Scared but still standing

My husbands Stats:

59 years old
Gleason 7 (3+4) on biopsy 04/11
RP 06/11
One positive margin
- seminal vesicles
- capsule
First post RP PSA 0.4
Repeated 3 wks later 0.26
SRT started 11/11 ended 01/12 IMRT
First post SRT PSA done 04/06 0.31

We are very upset that it hasn't done anything. My husbands surgery was tricky in that his gland was "stuck" to the bowel from adhesions and scar tissue following years of repeated prostatitis. The plan now is to wait..retest in 6 months. Can you all share your experience with post SRT PSA's. Could his still go down in the future? I am very scared as it has been present ever since surgery. I kept thinking some tissue was left behind that was benign. Appreciate hearing from any of you. You helped me a lot before. Thank you all.

Thank you Bud as mine are with all of you.

Welcome to HW. Glad you found us.

One of the possibilities is that based on your description of the prostate being rough to get out, is that you still have some residual prostate tissue causing the PSA elevation.

For now, it would be my opinion that you need to give the radiation some time to work.

Good luck, and keep checking in with us.

With SRT, there should not be any rises at all. Period. It's not like when you have RT as a primary treatment, where there can be a bounce effect. With most men after SRT, there is an immediate small drop, then if it worked, it will slowly decrease even more over time. I had SRT, I had one drop, then a series of increases, which quickly determined it was a failure. Hope things go well for your husband, another PSA reading or two should tell if it worked or not.

David in SC

Thank you Michael and all others who responded. Up at 3am trying to figure out how to LIVE my life with this and be supportive to my husband.

Ssje, as another wife I can say that there is no textbook way to deal with this. How to deal with it is so very dependent on the individual, but this is what I learnt
1. Information helps. Facts may be scary but a lot less scary than confusion and uncertainty. Reading a lot on the disease and getting second and third opinions is important. In your case getting the right prostate oncologist would be key I think.
2. Looking after yourself is important. You are trying to look after your husbands physical and mental health. You need to speak to a friend, a counsellor, your church to reduce the burden on you. You need to do this so that you can support your husband.
3. There is no timetable. I had a lot of 3am moments. Some nights I had tears flow down my cheeks for much of the night. I woke up with a wet pillow. Eventually it became the new reality and things became a little easier. I think your mind simply has to work through it all.

Hope this helps,
An

This resonates strongly with me. My husband was diagnosed in 2002 and cancer was absolutely terrifying. I don't say it is less so but perhaps we are more adjusted to our "new nomal". I agree with what has been said above, esp about having information.
I try really hard to not worry until I have more information. Not the easiest route to take but necessary in order to be the support I want to be with my husband.
In the early days of this disease, I felt I would lose him any second! Now suddenly it is 10 years later. I don't love this new normal but the panic of the early days is mostly gone. I say mostly because I still do react to the rising PSA.
I am rambling but I wanted to give you my support and to all the wives here.