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Posted 1/30/2009 9:41 PM (GMT 0)
In another thread Waterloo said,

i have been reading i have not come across any one with a rising psa after one year of surgery to remove my hubby prostate his psa test have almost double every three month small number's ,started at .o5,.09.16 and now .24 local small town doc want to wait and test in another 3 month.going monday to tell him no more waiting we want to take the next step,but what is the next step i have been reading every site that has any prostate info on it .this site is great.i will keep reading.im not to good at this my spelling is not so good .gleason before surgery in sept 06 was 3+4=7 after 4+3 =7 psa after surgery o.oo4.

thanks for reading
Posted 1/30/2009 9:47 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Waterloo,
Waterloo, Iowa by chance? Welcome to HealingWell. This site is one of the very best for compassionate care and support. I am a 4+3 after surgery myself, and I had a few additional issues to contend with as well. But I am back at undetectable PSA's and there is no reason to believe that your husband can't get there also. It sounds like some radiation may be next... Stay with us, and we will be happy to help.

Tony
Posted 1/30/2009 9:51 PM (GMT 0)
Welcome, waterloo, hope you can find what you are loooking for. Don't worry about eh spelling, etc. It's fine and we are all in this together anyway......I'm sure several people with much more experience with rising psa's after surgery will be along shortly.
Posted 1/30/2009 9:58 PM (GMT 0)

 hard to type right now can't see through the tears thanks so much it's nice to know someone is out there hubby is not talking to much  we have been togther for almost 30 years and this has to be the worse thing yet.but we will get through it.

 thanks

waterloo in small town bc 

Posted 1/30/2009 10:02 PM (GMT 0)
Waterloo, welcome to our little corner of paradise, sorry you need to be here, but so glad you found us. It would help to know a little more about your husbands statistics, perhaps you could make a signature like you see others here with. I was gleason 4+3 before surgery, and 3+4 after, which most feel is the better combination of a gleason 7. Was your husbands post surgery pathology report "clean", or did it indicate possible future problems? After surgery, the normal recourse would be radiation, but not enough facts to know that at this point.

This is a good place to be. Good for information, for support, to help ease your pain and fears, we are here for you.

David in SC
Posted 1/30/2009 10:09 PM (GMT 0)
Information and knowledge is your friend and power, from my own bizarre experiences in finding doctors and treatments and information (jungle)in treating PCa, I prefer the empowered patient concept, learn all you can, question everything, question any doc, don't be afraid to even look outside the box (with an open mind), don't be afraid to fire a doc if you have any reasons (with insurance you have choices). Always look at anything just for the heck of it, know that docs can be biased in their approach or thinking, which could therefore be skewed to their own protocol or even possible agenda. In others if you aren't happy with any particular doc, leave and find another....it is your disease to fight...not his.

Or you can sit back, even thought Joe expert is on your case and hope that all is perfect in his world for you and it might be, but keep awake on your treatments. Realize that the experts disagree on PCa about as much as we patients do too. It is imperfect science.
Posted 1/30/2009 10:38 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Waterloo and welcome to the best site on the net that nobody wants to join.
If you look at my signature you will see that I too had an increase in PSA after my RRP. It went up slowly after about 18 month. After much research and reading in this forum, I decided that my best chance of dealing with this increase is early EBRT (electron beam radiation therapy). I also read and was advised by my Uro that the earlier the radiation treatment is started the better the chance of killing the cancer. I had my treatment late last year and the PSA after about 6 weeks went from .1 to .05.
Side effects were minimal and the result looks good thus far. I'm not sure if waiting to long with your numbers is a good idea.
Whatever you decide, I wish you the very best in the years to come.

Magaboo
Posted 1/30/2009 10:41 PM (GMT 0)
Magaboo, what kind of side affects did you have from the salvage RT?
Posted 1/30/2009 10:56 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Purgatory,

Side effects were fairly minimal for the first few weeks, but during the last couple of week I had some anal pain and some minor bleeding. Also had to get up 3-4 times during the night in the last week or so. All these side effects corrected themselves after about 2 weeks. I never had any diarrhea or fatigue.
Wishing you all the best.

Magaboo
Posted 1/30/2009 10:59 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Waterloo,

I understand the tears.

The rise in PSA you are posting begining so close to the surgery indicate that another local definitive treatment may arrest the progression. The treatment options would range from another surgery if for instance the PCa (prostate cancer) is in seminal vessicles or other structures left behind (in a robotic surgery there is a lot of stuff left that used to be removed in the open anatomical approach) (which did he have). Cryo (freezing) Radiation, and some things that are not typical like HIFU. There is a clinical trial recruiting for HIFU (high intensity focused ultrasound) for persons with a recurrence of PSA for which your husband might qualify. I will place a link.

Don't give up, this PSA rise is not great nor is it fast, there may still be a good local treatment option.

Very best. Scott

www.internationalhifu.com/ (edited to add html code for link..JC

Post Edited By Moderator (James C.) : 1/30/2009 4:47:34 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/31/2009 12:29 AM (GMT 0)
great info everyone

husband's info: he is 56 years of age
3 out of 8 cores positive
contained in the capsular
clear margin.
all other info is in a box somewhere,we move and have not been able to find it yet.
i did not know what to use as a name so waterloo is the name on hubby's tool box sitting in front of me
thanks
dee in b.c.
Posted 1/31/2009 12:55 AM (GMT 0)
Waterloo, is that b.c. as in beautiful british columbia? Many long years ago, my wife and I, pre-children days, were planining on moving to Prince George. Didn't ever happen, long story. lol. sounds like a pretty good pathology report from what you stated

magaboo - thanks for the info, sounds like you did pretty well on the side affects from the salvage radiation. glad you are doing well
Posted 1/31/2009 12:55 AM (GMT 0)
If your husband had a clear margin after surgery you have have to assume that the psa rise may be systemic. A prostate oncologist would be a wise choice to get a 2nd opinion from. You really need to determine where the cancer is before you can come up with a plan to treat it.
MRIS or color doppler could be used to scan the prostate bed. You can't decide on radiation or salvage HIFU untill you know what you are dealing with and where it is.
JohnT
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