Welcome new guy glof1967

Welcome golf1967, and sorry you have to be here.

Before being able to weigh in much, it would be helpful if you told us a little more about yourself - what were your biopsy results - # of cores taken, how many positive, gleason score, etc - PSA history, DRE history, and family history with PCa, etc.

Best/easiest way to do that would be to create a "signature" like you see at the end of our posts.

golf1967-Welcome to HW. Please do what yooper and alephnull suggested with your stats and you will get some opinions here. Good luck to you.

Welcome to HW, sorry you need to be here.

More info would help us.

That isn't a very high PSA so I am wondering what is going on that someone would recommend surgery.

Still, it's a bit of a shock to have to deal with this thing.
Andrew

Thanks everyone. I dont know anything yet. My dr and i spoke over the phone when he informed me of the diagnosis. I asked him what he recommended and he said surgery based on what he sees from my biopsy. I meet with him on monday. Not really sure what questions i should ask.

Check out the sticky threads at the top of the forum - there's a lot of basic info there that will help you out.

Right now you need to learn as much as you can.

Things to ask would be stuff like, what's the Gleason score, clinical staging, number of cores involved, etc. Also ask about all the other alternatives treatments - active surveillance, radiation (beam, seeds, etc).

Hang in there and let us know what the doctor says, with the info you get, we could give you better suggestions and folks with similar stats will share their experiences.

Andrew

Golf -- on what information were you diagnosed? Have you had a biopsy? If so you need to get a copy of the biopsy report when you see your doctor and then tell us what it says.

Welcome Golf, sorry you are joining our club. But you've come to a place where you'll get plenty of help, both education and support. You'll definitely need the former, and if you are like most, you'll likely want the latter.

1. Get copy of the path report, (and post the stats from it in your signature, as others have said)
2. Ask that your slides be sent to JoHns Hopkins or Bostwick labs for a second opinion (Prostate cell pathology is very subjective)
3. Ask for a referral to the best radiation oncologist in your area (where is your area, we may be able to help)
4. Ask your doc if he does the surgery, why he's recommending it over other treatments, what type he does (robotic or open) how many he's done, and what his stats are (% of positive margins,)
5. Ask him (if you have GLeason 6 or low 7, if he thinks you would be a candidate for Active Surviellance
6. Do yourself a favor and go to Amazon and buy or download two books - "Surviving Prostate Cancer" by Dr Patrick Walsh , a Prostate Surgeon (make sure you get the 3rd edition) and "Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers" by Dr Mark Scholz, a medical Oncologist. These two boks will give you a good education from two very different perspectives.

This will be a good start. Good luck, and know that while there is no such thing as a good Cancer , the Cancer you have is one of the most, if not the most, treatable kinds that exist.

Yes, it seems as if things move very fast, it requires effort on our part to slow things down. And, slowing down won't hurt you...and will absolutely help you. Reality is, unless you've got a very unusual situation, you probably don't have to schedule anything aggressive for at least 6 months, or likely longer.

You have three basic choices:

1. Surgery..either conventional or robotic
2. Radiation..brachytherapy or "seeds" or external beam, or some combination of the two.
3. Active Surveillance..means they keep a close eye on you with regular checkups and biopsies, possibly for years.

I also think it is moving real fast. My uro told me he did not feel anything abnormal during the physical. He recommended the biopsy just to be sure. He scheduled it pending the outcome of my 2nd PSA test. When that test was still slightly higher we went ahead with the biopsy. He got my path report and wanted to refer me to the surgeon.

After talking to both I should have a better idea of my options. I will let you all know what they say.

Thanks again.

What is your Gleason score from the pathology report?

That's a pretty good report as far as these things go. This would put you in the low risk category. With this diagnosis, pretty much any treatment would cure you so you want to learn as much as possible about each treatments SEs, since they all have them. Think about which set of SEs you can live with the most.

You should also consider Active Surveillance with this diagnosis, where you're closely monitored to see how/if the cancer is progressing. Not everyone is cut out for that, but it sure has the least SEs and if your condition changes you can always opt for treatment at that time--in the meantime you've got many years of good QOL in.

One of the best things you have with this diagnosis is time, so I'd urge you to use it and get as many opinions as possible. Besides a surgeon, talk to an experienced brachytherapist and also consider SBRT.

Good luck!

Hey Dave I'm in Greenbelt.