help with some positive feedback

Hi All, New here and as you all know I'd rather be surfing the web somewhere else...
I guess I'm posting to get some positive feedback and just open the conversation, I seem to be able to find the negative on the net all on my own. I have a wonderful wife (who always looks to the positive) and 2 children 6 and 11.

I'm 42 and just been hit with PCa. At each step of this journey I always seem to get some good news and some bad. It all started with a PSA of 6. (second one 7.4 a few days later) Family doctor couldn't really feel anything for sure with DRE. Urologist seemed to think he felt something. Few days later at the biopsy, Uro said my prostate looked very normal with the ultrasound. The results were not as good. 2 of 10 cores + on the left side only. Gleason of 7 (4+3). After much research decided on surgery. Changed urologists for one that specialized in nerve sparing.
Surgery went well on Sept 29th... nerves on right side aggressively spared and left side "a little less aggressive". Told everything looked good. Catheter for 15 days (very uncomfortable right from the start). 99.9% dry after about 10 days post catheter removal. ( i only use a pad for times I can't control my environment... just to save the embarrassment) Flow really slow though.
ED nothing yet.

Yesterday had a check up and received my pathology report. Gleason was upgraded to 9, margins clear, lymph nodes clear. No further treatments recommended at this time. Although Urologist said it was very unusual to have that report but in his opinion surgery was a success. Obvious many psa tests to follow.
Oh and how could I forget... urethra stretched in office to increase flow... and I get to do it daily at home for the next month. Catheter scaring. Not so much fun...

So to the point... I have none. I just feel like I should be sharing (or venting) somewhere. I've been reading posts on this site from the beginning.
I guess I've entered the wait and see game... and today I fell like I have been robbed a little from the positive things. They say time heals all wounds, I sure hope so.

Hi there,

Looks like they caught your cancer pretty early -- only two cores positive on the biopsy, and a clean path report. There is GREAT hope that they got it all! Looks like another PSA test success story in the making.

With a bit of luck, soon, all the pain, suffering and discomfort will be behind you and you will get back to surfing the things you like.

Nellie

I hope your recovery goes well. Just curious. How are your stretching your urethra?

Welcome to this forum that none of us wished to be on. Your pathology report is not bad. Clear margins is a good thing especially with Gleason 9. My biopsy was worse than yours, I had 2 nodes Gleason 8 and 9. My pathology report was Gleason 8 only. I did have EPE but had negative margins, in my case, both nerve bundles were removed. My last PSA at 32 months was .005. I tell you all of this to let you know that all is not bad and you can hopefully join the zero club and stay there.

tooyoung4this

No reason to feel guilty!

Bud

Don't feel guilty tooyoung, you're off to a good start, and that is valuable for others to see also.  Because of the nature of the site (and human nature) those of us who have a smoother path tend to post less which can skew the imressions of newbies who come.

Best wishes for your continued recovery and a lifetime of 0's.  Don't worry about the ED at this point.  The poor nerves have been banged around a lot and it can be a several year long journey before you hit your maximum recovery point.

 

welcome
Gleason 9 must have been a bit of an unpleasant moment, but clear margins and no evidence of spread are good.
And although it was a while back in your journey. I have a feeling that that early jump in your PSA from 6 to 7.4 might be something you can ignore if I have read bwetween the lines. PSA testing is something that invariably goes with a visit to a uro and a visit to a uro invariably means a DRE. I am guessing that there may have been a DRE in between those two tests, because when a doc sticks his finger up inside and pokes the prosatte it upsets it a bit and can make it make more PSA (Simialrly my PSA jumoped from 8.3 to 13.5 in about two weeks as there was a biopsy in between. (The uro wisely said they'd ignore the second PSA result, although it has still got stuck in my records)

Pads when you can't control the environment is an option you may well use for a while. (I'm still doing it, especially if I think I will get stuck in traffic!)

You say you have ED but do you have any sensations of anything down below, and have you been doing things to try and keep the blood flowing?

Hope things carry on the right way
Alf

Welcome Tooyoung!

I'm new here too. Even though I'm older (although I still feel 40 on the inside :) the only thing I can offer is to remember the goal - once diagnosed with PCa, we all deal with three things in this order:

First (and most important to most) schedule a treatment to attack/destroy the cancer
Second, work on incontinence issues
Third, work on ED issues

To me it sounds like you've already pretty much conquered number one AND are well on your way to number two! I'd say that's a great progress - it's about where I'm at as well.

Number three will take a little longer, but give yourself time to heal - those poor nerves just took a quite a beating!

Hang in there. Try to focus on the positive. Stop by often - lots of great folks and great information here.