just received diagnosis

Sorry to hear your diagnosis. There is a Gleason 7 (3+4) or (4+3). The (3+4) is supposedly less aggressive.
Without treatment you might live 10 years or more.
The decision is between surgery , radiation. (I had freezing.)
There are good books by Dr's Walsh, Sheldon Marks or Scardino.
The decision on treatment is difficult. Good luck with decision and treatment

Man there has just been a ton of newbies lately. Very sorry to hear about the DX. There are a ton of good guys here. Welcome. Take a deep breath and relax. It is a road nobody wants to go down but you don't have to go alone. Get educated and make an informed decision. We will be here every step of the way. Best regards, Todd

Heywood, welcome to the site - sorry you have to be here.

I know where you are - you'll be numb for awhile - all over the map. I promise you will feel better once you have done your research, talked to your doc about your options, and made a decision on your treatment path. In the meantime, there will be a lot of brooding and it will be hard to go through life in the usual way.

Remember the mantra - one day at a time. It applies equally well to PC. With a gleason 7, you probably have several different treatment options (but you will need to treat it), and with a relatively low PSA, you are likely catching this early on. Odds are very good that you will cure this and go on with your life. There is no rush to a treatment for your physical health, but for your mental health, it will be better to become educated and choose a path sooner than later. Probably the best book: "Surviving Prostate Cancer" by Patrick Walsh, it is sort of the bible for us PC survivors.

As a marine, you are a fighter - bring it to this just like any other fight. A positive attitude helps.
My prayers and good thoughts
Jeff

         i know the shock is real I am just 3weeks post surgery but if you have been sober 15 years you can beat this too . been down same road 19 years and counting ...the people here are very knowledgeable and helpful all the best and take your time make the right decision for yourself then kick its tail many prayers from ohio

Hi heywood. I was in about the same situation as your stats over four years ago. . Today I feel great and my psa is .04. Dont let it get you. It can be a long battle but you can win. As a bonus my natural erections are great as well as the continence.

Heywooddonknow,

Roller coaster is right. My journey (similar stats to yours) started about four months ago with a psa that had jumped by 1.0 over previous year, plus a slight ridge doc felt on digital check. But here I am today, standing tall, possibly cured--but unfortunately, we all have to monitor about quarterly for recurrence for the rest of our lives. **That** will have to be my mental adjustment going forward.

Yea, felt a little sorry for myself a few times. Then realized that there are 270,000 new U.S. cases every year. If you go to the mall or a grocery store, let your eyes scan over a group of 20 or 30 men of middle or later ages. 50% of the fifty-yr-olds, 60% of the sixty-yr-olds, etc., have prostate cancer and most don't even know it. You and I do know and have a chance to fix it for good before it gets out of control. And possibly never have to worry (much) rest of our lives. So that's another way to look at it.

Read as much as you can, the books others have already recommended, plus spend a lot of time digging through these web sites, even reading posts from last few years. You will get sick of this research (I did) but it will soon start to fit together. If you do this groundwork *before* your appointments, you will be better able to absorb what docs are saying and come up with your own questions. Be aware that you may not find any one doc that has broad knowledge of *all* treatment types. I found a lot of "tunnel vision" in docs. Radiologists think that's the way to go, surgeons won't know much about radiology, etc. Maybe that's because I was not in the very large metropolis, and never saw an official "medical oncologist".

If you are into statistics, visit www.nomograms.org and www.nomogram.org and run some numbers. Gives you some idea of how things stand, but, remember, each person is an individual, and this disease is really unpredictable -- can be in either a good or bad direction compared to the statistical norm.

I work on a base (I am civilian) but see guys like you all day, active, retired but back as civilian, etc. Some pretty hard bark there and resiliant as he**! I'll bet you will come through this just fine. My wife and I will pray you do. This site is a great group of knowledgeable survivors--just ask questions and they will see you get answers if it is at all possible.


Bobbie

heywooddonknow said...
I've noticed reading literaure that most implant canidates are prefered to be a Gleason 6, my test are a 7 at a 4+3 is there a huge diffrence between 6 to 7. ,that this less invasive procedure is wishfull thinking?

There is also a difference between a G7 that is 3+4 vs 4+3. The clinical stage also plays a roll. Is the cancer contained in the prostate? To many variables for me to say. But I think all options are open to you right now - I can't think of anything that would automatically rule out any treatment option at this point. I did beam radiation at G7 and the docs gave me very good odds with that.

In your place I'd just make a giant list of questions like that and take it to the appointment. A lot of guys in your place opt for surgery but that isn't only choice.

The good thing now is that you've got plenty of time to make a good choice for you. First work on getting over the shock and learn the facts about your case. Don't let anyone push you into a treatment until your brain and gut agree it's the right thing to do.

I think you'll do just fine. and if you really think one treatment is better for you than another find out all you can.

When I went to my appointment after the biopsy I found that after discussing my case and medical history that surgery was quickly eliminated - I don't tolerate general antistatic well and the risk of surgery compared to other options wasn't worth it. It was strange to have a surgeon telling me the she thought radiation would be a better option for me. Now the weird thing to me is that I have a brother that also has PC and he went the surgery route and is doing just fine.

all the best.

I'll keep mine short and to the point nothing nobody else hasn't said. Take your time do some reading. Most of all take someone else with you to your appointments because the the Dr will say something that will through you off base and everything he says after that will be WA WA WA WA WA WA just like in Charlie Brown cartoons and you need someone to tell you later what he/she said. I was a Gleason 7 your most likely going to be OK.  I'm a year and a half out no leakage and no ED problems and testing Zeros.

Post Edited (p_elliott) : 5/20/2012 12:29:47 AM (GMT-6)

Hay,
Dr Grimm is the best around so you are in excellent hands. There is no problem with doing seeds with a G7; I'm over 3 years out with no side effects and a psa of .1. I lived next to the Seal Beach Weapons station for 20 years in Hunting Harbour, and kept my RV stored there. What a great place to spend your service time.
JohnT