I may have cancer

Gentlemen,

Thank you for all of your support. I am so glad you all are generous with your knowledge and wisdom. I went in today for my follow up three month appointment. When my urologist saw my number was not lower he immediately said we should do a biopsy. I agreed but made the appointment for after thanksgiving. We are traveling out of town and I don't want to deal with all this before leaving. Dr said there is no problem waiting as you all stated PC is usually slow growing.

I have been having an unusual amount of lower back pain lately. Is there any connection with back pain and prostate cancer? I had a two level cervical fusion a year ago. My spine is not in the best of shape in all three regions, cervical, thoracic and lumbar. Any help in this area would be welcome. For those who have prostate cancer and back pain I would appreciate any info on how it feels and what to do about it. I have taken everything known to man over the counter with no relief.

Thanks again for the help.

The biopsy is not as bad as it sounds. Risk of infection is real, but still not that common. Some of the guys here did have infections, so they can weigh in on that. After my biopsy the doc said not to ejaculate for a week. After that my semen was normal. No blood in the urine. But even if you get blood in the semen, it's just gross, nothing more. The biopsy itself was somewhat unpleasant, but entirely tolerable. You can get more intensive anesthesia if you like.

It may be that a biopsy could cause cancer cells to spread. If you don't have cancer, that won't happen, of course. But if you do have cancer, you need to know, and the biopsy is the only way to know for sure.

The BX is really not that bad a bit uncomfortable but over quickly. Had mine done less than a month ago. Some blood in stool, semen after but nothing to get crazy about. Some soreness for a few days, but to be expected. My Uro gave me an antibiotic the day before for three days after as well to ward off infection. No big deal.....more emotional than physical! A necessary evil in the process.

I have had five biopsies. Two caused scarring and long term pain, as well as tripling my psa for six months. So, I want to avoid future ones unless ABSOLUTELY necessary.

Get the mpMRi, and also switch from psa to PHI tests (which include psa). Only have a biopsy if those tests (or a positive DRE) show significant suspicion of prostate cancer.

Hi oceanfisher

My husband was also very concerned about biopsy, it was somewhat painful and certainly unpleasant, but over fairly quickly. I wouldn’t call anyone stupid for worrying about it. But do listen to Artist Mark, and others, it sounds like you are causing yourself much more suffering by agonizing about it.

Do you trust your uro? If so, take his advice more seriously than anecdotes from the internet. If not, find another doc. Certainly you need to talk to him directly about the mri thing. But the only real information that makes any sense will be in terms of statistics (both for your uro and in general) and it probably won’t be satisfying.

One big connection between (possible) prostate cancer and back pain is: stress. My husband has had back issues on and off, the absolute best thing he has found for it is physical therapy. Specially since you had surgery it will be important to exercise carefully, which is where the physical therapy comes in. Your GP or uro should be able & willing to prescribe this for you. (It is very unlikely, though not impossible, that your back pain is related to prostate cancer any other way: I’m sure you’ve read that prostate cancer metastasizes to bone.)

There are a lot of shocks that come along with your situation. One is how little help doctors can be with many chronic issues (like prostatitis). Another shock is how difficult it is to deal with the uncertainty. It might help to think about the percentage of men who get prostate cancer: I’ve seen numbers like one in seven to one in ten. And then there’s prostititis. That’s a lot of men, dealing with lots of stress. Try to remember you are not alone in this.

For most, the standard TURP biopsy is a minor inconvenience. Most doctors follow a protocol that includes most or all of the following:

1. A few days of Cipro (antibiotic) starting the day before.
2. Giving yourself a fleet enema an hour or two before.
3. Another shot of Cipro just before the biopsy.
4. Local anesthetic in the rectal wall when they start.

That's what I had. The worst part was the Cipro shot in the butt cheek. THAT hurt for about a week. The ultrasound probe isn't pleasant (did he lube the thing?????), and the actual biopsy cores stung a little. I passed some dandy clots the first afternoon, and the bloody semen was weird...."a little blood???" It looked like used motor oil!

Over in about 10 minutes, no biggie.

Because my husband's PSA was very high, he had an MRI & CT scan before his biopsy. The biopsy was done the next week, in the Radiologist's office, and because of the previous scans, they did a guided biopsy and took 6 samples (4 were for for biopsy, the other two to hold for the future which we have used one of those for genetic testing).

He took Cipro before the procedure and said the actual procedure stung quite a bit and was very glad he didn't have to have the usual 12 samples taken! He had no infection and if he had any other pain, he didn't share it with me.

The radiologist, Dr. Joseph Busch, is in Chattanooga TN and sees patients from all over the US.

