New Member 74 Gleason 7(4+3) PSA 5.1 How worried should I be?

Enjoy the holiday and drive safely. The prostate cancer is not an immediate concern. From what you show you appear to be low to intermediate risk and there are a lot of effective treatments.

My brother in law is a couple of years older and he was diagnosed very similar to you two years ago. He received very effective radiation therapy and has the cancer under control with no problems or negative side effects.

First enjoy your friends and family for the holidays. Then meet with your doctors, get second opinions, seek advice here and then decide on a course of treatment.

But, please don't freak out.....easy for me to say as I did when first diagnosed....but then we all do.

Best wishes,

Jack

PFP - I know first hand that there is nothing I can say that will make you truly feel good about this. Not yet anyway.

But wha I can tell you is with a PSA of 5.1 the chance that your bone scan or CT scan coming back positive is highly unlikely. I knwo that from the good people on this forum and I went thru what you are going thru a week ago. Not that I'm all calm and relaxed right now but it's slowly coming together, and it will for you as well.

Second thing - do yourself a favor and call your Dr. Tell him you want the slides sent out to Johns Hopkins/Dr John Epstein, or David Bostwick at Bostwick labs, for a second opinion. I learned that here, and glad I did because my Gleason was downgraded.

I'm sure others will chime in shortly who are more knowledgeable than I

Welcome to HW, sorry you need to be here.

First question, how worried? A little. You need treatment. That won't be fun and will have it's side effects. Hate to say it out loud, but likely you've only got say, 20-30 years left to live. A little worry can be a good thing - keeps us working the problem and finding answers. Too much worry is an energy waster.

Yes, that word 'cancer' sends the brain into freakout mode. The somewhat good news is that you have PC - a generally slow growing cancer so you've got plenty of time to research and make an informed decision on the kind of treatment to get. In your case, you'd be a great candidate for radiation - either beam or seeds, getting the follow up tests. And most doctors don't want to start radiation until you've have a good six weeks or so to heal from the biopsy. Even under the best of time tables, it's likely that you couldn't select your doctor or schedule the treatment much before January.

So as Jack says, relax, enjoy the holiday and don't stress about how long it takes. If you can get in for treatment in January/February, you're doing just fine.

Now is the time to learn all you can about PC - check out the sticky thread at the top of the forum for some resources. Likely the bone scan and CT will show nothing interesting so I'd start the conversation with your doctors on what treatments they recommend.

Hang in there and ask all the questions you need - we're here most days.
Andrew

This is as much an mental game as a physical one. Take the time to deal with the shock and emotions that it creates. Go do something nice for yourself and try to distract your mind for a bit from the worry.

Hang in there,
Andrew

I second the second opinion.

But, right now, you are worried about the scan results.

In all honestly, with a PSA so low, it is HIGHLY UNLIKELY that anything will show up. Very often the PSA will have to exceed 20 before anything shows up.

So, prepare yourself: for good news on the scan results.

Then, make appointments, get the second opinion on the biopsy (do this first)

Mel

Play4parr: Welcome fellow intermediate. You are amongst some of the bravest people on thi planet. They have all lived to tell you the truth! Find and talk to people who have met the beast head on and have prevailed. No matter what treatment you choose know that we are all behind you and can provide personal experiences that can ease some of your fears.

play4parr, i think you've found the best support group that exists. Nothing but support and love from everyone here. My father has a situation very similar to yours. he is 74 and half but diagnosed just over a year ago. gleason 8, and psa 10. he had a bit of a battle with the hormone injections but he did radiation and had the seeds implanted. long story short, one year later his scans are clean and psa in undetectable. by no means is it easy, but as many above have said, go on and enjoy the holidays. work closely with your family and doctors. all the best you.

Jack gave you great advise.

Cajun Jeff

Howard,

I started a new thread for you so other members can say hello. It is here:

www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=35&m=3252427

Play4parr,

With a PSA of 5.1, the scans are very likely to show nothing. After the biopsy, all the Doctors I talked with would not do ANYTHING for 6 - 8 weeks. Your Doc. most likely will say you are intermediate risk due to the G7 (same for me) but that just means that "something" is going to have to be done sometime. (They usually wait till after the scans are in - but maybe he already told you that.)

As far as worry goes, you are okay to worry about it - but it sounds like it was caught early. As far as "Freaking out!!!! ", don't do that! Harder to do than say, but nothing more will likely be done to you until your biopsy heals completely. That will take you through the holidays. Try and enjoy them...

DonC