High PSA

Hi aqha,
You are on the right track. These are important tests and the folks of this site are in your corner. In a manner to lessen your stress, tell the doctor you want to make sure if he isn't available that someone can reveal the results of the biopsy in his absence. It takes a week tops to get biopsy results. Also, the same with the bonescan ad CT scans ~ the results can be acheived almost immediately. Let the doctor know that you are aware of this and would rather not wait. It sounds like he is aware, by ordering bonescans now, he is not awaiting results. This is a good thing.

Good luck this week...I will doing much of the same stuff ~ visiting labs and oncologists starting tomorrow. I'll be thinking about you!

Tony

Welcome aqha,

Sorry you had to join but by now you know you came to the right place. It is so very normal to be scared but hang in there. Please keep us informed and updated with your husbands progress or just if you need a kind word now and then. My thoughts and prayers are now with you both. Good luck in the journey ahead.

Agha,

My husband's initial PSA was 363. His doctor said it was probably a lab error and his repeat 2 weeks later was 408. Everything I found on the internet indicated a high PSA is 4. I too am an RN, but I sure didn't know what to make of this. I suspected it was cancer but was hoping it was some sort of strange infectious process. I called my brother (an oncologist) and he told me that in his experience a PSA that high could only be metastatic prostate cancer. So in less than 3 hours I went from having a perfectly healthy 50 year old husband, to having a husband with a terminal illness. Within 5 days he had a biopsy (Gleason 9), a bone scan which showed mets to the pelvis, hips and ribs, but a clean abdomen and chest.

A week later we saw an oncologist at a large university hospital. He only sees patients with advanced prostate cancer so we felt we were in good hands. He told us right up front that he could not cure my husband, but he would aggressively treat him to try to give him as much good quality time as he could. He's been true to his word. It will be 4 years this April since this all started for us, and although his cancer at this point has become hormone refractory, he feels great and is loving every day of his life. His PSA has been climbing for the last year (most recent was 28.9) but he has had no progression on his bone scans and he has NO PAIN whatsoever.

His oncologist makes adjustments to his meds on every visit and we live three months at a time, but hey we're still living and enjoying our lives together. In Sept we celebrated out 25th wedding anniversary by hiking in the mountains out west, and he held up better than I did. He golfs, goes skiing, boating, built a garage and keeps up with our teenage sons. (This will be the first time in 3 years he won't be chaperoning a group of high school kids in Cancun for spring break).

I strongly urge you to keep positive and take it one step at a time. Hope for the best, but prepare yourself for bad news also. Because we're nurses, our husbands count on us to be the medical people as well as wives. You must be strong for him. Remember, the clinical picture is more important than Gleason's, PSA's or scans. Good Luck

Hi Kirby,

You post to me is very encouraging and at this point I need it. This is such a scarey journey and the fact that I am a nurse is making it worse I think,

My husband had his biopsy and 6/6 were postitve and his Gleason score is 9. His scans (bone and pelvic) are clean. There appears to be no lymph node involvement at this time. The cancer has only mets to the adipose tissue around his prostate.

We are going for a consult this Monday with an oncologist urologist and I have also investigated some clinical trials at the Cleveland Clinic that are being done by Dr. Eric Klein.

I am very scared but hopeful. Like your husband Paul feels great. No pain or fatigue. His only problems have been problems urinating (that is being helped with Flomax) and at times he has had ED. He is going to be 62 on Feb. 1 and has not other physical problems.

I am ready to do something NOW but of course things cannot be initiated immediately I know but I want this "demon" captured and erradicated.

I feel like I have made many friends through this forum and the support is wonderful. The folks here can relate to the problems and fears like no other.....not even your family.

Thanks again and prayers for you too.

Aqha

waterloo, I started you your own thread, so your post can be addressed without it disappearing in the clutter. It's titled Welcome New Member, waterloo on the main page