PSA going up having biopsy

A Yooper - thanks very much for the feedback.

I have been advised by 2 different Urologists, one local, followed by another who is at NY Prysbeterian and is pretty well credentialed, that a biopsy would be advisable. That is why i am going to go thru with it, (along with the fact that my anxiety level over this is off the charts).

What is important to note is the reason they both gave -
1. a fairly steady rise in PSA over the last 3 tests, COMBINED WITH.....
2. the fact that my father had PC.

They both said that if i really wanted to wait 3 months and retake, it probably wouldn't do any damage, but like i said, i am so anxious over this that i want to get it over with. I understand that if it comes back negative, i will still have to be monitored. But on the off chance that it IS something, like one of those rare PC's that doesn't result in a high PSA, but is very aggressive, i really want the chance to get out in front of it.

I had 6 cores taken. Two were hardly noticeable. Two got my attention. And two felt like 110 volts were applied to the end of my penis. But I survived.

Thanks Yooper. i agree about the DRE prior to PSA. I knew it, but was not even aware of the fact that he did the DRE before i went to get the PSA done, until i got home, thats how shaken up i am about this whole affair, i am in a fog. I am assuming the doc is aware of it and is making adjustments, which is why he told me that even if it came in at around 2.6, it wouldn't concern him (vs the 2.2 prior PSA 3 weeks earlier).
I asked the doc about IV sedation, and he said he doesnt do it unless its a saturation biopsy. Instead, he gave me 2 .5 mg xanax pills to take the day of the procedure, tomorrow. I'll take it about 30 minutes before my appointment, doubt it will help much. I am pissed at myself in this regard. I had spoken to another doc who also said he doesnt give sedation only local lydocaine, so i assumed this was standard. Yesterday i found out that a good friend of mine did his biopsy with a local doc who is highly credentialed, who does put him to sleep a la colonospcopy. But at this point i feel its too late, i just want to get it over with, so I'll deal with the pain. The posts i've seen here regarding the pain level, haven't given me much comfort, but i appreciate them, because i would rather have the truth, not the BS that the doctors give you, about how its not that bad.

Thanks agiain for the feedback, encouragement and good wishes.

Hey Peter, might be best if he delays the meal. Remember they going to clean him out tonight, so what ever he eats ain't gonna stay there long. He'll be so hollow inside that the slightest breeze will make his butt whistle like a coke bottle in a hurricane.

Don't worry Pratoman, this is going to be a snap.

It's gonna be a breeze, talk to you on the other side !

Pratoman:

You may want to ask your uro. to prescribe a 5mg Valium. I took one before my two biopsies and it helped. I found the biopsies to be uncomfortable. I must admit I'm a big baby when it comes to needles... especially in my rectum !!! Don't want to alarm you ( really ). If it is uncomfortable, just remember it is a quick procedure - it will be over very soon.

And please remember this disease, when detected early is easily treated with excellent results for a huge majority of the guys diagnosed.

Good luck & Godspeed. Try to keep a sense of humor ...... if you have to have cancer, this is one of the best types to have to deal with. That may sound really strange, but it's true.

Never had a doctor tell me there was any need to move the residual blood from the prostate. However if you tell this to my wife I will deny I have ever even posted on this forum.

Let's have a moment of silence for our brother, Pratoman, who is being inducted into the Brotherhood of Worried Indignation as I type (assuming I have the right time zone and his doctor isn't running late.)

Ok, thanks.

Pratoman, by the time you read this it should all be behind you, so to speak.

Hope it went well. Now you get to wait for the results. This is also nerve wracking, although in a nicer way somehow.

After my biopsies I preferred a bit of privacy while I, um, expelled the blood from my prostate. I told my wife "Sorry dear, this ride is closed for maintenance" and sought seclusion and a bit of Kleenex to deal with my scarlet emissions. Call me old fashioned, but I see it as the man's job to be sympathetic when his wife stains the sheets from time to time, and not the other way around...

I can imagine the "Snap,crackle and pop" Pratoman is getting to enjoy. What memories.

My wife, unless she read up on the after effects, never knew about the new Martha Stewart designer color squirts. I did a lot of work in the lab to tone it down, and when it got a more mundane shade, and we engaged again in amorous battle, I did my best to contain and trap everything. It was one of those cases of the less she knew and saw, the better off she would be.

Pratoman, best wishes to you brother, and welcome to the club.

Mine had a little knocking sound in the middle of the Zzzzzzzzz. I think I clinched up and crimped the tube a bit.

PeterDisAbelard said...
Let's have a moment of silence for our brother, Pratoman, who is being inducted into the Brotherhood of Worried Indignation as I type (assuming I have the right time zone and his doctor isn't running late.)

LOL> Thank you bro. Its all over but the results. I posted my experience in a new thread titled "Biopsy Done - Wheww!!!"

MarcJ:

Congrats on your results ....... and I don't want to alarm you, but what does your pathology report say ?? You should have obtained a copy for your records. They usually say something like "no cancer detected". In other words, it doesn't say your prostate is "cancer free". Why ? Because a biopsy takes only a sample of the prostate. They could have missed an area of the prostate that did contain cancer.

I apologize if this fact is unsettling, but it's the truth.

And I know I'm not going to be making many friends by making this point, but I respect everyone on this forum so I must be truthful.

If your biopsy was negative, you probably don't have CaP, but the odds aren't 100% that you are cancer free.

For instance, after a RP, the entire gland is sent to pathology to confirm or update the previous biopsy report.

This whole PSA / biopsy thing is one slippery-slope, isn't it ??

Talk to your urologist.