newbie to the site-update

Good evening to everyone,

Been a member about a week now and cannot tell you how great it is to receive all the support and information.

My wife and I have spent the last week or so educating ourselves about PC.  Seems we have read everything written as we try to choose a treatment.

We have decided on AS as an initial step and hope that it will be the right long term choice.   I am a bit fortunate(at this point anyway) in that my numbers suggest that I am low risk.  PSA  5.9, Gleason 6(3+3), grade T1C, biopsy showed 1 or 12 samples positive-5% of the tissue. 

We have given a lot of thought to the AS option and feel comfortable at this time that with proper monitoring, any disease progression can be dealt with.  Just this afternoon we had a meeting with a urologist that was endorsed our choice and is willing to work with us.

Several folks mentioned AS in my original post and I thank them.  I would be interested in hearing from those on AS and how they are doing and the things that influenced their choice.

Thanks again for the support,

bachez

AS may or may not be a good strategy for you.  I can't possibly assess that.  It seems to me that the only way to safely arrive at that decision is through a thoughtful consultation with your qualified urologist, who has evaluated your general health, had his own hands and eyes on you, conducted his own examination, done a DRE in which he was able to somewhat visualize your prostate using the TRUS, and who has then reviewed the report of the qualified pathologist regarding the extent of your cancer (small volume reflected in your biopsy report) and its likely location.  No one here knows where that positive core was taken from.  Was it near the surface of the prostate?  Was it near the seminal vesicles?  Was it deep inside the prostate where it's unlikely to spread anytime soon?  Your uro may know those things, but no one here does.  What areas of the prostate were sampled?  What areas were not?  What was his thinking in deciding which areas to sample? 

We routinely advise newcomers to have their slides reviewed, and I know that was suggested to you in an earlier thread.  That would certainly be wise before deciding for sure to do AS.  It's not unheard of for low volume, low Gleasons to turn out to involve EPE and/or positive margins, or turn out to have missed unsampled areas of Gleason 7.

Again, AS may be a good move for you, but if you choose it, I hope you would only do it after thoroughly discussing that option with your urologist, and probably only after a second or even third opinion, and by that I mean the opinions of qualified urologists, not the opinions of some friend or of someone here on HW.  We can suggest, but we can't diagnose, and we can't rightfully recommend a course of action.

You've been intensely reading for a week.  For me it's been half a year, and I'm still low down on the learning curve, but what I have learned is that this PCa is a crafty enemy, and unpredictable.  So, I would just urge you strongly to listen to the medical professionals who have examined you, find one or more in whom  you have confidence, and see what they suggest.  That may very well be AS, or it may not.  Good luck to you in whatever you decide.

clocknut,

Thank you for your response.

A second DRE yesterday confirmed that the outside of my prostate was fine-soft, normal tissue.  The positive sample was from my "left mid" region-not sure what that means.

I am taking your advice(and the advice of others) and getting a second opinion on my biopsy slides.

bachez

Post Edited (Ziggy9) : 3/22/2011 9:09:02 AM (GMT-6)