Gentlemen: I know this is in the wrong place, and I expect (hope?) that Jeffeoso will put it where it belongs!!! I need some medical advice from those who have "been there and done that..." Seems I just got a call from my long-term doctor following a prostate exam. Prostate is high and seems small BUT PSA has gone from 1.3 to 3.7 in 18 months. He is most cautious (has Prostate C himself) and is a long time hunting friend, but he has scheduled a visit with the urologist for next week. Now to the questions I need to ask of the urologist...I will assume he will do an ultrasound..biopsy??? How is the bio done? Long term suggestions, helps, hints here are needed!! By the way, I am 59 and in pretty good health, save 50 extra pounds that I need to loose. What should I do, ask, etc. Neededless to say, I am a really angry man right now...this, like so many things, does not come at a propicious moment. I appreciate the long association I have had with AR and would like to continue for a lot longer! Thanks, Arthur

I am by no means an expert in medical anything. I am an EMT, but really does not count. What I can tell you is a dear friend of mine lived for nearly 30 years with prostate-C and actually died of a heart condition....oh hell he was 81 and it was really old age that killed him.

Try to not worry [dumb thing to say] and wait to see what the uroligist says. I had a test come back once that said cancer and it was not......Good luck and God be with you.

well first they take this long say 24" long hose.....some copper wire.....a blender......a gerbal......some sticky tack.....


just kiding..... i have no clue what your infor.......

i really hope you get better.

It is ok to be very angry at this point. Any time some one is faced with the possibility that you have any kind of cancer it is very traumatic. On the other hand an elevated PSA does not mean that you have cancer. It just means that the chances are higher than if your psa were not above normal.

If you do have prostate cancer the odds are that it is very early and there are multiple treatment options availible. The odds are that you are going to live to a normal life expectancy.

The very best of luck to you and keep us posted.
Ernest

Sorry to hear the news. My response is...Get it taken out! Once it is out of your body it can do you no harm.

There is a relatively new prostrate removal surgery which does not require as much cutting as the old type, and thus has a much shorter recovery time. A neighbor had it done a few months ago and he is waxing up his skis already.

Prostate biopsies are usually done transrectally via ultrasound (rectal probe that has a needle guide.)

As to treatment, you really should do some research. Prostate seeding is the trend nowdays, especially with localized disease. The guy that pioneered it is at Emory University in Atlanta IIRC. I'd get lots of opinions before I let anyone cut on me, especially given some of the current debates over treatment of prostate CA.

Why be angry? If it was me I'd be scared, or was that what you mean't to say?

Look up, look around you. Are you ready to check out? Well Then stand up, look it in the face and do what you have to do.

My Father was a Doctor and my Mother was a Nurse and both told me (a long time ago) a patients mental "will to overcome" was absolutly the most important element in thier recovery, all medical help not withstanding. You can't "all ways win no matter what", but if your willing to fight IT you've ALWAYS got a better chance to recover.

I know that may not help you sleep better tonight but PLEASE don't ever give up. Even if it isn't succesfull it will help your family to know that you where a strong person and put up one hell of a fight.

Hope that helps a bit.

Roi

Establish a diagnosis and then treatment options can be discussed. Would go ahead with theultrasoung and biopsy.

That is a pretty mild elevation and the total PSA is not bothersome at this point.

The urologist may well watch and follow up in six months.

PSA levels go up and down a bit for some folks. There are many causes of an elevated PSA other than Prostate CA.

After age seventy we all die with Prostate Cancer. Not many of us die from it.

Take a deep breath, take a Levitra, screw the old lady (or your girlfriend, or both).

There is not a lot of consensus about how to treat a very early prostate cancer. The old "finger wave" is still the primary means of screening, a PSA measurement is usually an adjuvant test. If there are no lumps or bumps, and the PSA is down in the normal range (as your is), I doubt the urologist will be getting overly anxious.

LD

Hey! Your PSA is still in the normal range, below 4.0. That said, you can have prostate cancer with a normal PSA level, and you can have a bump up in your PSA with a prostate infection or a vigorous exam by a long finger just before the blood test is done. PSA rises slowly and steadily with age, just as a prostate becomes benignly hypertrophied in most men. 4.0 at age 60 is not alarming.

This PSA screening stuff is really imprecise. It is a better test to follow an established diagnosis of prostate cancer. There is a free PSA versus total PSA ratio to consider and the ultrasound etc. before considering a biopsy. I would say your chances of having a detectable prostate cancer right now is about 10 to 15%.

