing with it. I am posting it here in hopes that everyone will get checked that are at risk of having a family history of cancer or the age range!
I respond to all these folks and some cases are pretty depressing, and others folks are just scared because they were just told they have cancer.
I just had my 3rd post biopsy quarterly PSA test under active surveillance. Was 4.36 prior to diagnosis last year. Then 4.02, 3.34, & 4.1. Just had a DRE, urologist felt right side a little larger than left but soft, and said he couldn't tell it was the cancer or not after a thorough feel around down there. He said it was all still soft there, so it is well confined to the prostrate. I'll have another biopsy in 6 months, which I'm not thrilled about to get another dozen samples from my cores.
If it ever gets to the point where the disease is likely to cause worse symptoms than the treatment, I will have it treated with the best treatment available, and right now all options like a lot of things in life are, you settle on the one you think is the least bad one and pray you've made a wise decision that you can live with. Hopefully if the time comes for me, there will be better treatment available with much lower chances of collateral damage than what there is now. The prostate is grand central station surrounded by body organs that it's nerves are connected to. Even the most skilled surgeons performing a nerve sparing radical prostatectomy, may not prevent incontinence, which is way more inconvenient than being impotent.
While unfortunately we don't have any oncologists who specialist on the prostate in the area, we are privileged to have a donation supported group that meets monthly not affiliated by any health provider.
INFORMED PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT GROUP
My father was also diagnosed with Prostate Cancer years ago (almost 20+ years ago), the PSA levels then were in the low 20's. He was in his late sixties then. At the time they gave him the Lupron Shots, it drove his PSA levels down to zero and now in his late 80's it is starting to climb back up again even with the Lupron treatments having been ongoing. His health is poor due to not doing anything to keep healthy (just watching TV)
He is at a point now that he can't take the radiation treatments or handle an operation. Because the cancer is such a slow acting one, He has done pretty well overall, and if the cancer does take off, he most likely will have succumbed to some other ailment first.
When I was first told I had a PSA level of 28 or so, my Gleason score was 8 out of ten, so I had been with the cancer already by then ten to fourteen years (started in my early forties or so) So my options were nothing like my father's, but the operation not only wasn't appealing due to the fact that the nerves were so closely bundled next to the prostate, I didn't want to have to wear a bag if they nicked a nerve, and because of the advanced state, if some cancer was starting to exit, it may have been for nothing.
So after the Lupron treatments, I had the seeds implanted then a month later the direct radiation treatments. There are still some side effects that I deal with, but quite minor compared to other ones that were possible.
The two years of the Lupron shots take their toll as well, your testosterone levels are at zero and it is a chore to have the energy to do anything! I can't even tell you how many gallons of five ounce energy drinks I have drank just to have some source of energy, although now they are less and less used as the levels of natural energy return, I still have one or two a week.
Good luck on what path you choose, I labored hard over the choices and picked what I thought was the less harm of all the "cures".
Great news!! Congrats and thanks for the reminder. My last test was about 15 years ago.
