1 Year Active Surveilance (AS) Update

Hey all,
Just wanted to pop in and give an update on my journey with AS. I've been lurking a lot but not posting. I make this post now mainly to encourage guys with a similar diagnosis to mine to consider the AS route even if their docs tell them they are "too young" for it. Anyone interested can read my stats in my sig below, and I am happy to answer any questions from newbies on the subject.

Although I have no explanation (and neither does my doc) as to why my PSA has actually dropped so much since my biopsy, it does illustrate that if you are diagnosed as a G6 with a low volume of "cancer" in the prostate, you have plenty of time to explore options, try alternate therapies, and get educated, no matter your age. I use quotation marks because I am not even sure that what I have now should even be considered PCa.

I am so glad I decided to go the AS route. My current PSA is .64 and I can't see any sense in RP as my doctor originally urged me very strongly to do. Even he would not even consider doing surgery on me now.

That's all for now. I want to thank all in this forum as it has been so helpful to me over the past year since my diagnosis.

Peace,
Mic

Great story and congrats on your progress! Will you do three-month PSA tests indefinitely as part of the protocol?

Congratulations!

My original hope before I saw my pathology report was to do AS, but after seeing the G7, my medical team talked me out of it.

Glad to know it's working for you,
Andrew

I also think you made the right decision. I suspect there could be a chance that you don't even have prostate cancer. I tend to get suspicious when a pathology comes back < 5%. Does that mean 4%, 3%, 2%, 1%? And your PSA levels (including the 2.85) are so low that most urologists wouldn't even biopsy.

And even if you do have, say, 2.5% in one out of 10 cores, it is likely that if you biopsied all the men your age in the US, that a great many would show the same stats.

Best of luck and wishes for more low numbers!

I really didn't change anything too much. I do try to eat less dairy and red meat but I'm not religious about it. I do drink 8oz of pomegranate juice most every day. Other than that it's pretty much business as usual. I don't think my diet or lifestyle has had anything to do with it.

I do have a suspicion that I had so little "cancer" in my prostate that the biopsy actually removed most of what was there. I don't think there is any other way to explain the precipitous drop in PSA.

My urologist did say he had a case similar to mine where they removed the prostate, and they did not find any cancer in it when they did the post-op pathology. I would hate to be that guy. My uro said that in that case he suspected the biopsy had removed whatever cancer was there. Needle in a haystack for sure but sometimes you draw a royal flush I suppose.

Congratulations. Inspirational. Post more often. Some of us need to hear stories like yours.

65 next week, i don't know the percentages...would have to check the original biopsy.

Hmmm, interesting thought that the biopsy may have removed your cancer. Seems like a total shot in the dark, but it's also plausible. It would certainly be cool if that happened! I also wonder to the extent that indolent cancer simply flames out in some cases. Regardless, this is great news!

PS Via US mail, I get well-produced 4-color magazines from two local hospitals with articles about their latest advances and capabilities (not just PC-related). Many of the stories focus on someone that is doing well based on some new technique or (more likely) equipment/technology. That's great and I'm glad I have a couple of cutting-edge facilities in my backyard. But yours is the kind of story that would never be featured, but is arguably much better!

OK GeetarMan.
I see from the report 4 Adenocarcinoma Gleason Sores of 6, (3+3), involving 1, more than 1% of 0.1 mm. 2,7mm, 45%. 3, 5 mm, 35% and 4, 3mm, 20%.
I have to say you are the first person to ask. None of my doctors have mentioned these scores to me and I have no idea of the significance. I know it sounds pretty ignorant. But that's how it is. i never got into the ideal criteria for AS because none of the Dr.s I was working with brought it up.
I just figured i would roll the dice for a while and see what I could do with diet, and a few other bits and pieces.
If anyone wants to throw some light on these numbers i would be interested it what you have to say.
I'm very reluctant to have another biopsy...the last and only one so far was a long way from the "simple office procedure" the Dr. indicated...almost 2 years later and i still have some after effects I'm not raving about.

GeetarMan. This is great news and why others with G6 should look hard at AS before pulling the trigger on any treatment options.

Maybe your biopsy did remove your cancer! If it was even there in the first place! Anyway, who cares, because it looks like you are doing fine without the life changing intervention of treatment.

All the very best to you.

GeetarMan: I might be the same guy. I had the RP but they are having a hard time finding the cancer so I haven't even seen the final pathology yet. One URO told me to do AS but my GP and 2nd opinion didn't want to chance it because of my age.

So here I am. The only side effect is ED and I truly believe that is only a matter of time. I guess you take the cards your dealt maybe I was dealing from the bottom of the deck (LOL)

One thing I am relatively sure of... AS should be seen as a more viable option for us "younger" guys. Most docs don't want to recommend that until you are 60 or 65. I think that's wrong and I hope more docs advocate for AS for low risk patients, almost regardless of age.

Thanks tooyoung. I'll be interested to follow your story as well. 51 is far too young to deal with this crap for sure. Good luck!