However it is a slow growing cancer most of the time (though notable aggressive exceptions even in young men), and odds are if you are 50 lbs. over weight you will die of something else before prostate cancer gets you.

If we men live long enough, almost all of us will have prostate cancer somewhere in our enlarged prostates when we die of something else.

But, there are no absolutes, everything is relative, and it depends. That is why your doctor is being cautious, since the burden of screening for cancer has been placed on his shoulders.

Agree totally with Lawndart.

You best be emptying that prostate about 3 times weekly with a good orgasm of some kind to keep it healthy in old age.

We are doing the Robotic prostate procedure at our hospital. If it comes down to a prostatectomy, that could be an option. It preserves the nerves that leads to the Whoopie thing. That ain't bad! Good luck. You also have to know that most cancers of the prostate are not the terrible type and that most survive it well.

Well i know how you feel ! but theres not much point being angry about it, just try to deal with it calmly ,it something you have to accept and deal with the best you can .I found out last week i have two hernias and an enlarged prostate .Had [not pleasant] rectal examination then blood tests, have to return to doc too find out about the results .Im 42 and the last thing i thought i would of had was an enlarged prostate and im on my third hernia

Arthur: By all means follow up with your urologist. There are many conditions that can result in an elevated PSA.

I was first informed of my high PSA reading in my early 50's; had a PSA of 15 in 2001 (age 65). It has averaged 13 ever since. Have had 3 biopsies over the years, all of which were negative, thank God. Apparently my elevated PSA has been caused by enlarged prostate. I see the urologist every 3 months and check PSA; with medication it has been reduced to 4.7 (was told by the Dr. that w/o meds that would equal about 9-9.5), but it bears watching.

As has been stated, most men over 65 die with prostate cancer, not of it. Dr. said about 25% of men my age (70) have PC and the percentage goes up with each year of age. Fortunately, PC is very slow growing as a rule.

Ask your urologist to explain your Free/total PSA ratio. The higher that ratio, the lower your chances of having cancer, as I understand it.

Good luck!

Regrads,
hm

Arthur ... my father was diagnosed with with prostate cancer 3 years ago. He was 73 at the time. They performed sugery and removed the prostate. Then he went through kemo for about year and some radiation thearapy. They did try some hormone treatments before the kemo and radiation, but it didn't really help ... just made him really bitchy ... they used a female hormone to counteract the testosterone. Anyway, it's 3 years later and he's doing fine. They are monitoring his PSA levels and something else, not sure what it is, but so far so good.

The good news that it is a slow growing type of cancer, normally, and if caught early enough you do have more options. Even more now with all the new procedures and treatments that have come out.
Best of luck, Arthur.

Arthur

I can't offer any medical advice, others here are far better qualified than I to do that, but I can offer you my thoughts and best wishes that all turns out well for you, medical advancement in this area seems to have been vast in the last few years so I am sure you will be just fine.

Will all best wishes

Jonathan

Arthur, I am a newbie to posting on AR. But I can give you some advice on what you are feeling right now. I am only 31 right now but was diagnosed with Non-hodgkins Lymphoma at age 21. I had a hell of a fight for about 2 years (the cancer went away once and came back again). I had to move from West Virgina to New York city (Manhattan) to get treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering. I underwent a procedure similar to a bone marrow transplant (it required about a 3 week stay in a hspital room). Coincidentally this is where I got into big bore rifles. My wife bought me a copy of COTW at Barnes & Noble on the east side. I read the book twice during my transplant. Anyway, Every thing you are feeling is natural. But you have only had a blood test. Don't get ahead of your self and let fear controll you! I have had over 30 some CAT&PET scans during my 5 year wait untill full remisson (I know what it feels like to wait on results). And I can also tell you that tests no matter how definitive can be wrong! You have not been diagnosed with anything yet! Alot of what the guys above have posted is correct about PSA. And Prostrate cancer (if you even have it is very curable if caught early). But don't get ahead of yourself with wory. Cross bridges as you come to them. Arthur if your a man of faith stick with it (and if your not it really does work). I am also going to assume that since you are posting on AR that you either are a DGH or are interested in DGH. The attitude needed in DGH is the same as what you need to use right now. There is no room for fear!

Hang in there & God Bless.

Matt V (aka Rockman)

The one thing I will add is you should consider getting your weight down. In addition to vascular and other diseases, excessive fat is a primary risk factor for prostate cancer too.

