Active Surveillance Update

Hey all, haven't posted in a while (3 months to be exact) and I feel a bit sheepish just dropping in again with my own good news but I hope this helps any newbies with questions about what to do when diagnosed with prostate cancer.

A brief history... I was diagnosed in January with PCa, G6, and <5% in one out of 10 cores. My surgeon recommended RP but after a lot of soul searching and research, I opted for AS.

3 month checkup my PSA went from 2.85 down to .7, and at my checkup this morning, PSA is even lower at .54. Now even at this point my surgeon is not recommending RP. I asked him what I thought was a silly question which was "Could the biopsy have actually removed the cancer?"

To my surprise, he said that he has seen 2 instances (mind you, he does 100s of RPs per year) where the biopsy was positive but after removing the prostate, they found no evidence of cancer.

I can't imagine how I would feel if I went through the surgery, with all it's side effects, only to find out that they could find no cancer in the gland once it was removed.

So I just offer this up a encouragement to any of you thinking about going the Active Surveillance (AS) route.

-Mic

Geeter,
What you experienced is not at all unusual. Many G6 <5% when found on a biopsy are not tumors, but cancer clusters that may or not turn into tumors later. Many times these just disappear on their own. Most men over 50 have some of these in their prostate and unfortunately when a 1,000,000 biopsies are given annually you are bound to find some. Diet and Finisteride have been proven effective in eliminating these cancer clusters and should be the first step for anyone with a G6 <5% in one core.

Mic, glad to hear from you and I'm happy that you are doing so well. It's really good to have you drop in - it's a real encouragement to others who may be considering AS.

Re your question about the biopsy getting the cancer -- I have heard of this also If fact we have had one or two members here over the years who had this happen.

All the best,

Jim

Congrats, GeetarMan. I'm in a similar situation, although my numbers are a bit different - G7 (3+4), and my PSA went down from 4.8 at diagnosis to 3.8 this week. I'm planning on staying with AS for at least a little while.

I am all for it. Glad to hear it's working out for you. I had wanted to try AS but at G7 my doctors talked me out of it. At G6 I think I would have held my ground like you.

And it's always great to hear success stories.

Andrew

I'm also happy for you. I was worried for a bit when you first posted that you were going to go for the surgery. I suspect that small amounts of cancer come and go throughout our lifetimes. I think you should take the experience as an influence to live the healthiest lifestyle possible.