Newly diagnosed at 42. Help!!

Well, there are Kegel exercises, for one thing. They help somewhat. Your surgeon probably gave you instructions. THen if you aren't drying up after ninety days you might think about biofeedback training. That helps too. But mostly you have to be patient: Regaining continence can take a while but nine out of ten men get there eventually.

I had incontinence on the first day of taking my catheter out (this past Thursday), however since then I am able to control my bladder pretty well. I'm using Depends but they have been dry for the most part.

My stream is strong and I am able to stop it as well. So far recovery progressing nicely. Still have some stomach pain and a little pain in the pelvic area.

Anxiously awaiting the pathology report next Friday.

Very dissappointed with my urologist. I received my pathology report before my appointment with him on Friday. Can anyone help me intrepret this?

===DIAGNOSIS===
- Rectum, levator, and/or pelvic wall invasion: NEGATIVE.
- Extracapsular Extension:
- Right Side: NEGATIVE.
- Left Side: NEGATIVE.
Margins:
- Apical Margin: POSITIVE.
- Extent: FOCAL, RIGHT SIDE.
- Peripheral Margins:
- Right Side: POSITIVE.
- Extent: FOCAL (PERIAPICAL AND BASALAR
AREAS).
- Left Side: POSITIVE.
- Extent: FOCAL (BASALAR AREA).
- Bladder Neck Margin: NEGATIVE.
Perineural Invasion: POSITIVE (WITHIN PROSTATE).
Lymph-vascular Invasion: NEGATIVE.
Treatment Effect: NOT NOTED.
Regional Lymph Nodes: NO LYMPH NODES IDENTIFIED.
Pathological stage: pT2c, pNX, pMX.

los1023,

If I read it right it indicates organ-contained disease on both sides of your prostate with some mildly worrisome positive margins in the surgical sample. It could be better but it's not that bad. Did they report a Gleason score?

Here are a couple of pages that might help you figure out part of it:

www.pamf.org/prostate/about/stages.html

myprostatedoc.blogspot.com/2011/05/positive-margins-after-prostatectomy.html

Note that in the myprostatedoc page it says that "focal" positive margins aren't as bad (because they are smaller.) For what it's worth.

Los1023,

Again, nothing particularly dire there but it could be better. They bumped you up from a Gleason 6 to a 7 but they scored it 3+4 (which is better than 4+3).

I'm outa my depth here. That's all I know. If I had to guess I would think that your doctor will want to watch your PSA to see what it does (every 3 months, maybe). He would plan to do salvage radiation if it doesn't go undetectable and stay there.

You might want to start a new thread with a title like "Help me read my pathology report" and include both parts of the report. You'll get more attention from people who might be able to help if you start a new thread, instead of posting to this one that has wrapped around a couple of times.