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Posted 5/24/2012 2:10 AM (GMT 0)
Iam 65 yrs old and fairly good health, not overweight and no pc in my family. I have had psa test for the last 15 yrs and it was always around 3.2 to 3.3.  Last dec. i had my medical and a psa and it came back at 5.9. My dr. called me in  jan. and ordered another psa and a free psa . My doc said my dre felt normal in dec. This time my psa was 7.4 and my free psa was 9. I was referred to a urologst and seen him in march and he ordered a biopsy.When the doc. done  the biopsy he hit a blood vessel and i was in the hosp. 4 hrs until they controlled the bleeding. I went back to the urologst in april and 11 of the 12 core samples showed no signs of cancer but 1 sample  they were unable to determine if it showed cancer but it was suspicious  The urologst told me that he is sure i have cancer but they just didn,t hit the right spot on the prostate and stated that there is a 60% chance that i have cancer. I have been referred to a cancer specilist, oncologist on june 19 which is a little wait. I sure hope it,s not to late. I have also read dr walsh,s book surviving prostate cancer so i have a good idea what i am up against.But still frustrated.

Post Edited (wingman63) : 5/23/2012 8:21:34 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 5/24/2012 2:39 AM (GMT 0)
Wingman63

There is also a 40 % chance you do NOT have cancer.

But on the chance you do - why not start with some Hormone treatment right now. Cassodex would be perfect to start with.

Hang in there!

Bud
Posted 5/24/2012 3:16 AM (GMT 0)
June 19th of this year, right? I had to wait that long to get an appointment for a bone scan. But no, in this part of the world, not much should change in less than a month.

It is hard to get in to see a good Doc these days. Study, learn, and be ready in the meantime. Use the time wisely.

Frustration is a part of life in the twilight zone of PCa -

What I can control is a Welcome to HW. Welcome.

Posted 5/24/2012 4:59 AM (GMT 0)
Welcome and with that biopsy report, I wouldn't worry too much. You may have PC but then you may not. If you do it doesn't sound to aggressive. Waiting till June 19th will be frustrating but won't make things worse.

As far I as I am concerned until they get a positive biopsy there is no clear evidence of cancer. Learn more and ask more questions. Now is not the time to panic (save that for later). The word cancer is heavily loaded and these days isn't as bad as it use to be. It's still early stage for you so you've got every chance to figure out what is causing the PSA to rise. If it is PC then you have plenty of time to find the right doctors and make an informed choice of treatment. Don't let anyone rush you into making a decisions.

We're here if you have more questions.
All the best,
Andrew
Posted 5/24/2012 5:27 AM (GMT 0)
I would echo what others have told you - don't feel rushed. If you do have PC with the number of cores that were clear, you likely have a lot of time before needing to treat it (and may not need treatment for years if at all). Although your biopsy was so unpleasant last time, if it were me, I would want to have another one if your docs recommend any treatment for cancer, to be sure I have it first.

Welcome to the forum.
Jeff
Posted 5/24/2012 11:19 AM (GMT 0)
Hey Wingman,

I had a similar experience. My cancer was found with a second biopsy.

My "guess" would be that if you get a second biopsy the will target some of the hard to get at parts of the prostate. Another guess would be, if they do find cancer it may be of a very low Gleason(6) and not wide spread; therefore, you may want to read-up on Active Surveillance (AS).

Good luck.
Posted 5/24/2012 12:08 PM (GMT 0)
I echo what others have said. The only thing that concerns me is that it seems as if your PSA is going up quickly. I'm very pleased with my treatment, but looking back, I'm not sure I should have done anything other than AS. Take a breath and don't rush into anything. Heck, they didn't find anything.
Posted 5/24/2012 12:22 PM (GMT 0)
Welcome to HW. There is some great advice above and as of right now, you may not have cancer at all. Before you do anything, I would ask the Dr. to try some antibiotics to see if that would lower your psa. psa can rise for other reasons other than PCa for instance having sex prior to the test.
Posted 5/25/2012 12:40 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for all the great advice. I am new to this site but it sounds that there is some very knowledgeable people on this site. I do get excited when it comes to pc, i have two brother-in-laws that have had there prostate removed and the one just finished 33 treatments of radiation due to his psa going up, and my other one , his psa is going up [both in the last 2 yrs] so i do have a tendency to get overly frustrated when the doc mention,s cancer .Thanks again to you all , you have brightined my day.
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