Posted 1/30/2009 6:04 AM (GMT 0)
In another thread Kirby1223 said...
My husband's initial PSA was 363. His doctor said it was probably a lab error and his repeat 2 weeks later was 408. Everything I found on the internet indicated a high PSA is 4. I too am an RN, but I sure didn't know what to make of this. I suspected it was cancer but was hoping it was some sort of strange infectious process. I called my brother (an oncologist) and he told me that in his experience a PSA that high could only be metastatic prostate cancer. So in less than 3 hours I went from having a perfectly healthy 50 year old husband, to having a husband with a terminal illness. Within 5 days he had a biopsy (Gleason 9), a bone scan which showed mets to the pelvis, hips and ribs, but a clean abdomen and chest.
A week later we saw an oncologist at a large university hospital. He only sees patients with advanced prostate cancer so we felt we were in good hands. He told us right up front that he could not cure my husband, but he would aggressively treat him to try to give him as much good quality time as he could. He's been true to his word. It will be 4 years this April since this all started for us, and although his cancer at this point has become hormone refractory, he feels great and is loving every day of his life. His PSA has been climbing for the last year (most recent was 28.9) but he has had no progression on his bone scans and he has NO PAIN whatsoever.
His oncologist makes adjustments to his meds on every visit and we live three months at a time, but hey we're still living and enjoying our lives together. In Sept we celebrated out 25th wedding anniversary by hiking in the mountains out west, and he held up better than I did. He golfs, goes skiing, boating, built a garage and keeps up with our teenage sons. (This will be the first time in 3 years he won't be chaperoning a group of high school kids in Cancun for spring break).
I strongly urge you to keep positive and take it one step at a time. Hope for the best, but prepare yourself for bad news also. Because we're nurses, our husbands count on us to be the medical people as well as wives. You must be strong for him. Remember, the clinical picture is more important than Gleason's, PSA's or scans. Good Luck