Trying to get the straight facts

My husband was on Cipro two days before

 his biopsy. He had to take one the morning of, plus they gave him in injection of it while at the urologist and he took it for three days after that to ward of any infections. He said it was a little uncomfortable but he was fine right after with minimual bleeding. He went back to work the next day, he drives a tractor trailer and it never bothered him. Now we are awaiting a date for seed implants.   

KC


One more opinion. Don't go to a doctor you feel is run of the mill. Find a urologist in your city that you can place your trust in. I had the Chief of Urology in a well known , large hospital near where I live. He did an excellent job for me. If you feel your doctor is the "run 'em through the mill" doctor " , find a better doctor.
And don't sweat the biopsy. It was nothing for me and it affects everyone differently.

KC9AOP,

There are women here to Just remember, what your reading most of are men that have had or have problems that's why they are here and on the other boards, it's the best place to find answers. What you don't read is the man that was 25 at the time of diagnosis and is now in his 50's. Or the man who was in his 40's and had the seeds done 15 yrs ago and is going strong with no problems. Everyone is different, every case is different. These boards are great but don't let it cloud your judgment thinking all of it is bad, it's not. You do have to do your research and choose what's best for you and you also have to understand that each and every procedure will have some pros and cons to them and that goes for every kind of cancer treatment out there. The main goal is to kill the cancer, ED or incontinence won't kill you but cancer will.   

I wish you all the best. 

The most interesting and important thing I've learned from this forum is that prostate cancer hits young men more than I ever imagined. I started my PSA readings at 58 in 1995, and they bounced around alot before starting what appears to be an exponential rise fairly recently (2007), when the velocity picked up considerably.

I suggest every man start a record of PSA as early as he can. I waited a little too long perhaps, looking back, as my father died miserably of this disease, in an age before PSA.

Get another PSA right away, and a biopsy to be safe would be my suggestion. I found that reading Dr. Patrick Walsh's book gave me some peace of mind, although he gives only a paragraph or so to the Proton Beam treatment option. For Proton Beam go to:

http://www.protonbob.com/proton-treatment-homepage.asp

Hi KC9AOP,

This is just my story, buddy, so take it for what it is worth (2 cents), it may not apply to you.

I appreciate where you are coming from.  I had a great list of reasons why my PSA was elevated at the time of my second PSA test in only six months.  Six months earlier, my PSA was 1.2 and the second test was 4.3!  I did the second PSA test in conjunction with other blood tests required by my family doctor.

When seeing my urologist I had excuses about sexual activity prior to the test, another infection I had at the time in my body, my dad had prostatitis in his history, etc.  My doctor, a very good soul, listented to me patiently.  She had several years of experience with as a PCa surgeon and I could tell she was not buying my many excuses.  I wanted so bad for it not to be PCa that I came up these reasons for such an elevation!

She did another DRE to get some more info for her sake.  There was a slight lump, but not well-defined.  We discussed a few more things and then she went out of the exam room for a few minutes.  She came back in and said "I think we need to do a biopsy."  I asked many questions including, "How concerned should I be about this?"  She said, "Look at it as the glass being half full, over 50% of the tests come back negative."  I felt a little better, but as you can see, the rest is history!

I'm so glad I feared cancer more than the biopsy.  In the end, I was really grateful to have a doctor who erred on the side of caution.  If you do have PCa, you really want to catch it early.  If you don't have it you'll be fine... That's it.

Your decision now is how you go about determining that you're a-ok... and that is your decision alone.  We cannot judge you by what you decide.   You've got to feel comfortable after all the results are in from your other opinions or tests.

What ever happens... I think you can tell that people here care... whatever they may think you should do at this time... and that is what is so great about the people in the forum!

God bless you, KC.

 

Just had a nice talk with Dad's urologist.

His PSA level was 10.7 at time of treatment at age 72. Gleason was 5 + 5 = 10 (aggressive) and high % involvement in all cores taken.

I know that my situation will be different, but if there is anything like trends in families, I at least have this info.

We also spoke of a biopsy procedure which I did not get the name of (I know, I should have written it down) that takes a core sample per gram volume of the prostate gland. He literally said a 30 gram prostate would get 30 samples. This was the procedure I asked about earlier in this thread. Obviously you are under a general anesthetic and the procedure is more expensive, but it really sounds like there is a better chance of finding cancer with so many samples.