As always, gentlemen, the answers are always here and in good form. Thank you all...off to the urologist on Wed of next week. Your support is most appreciated. At some point I will explain the "anger" situation, and it is not the prospect of cancer. Again, you are all wonderful people and are most kindly thought of...Arthur

Good luck Arthur.
Was faced with just the same problem as you in 2004, and came out winning.
Life is about just the same as before, but I apreciate life a lot more this days, and things that I always took for granted means more to me now.

I think PSAs are a bit overused and are responsible for a lot of worries and unecessary tests and treatments. Before PSAs, men lived happily and unknowingly with prostate cancer for years and died of other causes.

The way the cancer was found, when it was found, was via a digital rectal exam. Obviously a cancer that can be felt with the finger is going to be bigger than that picked up early by a PSA. Since it's bigger it has been there longer and grown faster and is more likely to be one of those uncommon prostate cancers that cause death.

I have PSAs done because my wife wants me to and the internist that does my physicals wants me to. If I were practicing internal medicine I would get them as well because of the attorneys. If mine is ever elevated, I'm not sure what I'll do with the information but someone is going to have to talk long and convincingly before I get reamed out or irradiated.

Talk with your doctor.

You can get some advice, opinion, mis-information, etc. here, but your doctor is the one to seek out for a medical opinion.

I have a collegue who's had prostate cancer for a couple decades. He just turned 98.

As noted elsewhere, it's fairly common and not all that life threatening. But your doctor can explain it better than anyone.

Elsewhere, you could Google online and get some information. But your doc needs to talk with you.

I had a long discussion about PSA's with my doc. He's an oncology resident at Oregon Health Sciences University. This is where Lance Armstrong was treated for testicular cancer. It's a leading edge research facility.

Anyway, I'm 58. Current opinion is that PSA's are "iffy" -- which is why they follow-up with a biopsy.

Google and your doc. We're a buncha bubbas in here, some more than others -- but we're not docs, and besides which, we don't have your medical records to look at.

Herald is going on 98, and rolling strong!

Hello Arthur,

First off, make damn sure you have a doctor who is good! Just because they go through medical school does not make them good. Second, there is a method of treatment in which they freeze the prostate and eliminate the surgery. Michael Milken had this type of procedure done and it worked out well for him. At any rate good luck and keep a good thought as I am sure you will be fine.

Arthur, I fogot to mention that one of my good friends is a neuro surgeon of considerable fame and he is of the opinion that a biopsy can actually spread the cancer cells when performed. Again, this is one man's opinion but I trust him as he has saved my bacon when other so called doctors had given me the wrong meds. They are all not created equal!

I'm a "BEEN THERE/DONE THAT"
I'm 54 and was diagnosed with prostate cancer 18 months ago.
A biopsy is done by ramming a probe up your ass and positioning it with ultra sound guidance. The probe then shoots out a smal needle and takes tissue samples from 12 specific areas of the prostate. It is not very painful but you do feel every sample taken.
My biopsy results were positive in only one 5th. of one sample. After much research I opted for Brakey (sp) theraphy. That is the radiation seed implants. Ended up with 86 seeds and no sign of cancer 18 months later. Procedure recover time was a couple of hours and total recovery time to where everything in my plumbing worked completely normal was about 4 months.
Someone mentioned that if you have your prostate removed you are 100% cured and no chance of recurring cancer. That is incorrect.
I don't know where you are located but if you'd like to contact my Dr. his name is Sarosdy in San Antonio, Texas.

Arthur,

As Walker put it, "Been there and done that", I too, had seed implants done.

I had a small spike in my PSA and my doctor suggested that I have a biopsy done.

The first test came up with questionable results and a second was performed.

A very small amount of cancer was detected and my oncologist informed me as to the many treatments available. He advised me to, "read, read, and do some more reading as to the type of treatment or non-treatment I should select. He was a young and very gifted doctor who had allowed two patients to opt for "wait and see". They had about the same amount of cancer as I was diagnosed with. They both died within two years of their diagnosis by "waiting and seeing".

As many here have stated, most men will die with prostate cancer, not necessarily from it, you don't want to be one of those who did.

I've been clear of prostate cancer for 7 years now, and knock on wood, will stay clear of it until I die from some other disease.

BTW, I was 55 when diagnosed and at 62, thank the doctor for scaring me into having my cancer treated.

Best of luck with your biopsy and hope to be reading your posts for another 30 years.

Roger QSL