Dogdays said...
Sometimes, google is not your friend. There are a lot of articles on prostate biopsy out there. It is a definitive way of determining if you have prostate cancer. It is sometimes made out to be torture by some and for others no big deal. Precautions are taken to reduce any risk of infection. And if its the pain assoiated with the biopsy thats worrying you, ask to be knocked out. They use the same drug you would get for a colonoscopy. They reverse it and you're up. You won't know anything about the procedure. Except for the blood in the urine and semen, which clears up in a few weeks usually. The whole procedure takes about 10 minutes. You may be sore for a couple of days so sit on one of those hemorrhoid pillows.
Don't let the thought of having a biopsy done scare you into looking for options that may not tell you if you have cancer. This is a very scary situation we all find ourselves in. But at some time in our lives, there are things we just need to do. Hopefully, your biopsy results will be negative for Pca. But if you don't find out whats going on, down the road, things may get a lot more scary. And thats something you really don't want to have to deal with.
Best of luck

One of the wisest things anyone's ever said to me anywhere was said to me right here on this forum...

..which was..

"You don't have to like it. You just have to do it".

Post Edited (island time) : 12/13/2017 9:30:18 AM (GMT-7)

Ocean,

I am new to this board as well and although this thread started some months ago I wanted to say that your feelings are valid.

I had some blood in my semen back in October, I also had the Vasectomy back in April and I personally feel there is some connection there. I went to see my URO three times in the past two months; the first one he did the DRE which was negative, he sent the blood out for PSA and the urine as well. The second visit he told me my PSA was 3.9 (I'm 47), but the urine was all negative. I do not have any progressive symptoms such as stopping/going, pain, etc...No signs at all. So, after these two visits he was confident it was Prostasitis (sp?). He put me on two weeks of Bactrim which made me really, really tired but that's it. I came back and took the PSA again and it dropped to a 2.7, just a tad above the 2.5 threshold for my age. He said if it was 2.4 he would see me next year and he said if it came back at 3.5 or 3.3ish he would say biopsy.

At this point I have had to change URO's due to insurance issues with my current one and honestly that's okay with me; his bedside manner wasn't great and he wouldn't talk much with me.

Everyone on here, other men I have spoken to and a local Oncologist believed it to be Prostatitis and nothing more. None of us are MD of course but that was very encouraging to me. Like you, and most of us I guess, worry and fear can set it and understandably so. My original URO doesn't believe I have PC but my risk is 20% because of where my PSA level is at my age. Most if not all men have a risk of PC at some point anyway. The cancer word is very scary, I agree.

I will see my new URO on 12/21 and he is a conversational doc who is highly recommended in this area; I'm in the Winchester VA area and will be seeing Dr. John Chesson.

Fisher, I feel for you. I know the terror of the unknown experience of a prostate biopsy. We all do.
Listen though, I have to ask this.... when you say...... "that being said if the majority here think the biopsy is the way to go, then of course I will submit"...... are you saying that you'd take the advice of a bunch of patients on the internet over your urologists device? Because if that's the case, you need to find a urologist that you trust. That's so important.

This is an amazing group. No question. The guys here are way more knowledgeable about PC than the average patient, and even more than many primary care physicians. And hearing our real life experiences is invaluable to someone like you. When I was first diagnosed, and even before my first biopsy, it's because of this group, that I knew the right questions to ask.

But you don't trust your Uro, if you'd take the advice here over him. I hope I misinterpreted your comment, and I apologize gladly if I did. If not, it's fine, but get another Uro's opinion.

I think I do need to clarify my belief in this group and of my dr. I have had spinal surgery and continue to have issues with vertebra fractures and disc bulges. I personally know people who on advice of their dr have had seriously bad outcomes. I am not saying drs are not trustworthy but they are fallible. I combine what drs say along with practical experience from members here to make an informed decision.

I belong to a large group of urologists and end up getting passed around as drs come and go over the years. The group is well respected but I think sometimes lacks a personal touch. I have proabably had seven drs over the last twenty years. Regardless of this I don't think its good to blindly follow any drs advice. There are options and differences of opinion. I heavily give weight to members here who have gone through much to help others and themselves. I am really thankful for you all.

I agree the only way to diagnose cancer is to have a biopsy. I was hoping a highly detailed mri would accomplish the same thing by allowing the dr to see what is going on before biopsy is performed. I have also read from drs who told their patients having a biopsy first creating scar tissue causes difficulties.

I am not trying to be difficult at all. The prostate is our Achilles heel!!!

I too was afraid of a Prostate Biopsy but decided to pay for an MRI and see if anything suspicious was found.

A lesion was in fact found so I had the biopsy.

This might have been a wise move seeing how only one core (of 13 cores) in the lesion had cancer. A blind biopsy may have missed any cancer.