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Posted 6/3/2018 10:39 PM (GMT 0)
So after seeing the surgeon and doing tons of research and thankful for this forum. I have entered in the AS program at Mayo Clinic. They are doing a Prostate MRI, which Im not sure what that entails but they want to confirm what we already know and PSA every 6 months and Biopsy yearly. Im sure the MRI is another entry in my backside and cant wait to have a gap from someone sticking something up my ass.

With my results, 3.8 PSA, 2 out of 12 cores positive, less then 10% of the prostate I dont see what at 43 I should risk such a invasive surgery with DaVinci and risk my sexual functions and urinary function at 43 years old.

Thank You To all that helped with advice.. Appreciate. N I will keep people updated as I progress.
Posted 6/3/2018 10:46 PM (GMT 0)
That's great! Here's to many, many years on AS.

Andrew
Posted 6/3/2018 11:01 PM (GMT 0)
Congrats on your decision. Definitely the right one for you.
Posted 6/3/2018 11:02 PM (GMT 0)
Congrats on making a decision. The common wisdom used to be that AS didn't make sense for younger guys, but for the reasons you mentioned, I sorta think it's even *more* appropriate for younger guys.
Posted 6/3/2018 11:07 PM (GMT 0)
Great decision, jmurph! Keep in touch.
Posted 6/4/2018 1:56 PM (GMT 0)
Murph, great decision and good luck. Please let us know how it goes. Also hope you will stick around to help new guys who are in a panic mode about treatment. Your experience and decision making process can be educational to them.

Jim
Posted 6/5/2018 3:29 AM (GMT 0)
Ill be here. I read a lot of these posts... Just good information..
Posted 6/5/2018 3:51 PM (GMT 0)
Good for you JMurph;

That feels like the right decision for you at this point in time. You can always do something if the situation changes.

Cheers!

Rob
Posted 6/5/2018 4:30 PM (GMT 0)
Great decision to go with AS.
You will enjoy life free of SE while being closely monitored.
If anything changes while on AS you won’t miss your window of opportunity.
Wish you many years of AS.

MK
Posted 6/5/2018 11:59 PM (GMT 0)
Good for you, Murph. With a bit of luck, your butt will only suffer one more invasion, and AS will continue for decades. Stay the course.
Posted 6/7/2018 12:09 AM (GMT 0)
So Im a bit confused. Had my MRI which was another awesome experience. EndoCoil MRI.

They called with the results.. The MRI DID NOT PICK UP THE CANCER ON THE SCAN... So a urologist randomly popping biopsies finds 2 out of 12 needles in a haystack and the Mayo Clinic/MRI EndoCoil doesnt see anything??

Im beyond confused.
Posted 6/7/2018 1:19 AM (GMT 0)
That sounds good to me. Who wants an ugly tumor to show?
Posted 6/7/2018 1:28 AM (GMT 0)
Murph...as Gildna Radner said " there's always something "
Posted 10/26/2018 9:30 PM (GMT 0)
Had my 5 month PSA check under AS.... It went from 3.9 to 2.5 So Im confused how a G6 cancer, in AS, no treatment the PSA dropped? Dr seemed very pleased.
Posted 10/26/2018 9:37 PM (GMT 0)
You may have has some prostatitis going on or just some healing post biopsy (both can cause PSA to rise). Since you still have a prostate, there will be some variability in the PSA number.

and you should be happy too - good that it didn't go up.

Andrew
Posted 10/26/2018 11:10 PM (GMT 0)
Glad to hear about the drop. Sometimes in life it doesn’t pay to wonder how it happened when you can be just be happy it did happen. Maybe do something fun this weekend.
Posted 10/31/2018 1:59 AM (GMT 0)

Jmurph said...
So Im a bit confused. Had my MRI which was another awesome experience. EndoCoil MRI.

They called with the results.. The MRI DID NOT PICK UP THE CANCER ON THE SCAN... So a urologist randomly popping biopsies finds 2 out of 12 needles in a haystack and the Mayo Clinic/MRI EndoCoil doesnt see anything??

Im beyond confused.

For proponents of the advanced MRI before biopsy (I am one), this is one of the positive features. The 3T multi-parametric MRI, analyzed by an expert practitioner, reveals subtle differences in cell structure and other characteristics. It is known to NOT reveal typical Gleason 3+3 occurrences because the cell differentiation from normal cells is not sufficiently great. This is viewed as a good thing (revealing only the conditions that require action).

There are some people who propose that Gleason 3+3 should no longer be referred to as cancer. Some would say that you had an unnecessary biopsy.
Posted 10/31/2018 2:15 AM (GMT 0)

Jmurph said...
Had my 5 month PSA check under AS.... It went from 3.9 to 2.5 So Im confused how a G6 cancer, in AS, no treatment the PSA dropped? Dr seemed very pleased.

There are other sources of elevated PSA besides prostate cancer.

In addition, there are multiple types of equipment used for PSA sample analysis. It is known that there can be 20% variation between the PSA levels that different equipment types will report on the same blood sample.

To obtain the most accurate reading of PSA level progression, you must insure that all PSA analysis is done at the same place on the same equipment.
Posted 10/31/2018 1:30 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, but don't forget the point that Andrew made. Since JMurph still has a prostate, he will generate PSA. Over time, absent any growing cancer, PSA will go up and down. This is normal and does not indicate worsening cancer. An upward trend, however, would indicate greater activity, perhaps sparking additional evaluation or even treatment. To rush to an MRI now may be premature, unless a PSA trend presents itself. Simple PSA monitoring may be sufficient until or unless that upward trend presents.
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