HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

New here and I have questions

Support Forums
>
Prostate Cancer
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 8/3/2010 1:24 PM (GMT 0)
My husband was just informed yesterday that he has prostate cancer in 5% of the cells. We still have to go for the consult, but I don't know what that means. Is that bad?
Posted 8/3/2010 1:28 PM (GMT 0)
Guessing he had a biopsy done? Do you have the rest of the information?

 

Course 5% is a much smaller number and much better then 50% ..

Posted 8/3/2010 1:31 PM (GMT 0)
Welcome DMC. Steve is right and see if you can get more info. 5% is a small number so try to get the other info like the Gleason score and then ask away, especially to his urologist.
Michael
Posted 8/3/2010 1:36 PM (GMT 0)
His PSA in Jan was 3.1 and now it's 3.9 so that is why he had a biopsy. He is also 55 years old. The doctor did say we caught it early. Yes i am going to ask about that Gleason scale, what else should i ask. I read about some treatment where they put radiation seeds right in your prostate.
Posted 8/3/2010 2:07 PM (GMT 0)
Dmc24, Seeding is one of several options that may be available to your husband....also happens to be the one I chose. You have a lot of research and study to do, however, (and plenty of time to do it) before you make a decision.....you  don't need to be in a big hurry based on what you have shared so far. Your husbands' gleason score and biopsy details will be helpful to the members of this site when sharing info with you. You will find a lot of support here....don't hesitate to ask anything. Joe
Posted 8/3/2010 3:05 PM (GMT 0)
First: Welcome -- this is a place where everyone has experienced that "hit upside the head" feeling when the doctor says "cancer."

Second: Take a deep breath. Most PC is slow and treatable so you have lots of time (months and months) to learn about your options and make choices.

Third: This site is all about learning more so that you and your husband can make informed choices. On the topics page look at the links at the top of the page for references to books and other sources of information

Fourth: Go to the doctor with your husband. Listen, take notes (or bring a recorder) ask questions, be sure to get a copy of the biopsy report. The most important thing to listen for is the Gleason score. A score of 3+3=6 is good news. 3+4=7 is a little worse, 4+3=7 is likely to mean that you should be thinking seriously about picking a treatment. Anything higher indicates the cancer may be aggressive. Don't be worried if the doctor suggests additional tests like a cat scan and a bone scan. The likelihood that your husband's cancer is serious enough for these to show anything is very low but doctors hate to take chances.

Fifth: Browse, ask questions, express worry.
Posted 8/3/2010 3:06 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry to hear the news.

Additionaly info on his biopsly would make it easier for us to understand better the scope of his cancer at this point. So if you have anyway of sharing some more data it would help.

Hopefully, based just on the 5% part, he would have all primary treatment options open to him at this point.

Please keep us posted.

David in SC
Posted 8/3/2010 4:15 PM (GMT 0)
Get a copy of the pathology report and any tests, start getting proactive in your own PCa case is a wise suggestion. If you get scans done, nothing will be found with 5% cancer and based upon the verbage you gave us from doc, probably dealing with 'indolent PCa' version or close to that...lots of avenues for you if that is true. Many ways to deal with PCa at various stages.

(You said 5% of the cells)-That would probably mean 5% of the cells found in the tiny sampling(one core maybe), 95% were normal and if it is only 1 of 12 core biopsies, that is low amount of PCa that is found. Actually this is very common for men to be found with low level PCa's as they age, at age 80 around 80% of men could be found with some form of PCa, but normally not die from it. Alot of men have it and never know unless it is investigated, usually by the time symptoms show up, it is the later side of detection.
Posted 8/3/2010 5:51 PM (GMT 0)
Hello dmc24. Welcome to the forum on one really wants to join.

The only problem I've found with this site is that if you come into a thread after a couple of posts have been made, most everything I'd think of saying has been said --- far better than I'd say it. That said, among other things I write for a living, and I'm not the modest sort so ....

One of the first things I'd do is get the biopsy report reread by a pathologist who is familiar with prostate tissue. Even if you had THE best person in the world read it the first time, getting confirmation from a second source is a good thing. Pathology is an art as well as a science. If the two agree, all well and good. If they disagree they you go with the worst case for treatment decisions. As you can see from my signature below, my first pathologist said I was "6" -- a second said "7" and that changed my treatment choice. While HIFU --- high intensity focused ultrasound which cooks the prostate much the same as radiation but without some of the side effects --- was high on my list for treatment, and would have been as effective at "7" as at "6," I knew my personality was such that I wanted to have it out!

And, this leads me to my second comment. The best treatment choice is the one you decide is right for you --- or, in this case, your husband. This is both a medical decision and a personal head space decision. This site, and others like it, tend to attract those who what to know. Everything! Every weekday hundreds and hundreds of prostates are removed, zapped, burnt, frozen. Yet very few of those folk wind up on web sites like this. I've suggested this site to several friends with PCa and none have come. They were quite happy to take the advice of their URO, get treated, and then get on with life. I can't say that they'll be any worse off in the end than I'll be after doing some learning, and a great deal of agonizing. The process I went through was the right one for me. The process they went through was the right one for them. Decide which you're comfortable with, and then go for it!

If you decide you want to know more about your husband's prostate and PCa than some MDs, then this is a great place to be. I know from nothing when it comes to medical stuff but there are a number of people here (see above) who could likely lecture in the nation's top med schools on PCa.

Sheldon AKA Sleepless
Posted 8/3/2010 8:12 PM (GMT 0)
Hi dmc24,

Welcome, there are many very helpful members here that will help you and your husband navigate through this.

1st issue you should have is someone telling you that your husband has PC in 5% of the biopsy. They told him this over the phone, was it the Dr who called ?

Did you suspect this prior ? I see you registered 3 years ago ?
Posted 8/3/2010 10:50 PM (GMT 0)
I would also add that you might consider getting a copy of Dr. Patrick Walsh's book:  "Surviving Prostate Cancer."  It answers just about any question you could conceivably ask.
Posted 8/4/2010 12:01 AM (GMT 0)
Mr Gimpy, they may have registered 3 years ago with another disease/malady here at HW, not just Prostate Cancer
Posted 8/4/2010 7:51 AM (GMT 0)
Welcome dmc24.  I think you will find this forum to be very helpful with members that truly seem to care.  Yes, get all the information possible from the doctor and keep all records filed together.  I have been doing the research for my husband.  You will find several wives here who participate in discussions.  Please check out the thread,  What to have on hand at home, post-op?  There are several of us posting there, plus lots of good advice!

Take care and best wishes!

Aimzee


 

Posted 8/4/2010 12:59 PM (GMT 0)

Thank you all so much, now i have places to go for research and I know what questions to ask at the consult. Yes the Dr called and told my husband over the phone. I have Chrones disease that is what  I mostly use this website for.

Posted 8/4/2010 3:31 PM (GMT 0)
Hi dmc24,
If possible, I agree that you should get a second opinion on the biopsy. Also, knowing the Gleason score is vital. I also had 5% in my biopsy, only one core of 12, and was told my Gleason score was 8 (4+4). 2 uros told me that a Gleason that high requires immediate treatment and removal. As it turned out after removal, the Gleason was actually a 7 (3+4) with the 80% of the primary being a 3, a much less aggressive picture. Had I known that going in, I would have made different decisions, and most likely would have had less complication after surgery.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply