Putting 2 and 2 together.

Obviously I'm in no position to make a medical judgment about the best treatment option for you, but listening to the doctors with whom you've spoken seems like a good bet to me.  If you're just a couple days away from surgery, my advice would be to make a conscious effort to relax, put your mind at ease, put yourself into the practiced hands of the  medical specialists, and get beyond this. 

Would other treatment options work?  Probably.  Maybe certainly.  But surgery seems like a good option for you.  Try to put yourself at ease and be confident in your decision.  Yes, I'm pretty sure there are times when surgery is the best, though perhaps not the only, treatment option, and it sounds as if yours may be one of those.  Pre-surgery doubts and jitters are an expected part of the process.  Many of us have been there and can understand what you're saying.

It is hard to argue with the experts and unlike a lot of guys, you did consult with RT and RP docs and if they all think surgery is the best way to go, it might be. Maybe it is the location of the G7 so close to the bladder. I would think the #1 goal after getting out all the cancer is continence so  maybe surgery offers a better chance than radiation to the area, but I am no expert. I would not exchange my 100% continence for having no ED as continence was my #1 goal after getting out the cancer. Surgery will provide the best look at the pathology as to how extensive that G7 is and nothing so far indiucated that you will face any post surgery RT.

Good luck on Friday and return your prostate on empty, its not a rental car. We are holding a cabin for you on the GFMPH Cruise.

Terry

After doing all your homework, turn it over to the experts now. You should feel confident you are doing the right thing since they all agree on surgery.
My tumor was mostly near the bladder. I have had more trouble with continence than the next guy. My surgeon said it was probably because it had been pushing up against the bladder for years and it will take a little longer for the bladder to relax and realize it is not there any more. BUT, my numbers are different from yours so you may be just find and be continent much quicker. I am still using 3 pads a day at 8 months out almost to the day.
I wish you luck, will say a prayer for you and will see you on the other side. Let us know how it went.
Bill

iSpark,

The right answer for you isn't necessarily what worked for me, but our stories have some overlap, so here is a bit of my tail.

Diagnosed with G6 on just 1 of 12 samples. AS was offered, as was RT, but I selected Davinci RP. Part of my decision was based on my doctors telling me that 25% of the prostates they removed had a more aggressive cancer than the biopsy showed. That was enough for me and in hind sight, it was the right decision.

The reason I only had 1 of 12 cores? Most of my prostate cancer was in my bladder. Like you, my prostate cancer was located very close to my bladder and it spread, in part because my bladder and prostate were mis-formed (according to my surgeon) and shared a very significant amount of common wall.

My prostate was removed along with a significant amount of my bladder. The remaining bladder was saved and reformed to make a new smaller bladder. I urinate just fine, I just go more often.

For me, I needed to know and surgery gave me that confidence. Your answer is yours alone and I'm sure you will make the right one.

Pulling for you,

Pat

iSpark,

On this sort of thread I sometimes think it is unnecessary for the commenters to actually say anything; their signatures say enough. We all second guess ourselves all the time, both before and after treatment. Before treatment this second-guessing makes us vacillate in our decisions. That's where you are now. After treatment it gives us a strong bias toward recommending our own treatment choice for other guys, absent compelling reasons to make a different recommendation. All of the treatments have side effects and anxieties about long-term survival and those side effects and anxieties are more bothersome if you allow yourself to suspect that some of them might be the result of poor decision making on your part. I struggle with this bias but don't suspect I completely escape it.

So, in that context, I think that there is a point before treatment where you should consider yourself committed and devote you mental energy to planning for your recovery instead of second guessing your decision. It's up to you to decide when that point has been reached. If you are going to go ahead with surgery this is a good time to rearrange your furniture so the recliner has a good view of the TV and a place beside it where you can put a trash can that you can plop your catheter bag into while you recline. You might make a trip to REI and buy some "convertible" hiking pants; they fit loosely and the zipper at the knee is endlessly handy when you are out and about with the leg bag.

James, thanks for the clarification.  I'm sure you had said this on other threads but I just didn't get it here.  Given that all of your multi-faceted team has recommended surgery I'm sure there must be a good reason.  It's not too late to ask if it will give you peace of mind going in.

Having said that, you will likely do just fine and prostate cancer will soon be history to you.  Good luck...

Jim

Hi,

Could be that they do not want to focus any RT so close to the bladder because it could cause some damage there.

As long as the cancer is still confined to the prostate (sounds like it is), the surgery should cure you.

As Friday draws near, just think of it for what it is: it is the day you return to being cancer free.

Good luck!
Chuck

Resident of Highland, Indiana just outside of Chicago, IL.
July 2011 local PSA lab reading 6.41 (from 4.1 in 2009). Mayo Clinic PSA Sept. 2011 was 5.7.
Local urologist DRE revealed significant BPH, but no lumps.
PCa Dx Aug. 2011 at age of 61.
Biopsy revealed adenocarcinoma in 3 of 20 cores (one 5%, two 20%). T2C.
Gleason score 3+3=6.
CT of abdomen, bone scan both negative.
DaVinci prostatectomy 11/1/11 at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN), nerve sparing, age 62.
My surgeon was Dr. Matthew Tollefson, who I highly recommend.
Final pathology shows tumor confined to prostate.
5 lymph nodes, seminal vesicles, extraprostatic soft tissue all negative.
1.0 x 0.6 x 0.6 cm mass involving right posterior inferior,
right posterior apex & left mid posterior prostate.
Right posterior apex margin involved by tumor over a 0.2 cm length, doctor says this is insignificant.
Prostate 98.3 grams, tumor 2 grams. Prostate size 5.0 x 4.7 x 4.5 cm.
Catheter out in 7 days. No incontinence, occasional minor dripping.
Post-op exams 2/13/12, 9/10/12, PSA <0.1.
Semi-firm erections now happening 14 months post-op & slowly getting a bit stronger.

Every specialist I met (including two world-class brachy guys) said surgery was the best option for me. That made my decision easy, and I haven't looked back.

Surgery is going to happen in 2 weeks. I'm eager to have it done and behind me, but quite un-eager to move on to the next chapter of dealing with the side-effects.

-Gedman

Here is a list of things that can cause blood in urine:

www.mayoclinic.com/health/blood-in-urine/DS01013/DSECTION=causes

I had too much blood in my urine a few years after surgery.

Did a scan for stones...none were found... Ended up being one of the staples from surgery was being attacked by my system. Had it removed and all is well...

As you saw from the link I posted, all sorts of things can cause it. Does your family have any history of kidney stones etc?