I have been lurking here for a few months...ever since I had a somewhat high PSA for my age (3.25/45 years old)... Had a re-check...a month of Cipro and another check and the PSA is still in the low 3's...so I have a biopsy scheduled Wednesday.
Let me first say that I have the most respect for the members here - for what they have been through and for the help they offer every day to strangers. And I am perfectly aware that I very well may NOT have PC...so I really should not whine and complain...
However the background noise of the past couple weeks (PSA/over-testing/over-treatment/blah, blah, blah) is enough to paralyze a person who is still in the decision making process. The PSA test is ridiculed...the biopsy effectiveness is challenged...and of course, if cancer is found the treatment options can be debated until exhaustion.
It's probably a function of where I am RIGHT NOW, but the biopsy has got me pretty worked up...not the fear or the pain...rather the needle-in-a-haystack accuracy of the thing. In the past few days I have read about people who have been scored with "average" Gleason sums as a result of biopsy pathology. Some have gone through with surgery to find later that their post-op Gleason has been much higher...some have gone through the surgery just to find a post-op Gleason much lower. Prime examples being Dana Jennings excellent blog in the NY Times http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/jennings/ where surgery discovered a more agressive tumor than expected; one that likely would have killed him had he waited. Then there was a post here just today where cancer was downgraded from a Gleason 6 to a 3 after surgery pathology. A "3"...are you kidding me? That's like cutting off your arm for a freckle that got a bit bigger and turned brown (no disrespect intended for the gentleman in question)...
So, assuming the worst (and hard not to)...am I going to get a Gleason 6 in one of my geometrically placed needle sticks when a bigger and badder cancer could be 3 millimeters away? Crazy. Will the needle miss something altogether? Or will something be found and be scored incorrectly (I've been reading about Gleason "inflation" as well...where 1994's Gleason 5 has become 2009's Gleason 6 or even 7)
So, what's my point?...Nothing I guess...certainly nothing that 95% of you have not already concluded...Maybe it's just that there's got to be a better way to make such an important decision...especially when this will directly touch so many of us eventually. I think I'm gonna go to the garage and see if I can find that Magic 8 Ball I had as a kid. It could come in handy.