So scared about PSA

Terry you definately saved your customers life. Kudos to you! Must make you feel good.

Stop...you are not helping yourself, your husband or your girls, by coming unglued. I can say this because I went through the same thing. It is what it is and until the specifics are known, cool your jets. What caught my attention this morning was the comment about your husband taking this in stride at the moment. He is the one who needs support maybe more than you at this moment.

I understand your fears and how crazy worried you feel right now. Please relax as much as you can and place this situation somewhere behind your family for a bit. Love them and be the anchor I know you can be.

Kathy

I also think it would benefit you to join the ladies prostate forum. There are remarkable women there that will wrap their arms around you and lessen your fears.


www.ladies-prostate-forum.org

My best wishes to you my dear,
xoxoKathy

The Caring Wife,

HUGS! I was in your shoes in Nov of last year. Hubby, age 45, came home and said his primary physician said his PSA was moderately elevated. I didn't even know what a PSA was. Once he said a possibility for prostate cancer, I too went into panic mode. It was a very scary time for me. Without knowing too much about PC, I thought hubby might die. It was a very, very, scary time, and I KNOW the place you are at right now emotionally. It is the what if's that haunt you and believe me they can absolutely take you down emotionally. I am a woman of very strong faith, and it is my go to no matter what. I too suffered from anxiety attack several years ago, but fortunately leaning on my faith prevented me from having a single anxiety attack during the entire 4 month ordeal from where you are now to surgery. First off, you don't know why that PSA is elevated. When I was in your exact space in time it was important for me to not "go there". It helped to take it day by day with the thought, "hubby's PSA is elevated, we don't know why, but we are going to investigate further to figure it out." I tried my best to stay right there in that thought and that moment. It served no purpose to worry because I didn't even know if it was cancer or not. Our Uro was/is very supportive and he too shared that mind set with us and was very good about keeping us pretty grounded. If we jumped ahead, he'd say, "we're not there yet."

I am 41, and like you a stay at home Mom. Hubby is the bread winner also. We too have very young children ages 11 and 9 and are into sports too! :) My heart goes out to you sweetie, I know how scared you are. Just stay present, and if you go to the "what if's" pull yourself right back to your center.

I will follow your story closely, and pray that your hubby does not have cancer. So...until then, "we're not there yet!" Please keep us posted, I will be here if you need me.

Hi Caring Wife,

First of all, I hope that this turns out without a cancer diagnosis. However, based on PSA alone, which is not the best to predict cancer, if there is, it is still in an early stage. More importantly, even if the diagnosis is cancer, take a breath, deal with your husband customers in an honest way, and take your time to understand what options you have, as the prostate cancer is more treatable than others, but each treatment has its impact on different bodily functions. I will have my treatment this coming Monday (more than four months after diagnosis), and I am amazed how normal I feel today versus the times before and just after the diagnosis.

As other have posted, abstaining from sex for 48 hours before the PSA blood test, it is a good practice, as it could influence the outcome specifically when the values are lower (2-4).

Please note that I am not a medical professional, but I would ask the urologist to test or treat him for the possibility of an infection. Besides the free/total PSA test there is a PCA3 test that better correlates to cancer. If the test comes in leading towards a cancer diagnosis, I would go to have a biopsy, but if you do it, ask to be done right. In should be in excess of 12 cores, such that you know more about the spread of cancer, if it is found. The truth about biopsy is that it can confirm cancer, but does not come free, and poses risks, major one being serious infections, as I found out from a coworker...

You can see my opinion about diagnosis by reading my post. There is another test - circulation tumor cells (CTC), which, unfortunately, is available only at two locationshttps://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=35&m=2383730

Sincere best wishes,

Victor

Post Edited (NewDiag) : 4/26/2012 11:53:31 AM (GMT-6)

