Biopsy in week

New to the forum.  I am 45 and went to the urologist for increased frequency in urination and  somewhat week stream. Had PSA of 0.8 in 8/07, 0.9 4/09 and 0.9 in 6/09.  DRE showed a small lump in the right apex.  Transrectal untrasound revealed nothing.  Prostate was just slightly larger than normal, unremarkable. Urologist waited a month, did another DRE and now has me going for na biopsy in a week.  Can lumps revealed in DRE's be benign? Was feeling good about my low PSA until I read some of the cases on this forum.

bates: good luck with the biopsy - as I posted on Friday (June 5), my biopsy was not nearly the ordeal I had anticipated. I think it helped greatly that I took one hydrocodone an hour before the procedure and also took a 5 mg. valium as I entered the clinic. The lidocaine shots were not painful at all - and the needle biopsies were absolutely painless. If I were you, I would verify with my uro that pain management is planned and also see if a prescription for lortab or hydrocone as well as valium can be prescribed.

Finding lumps/nodules with a PSA of 1.3 is what started my journey. I was told the lumps could be a build up of calcium but that only the biopsy could telll for sure. Hope you get more lucky then I did..

Goodlife hit it right on the money.  The rate of change of your psa is probably the best indicator of what is happening.  I went from a PSA of 1 to 4.5 a year later.  A biopsy found only one "precancerous" sample.  Due to serious health issues with elderly parents I waited about four months to have the surgery, which was my choice of treatment because I simply didn't want to worry about it in the future.  Pathology report, according to the doc, showed "really bad" cancer throughout the prostate.  He told me later that chemo or radiation wouldn't have done the job and I would have had 4-5 years.  All PSA's since surgery have been undetectable.  Have that lab work done guys and if they recommend a biopsy the very slight pain is nothing compared to the risk you are taking without it.  If any cancer at all is found, someone may advise you not to do anything about it, which is like telling a woman that she is just barely pregnant. 

Good luck with your biopsy.  I had mine just a little over a week ago.  I had a 10mg valium prior to the biopsy, then the shots of lidocane.  It really wasn't that bad, just a little uncomfortable and awkward.  My dr. was great through it, he showed me on the screen what he was looking at.  I go for my results this Thursday and I'm nervous but ready to get the answer no matter what it is. 

Jon

Welcome bates,

Everyone's symptoms and numbers are different.  I hope that you are one of the many guys that never has to experience prostate cancer. 

Just a question - Is there any history of PCa in your family?

DS

The time between meeting my urologist and a biopsy was about 10 minutes. He had PSA scores from my internist so all he did was grab a feel <g>, and off we went to the other room. Afterwords, I went to work. With the exception of trying to limp in the middle it was fairly straight forward without much anxiety. I was fairly sure I had PC so, now that the issue is in doubt, the wait for the next PSA result is a bit harder on the psyche.

Bates, ask your uro-doc to send the biopsies to one of the experts (reknown types): Bostwick, Oppenheimer, Epstein so as to get the best rendering of what is your pathology to its highest level of accuracy, it is an art form. Check out Bostwicklaboratories (google) and read about pathology on his site or the other guys, sites. One of those also shows photos of the 18 variant types of PCa, it is far more complex than most people realize, after you see the photos you might understand the differences: PCa-variants, plodity tests=(aneuploid, diploid, tetraploid-?), gleasons scorings(3+4 vs. 4+3), perinureal invasion, low or high grade PIN, and more.
Knowledge is power and can only help you comprehend this new twilight zone.

(hey the lumps could go either way, you will find PCa lacks definitiveness big time)