need backup plan-- Mayo?

Go to the movies go out of town. Do whatever it takes you from stopping this panic and your imagination running amuk. My god man wait until your biopsy results to think about what you may or may not have to do. I've read this for a few days thinking you would calm down but you're getting yourself wound up more and more.

Mel: I understand the tendency to put the cart before the horse. As you can see in my signature, we're kind of in the same boat. My PSA has risen pretty sharply in the last year (1.93 to current 3.7). In the week before my biopsy last June, I would have bet the house that the biopsy report would be positive. But . . . 12 cores - all benign - with 3 cores positive for chronic prostatitis and inflammation. Like you, antibiotic treatment didn't lower the PSA, in fact it was higher in the test following the antibiotic regimen. Since that time (August), the urologist said let's wait until December and see what the PSA and DRE do - and we'll go from there. I won't say that I haven't still had some anxiety over the matter, but this time has been valuable to educate myself a little more - and to come to the realization that if the doc delivers those dreaded words . . . I'll be ready to fight. However, the more I've read, the more I've come to understand that prostatitis is difficult to understand and to treat. My prostatitis symptoms (burning, groin pain, decreased urinary stream) continue - so I feel there is just as good a chance that that is my condition as the other. On another topic, I dreaded the biopsy much more than was necessary. I took a low mg valium and a Lortab an hour before the procedure, the doc used the lidocaine injection, and I can honestly say that neither the lidocaine injection nor the core injections were painful. I walked out of the room 10 minutes after I entered and went to a fairly lengthy social event the same evening. Best of luck to you - know it's difficult to relax about all of this, but try to enjoy the holday.

We are all here for you, Mel. Trust me on that point. If you have ultimately the unfortunate reason to be a full fledge member here, you will be among the best, and you will be one of us, another brother of the PC.

BTW, you have good questions, but all in good time. Right now, you officially don't have PC, and perhaps don't period. So enjoy every moment that you don't have it, because if you do, and once you do if you get dx, everything will change.

David in SC

Mel, there is little I can say that will calm your fears. But, remember that everyone on this board has been where you are or is in the same place. I was not worried about my husband's biopsy - he had one before - never thought it would come back positive. I walked into the house after work one night and my husband was on the phone with his urologist - he looked at me and said "it's cancer." I literally felt the floor beneath my feet give way. But, you are not there yet. Take it from one who knows (I too am a "control freak"), worrying about something that may or may not happen serves no purpose. If the news is bad, you will still have to deal with the emotional impact. If the news is good, you will have caused yourself grief for nothing.

Keep us posted, please - we all care about you.

Sonny,

I feel like I'm in the car !

Think I'll just park this thing.

Great post for a lot of us !