Hi Caring,

The 'unknown'  is  the most scary at this time. Thinking of you. Just to add to Kathy's comments - I suggest you take yourself off separately for some review of your anxiety. It is, of course, increased in the situation - I wish I had done that, and been honest enough to take action. I kept it all in - which was not good long-term. Once I had my anxiety treated (years later) I realised how helpful it would have been for me to take action earlier particularly when  I was feeling as you are now. If you have been treated for anxiety (a misunderstood condition overall I think) in the past, get yourself back there now for a review given the present circumstances. It may assist you to cope, along with the ladies at the ladies forum which is also a wonderful idea. It is true that your hubby has to be the priority here now, but you can't ignore your own needs, or change your biological reaction to stress and these tremendous pressures now. My husband was completely calm about most of it - we ended up having a very good outcome (see stats). I was aware that I needed to hold it together, and I did - at a cost. The only thing I regret is not being treated for my anxiety at the time, which was intense, and in retrospect, needed support and perhaps treatment too. The people here are giving you good advise which I hope you can use, regardless of whether or not your hubby does end up with a diagnosis. I usually do not give advise (at all!) but just throwing in a comment which I hope you do not mind. There is an anxiety forum here too at HW - these people have a deeper knowledge of how uncontrolled our personal thoughts can become at times. This may be helpful to assist too perhaps? Best of luck. Breathe deeply. Take it day by day, and hour by hour.

Keep in touch with the forum for information, check out the ladies forum and the anxiety forum for support for you, as well as your doc if you think your anxiety is getting too much. It impacts on sleep,   looking after the kids, work, everything... it is fine and good to look after you, but you need to do it separately as Kathy has said. Try above all things to find someone to support you - you can't expect your hubby to be holding you up too, and I am sure you do not want to. So this is just a few suggestions to keep you going in the short-term. Good luck & take care, Lana

 

I am tearing inside, can't show the kids or my Doug. You guys are great.

I am thinking of you and know how hard this is...especially at your young ages and with children to raise.

Just remember that are so many people here saying prayers for you and your Doug.

Hang in there, and take care of yourself as well.
xoxoKathy

Water Guy, thank you. We are thinking of so much and we know we should'nt. The doctor said it still could be an infection, but with all the reading I've done I know that it probably isn't so. Doug just said this morning, what if it spread? I told him he was going to far and chances are it's contained. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I promisied him this. I wonder why the Euro didn't bother to do a dre even after he mentioned an enlarged prostate could be a culprit. It's just so hard masking this from the kids. Their needs haven't changed. Softball all week. Doug is one of the coaches for my older daughters little league team and it's good for him. We really don't know how to feel or act.

Caring,

I assume the enema is for his biopsy and the only other time I had one was for my colonoscopy 4 years ago. It is nothing to worry about. If Doug is apprehensive about the biopsy have him ask the doctor for a shot of Valium before it starts. You will have to drive him home afterwards. The Valium puts him in la-la land and he will feel very little. I did the Valium and it made the whole procedure easier than I imagined.

Terry

Doug just spoke to his 77 year old uncle. He said Doug's dad was diagnosed with pc in his early 70's and had (seeds?) and didn't have any complications that he knew of. Doug's dad died of a head injury a few years back, something to do with coumadin, at age 79. His brain swelled and it killed him. Doug's uncle had rectal or colon cancer not pc. Interesting what you find out. Can anyone explain seeds, when they are used and why. TY

PSA velocity seems to be a key indicator for doing the biopsy. Mine jumped from 3.0 to 4.4 in twenty months and so biopsy was essential. My final Gleason turned out to be a whopping 9 so a relatively low PSA was very misleading. I'd clearly had cancer even when my PSA was in the two's. Of course, having a family history of prostate cancer is what drove the doc to get serious about things quickly.

I found one resource to be of GREAT benefit: "Choosing the Right Treatment for Prostate Cancer," a publication of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Library. Johns Hopkins is sort of the world center of excellence when it comes to prostate cancer. They did their first prostatectomy back in 1904. The prostate cancer guru, Patrick Walsh, was at Johns Hopkins.

Best wishes and good luck.

I will be thinking nothing but good thoughts for you and your husband today. I had not had Valium until my biopsy last year and I found it kind of enjoyable, not a good sign I am sure. In most cases it will take a week to get back the results depending on which diagnostic labs they send the cores to for the pathology. Try to find out which one your URO uses as there are 3 or 4 that most in this forum recommend. one of them was Bostwick Labs and the one my URO used. You also will have an opportunity to get a second lab opinion if you desire.

Just remember if the results come back positive, IT IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD OR HIS LIFE. Just stay relaxed for the next few days and keep you mind off of things. I would suggest you take a long weekend trip with the kids and have some fun while you wait.

Terry The Water Guy