Welcome new member "flyingoldfarmer"

I missed him too.  Welcome, now would be a good time to make a seperate post introducing yourself to us...

SUMMARY OF MY PROSTATE CANCER BATTLE

I am a white male that was 53 years old in 2007 with diabetes as my main health concern. I keep the diabetes well controlled with an insulin pump and pills.

First of all, I was watching my psa because of my family history. My father and uncle had prostate cancer. They were treated with hormones, and radiation, hormones respectively. They are both still alive and going strong. However neither had a real aggressive cancer and their psa was in the 7 range.

In 2007 my doctor had a psa test on my routine physical. It came back 2.3ng/ml. Not good, but it proved it would definitely need watching.

In October, 2007 another psa test was ran. My psa had climbed to 3.6. My doctor referred me to an urologist for further testing. In December 2007 we did a biopsy. It came back negative. So we took a wait and see attitude.

Towards the end of 2008 my psa had risen to 16.8. We scheduled another biopsy. Results were negative again. I took antibiotics for a while and then came off of them and gave my body time to level out again.

The next psa in early 2009 came back at 31. My doctor recommended a TURP (trans urethal resection of the prostate). The TURP procedure found the cancer on April 13th. It was in a rare place that the needle biopsies were not reaching. It was inside, next to the urethra. The Gleason score was a 9. It was in 5 of 16 chips. At the same time the doctor did a regular biopsy. That part was still negative. After the TURP the catheter was removed in a few days. It was the most painful experience that I had ever encountered although the pain lasted only a few minutes. Now I knew I had an aggressive cancer and I was scared to death. The doctor scheduled a bone scan for April 24th and a Cat scan for April 28th. Both came back negative and did not show any metastasis. Finally a little relief. I scheduled a RRP and continued my research. RCOG in Georgia looked good and proton radiation at Loma Linda in California looked good. But I decided to stay with the surgery and whatever follow-up is needed. I did start on some holistic dieting and vitamins to hopefully slow the cancer’s growth or to prevent it from spreading. I started on cottage cheese/flaxseed oil daily and LycoPom, tart cherry juice, saw palmetto berries, flor essence tea, vitamin c, vitamin e, folic acid, b6, selenium, coenzyme Q10, ginger and walnuts.

My surgery was performed on May 27th, 2009. All went well according to the doctor. He stated that the lymph nodes felt good. This gave me a little hope while I waited on the pathology during my healing (with another catheter). A few days later the doctor’s office called and said that the pathology on the lymph nodes were clear. The remaining cancer found in the prostate was a Gleason 7. He said that was the first time he had ever seen that happen. Makes me wonder if my holistic approach was working. Still I feel better knowing the cancer was cut out. I went back for my catheter removal. It was not as painful as my first removal was. Not to say it didn’t hurt, just not as bad. I do have pain in my testicles and on my rear end. I can’t sit or stand for to long and getting up and down is painful. I realize (hope) this is temporary. I have a small amount of leakage, when straining or moving too much. I am ok at night except still getting up 5 or 6 times to go to the bathroom. I think I will have this under control soon. I don’t know about ED yet.
I have my next appointment scheduled 7/16/09. I will go by and have my blood drawn prior to my meeting. Hoping and praying that things are good.
I would like to comment that this is a great site with so much knowledge and nice people.
Thanks so much.

Greetings, OldFlyingFarmer.  Sorry you have to be here but sounds as if you are doing well.  I told my doc shortly after surgery that I was surprised that I was still getting up 3 or 4 times a night to go to the bathroom and he prescribed Detrol LA which has helped.  I still get up usually one time and very rarely 2 times so it has helped.  You might ask your doc about that possibility.  Glad you are doing well and look forward to hearing about your followup.  David