So if I do have to get the biopsy, I might just as well go for the full treatment to be sure. Does that make sense?

I welcome any opinions.

I am 73years old, I had a 3.8 psa in 2006, 4.1 in Nov 2007. My doctor said we need to be sure and check your PSA again next year but 4+ is normal for your age. I thought about it for a couple of weeks and went back to him and told him that I wanted to go to an urologist. He did a DRE and "said you are normal, not enlarged even". "I said find me an urologist or I will find one on my on." He made an appointment for me. The Urologist did a DRE and said your prostate is normal, I think the good news is you just have an infection. He gave me two weeks of antibiotics and retested. My PSA was 4.5. He did a biopsy and of course, using a sonogram, He said I don't see anything suspicious. Biopsy cane back 3+3. Had Da Vinita in May Post-op pathology was 3+4. It took 6months after I decided to pursue it.
I sure can't tell you what to do but, I am thankful to the Good Lord, that I pursued the issue.
.

I promised an update. Sorry it took so long but my life is very full and stressful (very, very stressful).

Anyway, I had a very good experience with the first Urologist (Dr. West). He was an older man and very patient and compassionate. He was willing to talk and discuss anything and did not rush me in any way.

He started with a DRE that took about 45 + seconds which was significantly longer than my GP at my physical. Dr. West repeatedly apologized when he had to dig a little deeper to get a better examination. He surprised me with his compassionate nature.

So after the ultrasound he took a bit of time to talk with me. He suggested the biopsy for the next step. When I asked him if he was going to recheck my PSA level he said "Why? Are you planning to choose the one you like best?" He said he would rerun the test if it was what I wanted, but thought that there was little sense in doing so in light of my family history. I asked my prostate volume and he said 40 grams, which is the largest that he would expect for a man my age.

When I asked him what he personally thought the safe PSA level for a man my age, he said 2 or less would make him comfortable. He explained the 4.0 tolerance level was for an average age of about 60 years old. Since I'm 47 (birthday was yesterday) I should have a lower level. I've read that elsewhere too.

He went on to describe the biopsy process and that he would do it in his office (in the professional center at the local hospital) and that the whole thing would take about 5 minutes of discomfort, that he used "novacane", he would take 10 or 12 cores and that he does 3 to 6 procedures a week and has never had any complaints of severe pain or long recovery. I asked about general anesthesia or Valium and he said he never used a general and had not ever offered Valium. He did write me a prescription for a few Valium to take before the procedure if I wanted them. When I left he gave me Levaquin to take before the procedure (I do very good with Levaquin as it is easy on the stomach).

So now I need to get a second opinion. It is a relief that there was no obvious tumor, so I don't have to rush like mad. The biopsy is scheduled for the week after July 4. I should have time to get to the doctor that treated my Dad and see what he would suggest.

Since I have some paraneum discomfort, he checked my epydidmus and said something about hardening of something. I should have written it down but he mentioned it briefly and said that virtually all men have something that causes discomfort in that region and that is is nothing to be overly concerned about. I guess you just have pains down there and that's all there is to it.

So what do you think? Have I found a good doctor? I will get the second opinion for sure. Do I do the biopsy in his surgi-center office? I am comfortable with this doctor but is he missing anything that you can offer???

And yes I did have a notepad with me, now I just have to use it!!!

Well I did get another PSA test and it returned at 4.1, which is statistically the same. That being said I'm heading in for the biopsy in 9 days.

I'm opting for the Stereotactic Transpareneal Prostate Biopsy. Dr. Moran at the Chicago Prostate Cancer Center treated my father and on his recommendation I'm taking the more rigorous path for the biopsy. He will take 30 to 40 cores from 8 quadrants (4 top and 4 bottom) so there is a better chance of detecting something small.

The up side is that this is done under general anesthesia. The down side is that this is done under general anesthesia. (Yes I meant both) I'm a big baby when it comes to all of this sort of thing and it brings on anxiety of the unknown.

KC, I hope things turn out great for you, but do not let the absence of an obvious tumor from the DRE give you a false sense of hope.  All of my DRE's were negative, but I had a Gleason 9 and 9 of 13 sticks showed cancer.

Not trying to scare you, but those are the facts of my case.

Good Luck and be safe.

Swim