Gleason score of 8

Hi there,

Can you give us any additional information -- such as his PSA (current and, if available, previous one) and the staging?

A Gleason 8 is a pretty aggressive form of prostate cancer, but the other numbers (if you can give them to us) will give us more insight on what his situation is.

Hard to say if the eye & throat problems are connected. Could be unrelated issues.

Since your dad would seem to otherwise be very fit and aggressively competitive, these attributes will indeed help him in this battle. His physical strength and iron will are things that will keep him in a very good frame of mind.

If the PC has not spread -- and possibly even if it has -- there are many, many effective ways of treating it these days.

So try to hang in there and wait until the other results come in. If you'd like, please share them with us, along with the other info I mentioned up above.

Good luck to him!
Chuck

July 2011 local PSA lab reading 6.41 (from 4.1 in 2009). Mayo Clinic PSA Sept. 2011 was 5.7.
Local urologist DRE revealed significant BPH, but no lumps.
PCa Dx Aug. 2011 at age of 61.
Biopsy revealed adenocarcinoma in 3 of 20 cores (one 5%, two 20%). T2C.
Gleason score 3+3=6.
CT of abdomen, bone scan both negative.
DaVinci prostatectomy 11/1/11 at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN), nerve sparing, age 62.
My surgeon was Dr. Matthew Tollefson, who I highly recommend.
Final pathology shows tumor confined to prostate.
5 lymph nodes, seminal vesicles, extraprostatic soft tissue all negative.
1.0 x 0.6 x 0.6 cm mass involving right posterior inferior,
right posterior apex & left mid posterior prostate. Right
posterior apex margin involved by tumor over a 0.2 cm length, doctor says this is insignificant.
Prostate 98.3 grams, tumor 2 grams. Prostate size 5.0 x 4.7 x 4.5 cm.
Catheter out in 7 days. No incontinence, occasional minor dripping.
First post-op exam 2/13/12, PSA <0.1.
Only semi-erections so far, with continued improvement.

Hello Mant01, Sorry to hear about your dad's problems and your worries. I am pleased to be able to tell you that a Gleason score of 8 doesn't equal a five year life expectancy. My Gleason score is 9 and I plan to be around and making trouble for a long, long time.

From what little you've told us (which I realize is probably all you know) your dad has quite a bit of high-risk cancer. He will definitely need treatment. The tests they are doing now are trying to decide which sort of treatment is best. Because he is young and mostly healthy (aside from the throat thing) the doctors will look first for "curative" treatments -- to get rid of the cancer altogether. There are a number of options (Surgery, different kinds of radiation). They all have side effects that tend to suck but they mostly work fairly well depending on where the cancer is and how far it has spread. If they decide that the cancer is too advanced to attempt a "cure" don't freak out. Cancer that can't be cured can usually be managed so that the patient lives with it with few or minor symptoms until he dies of something else -- even with a Gleason score of 8.

Good luck to your dad. Calm down. He'll be OK-ish.

Keep us posted as you find out more.

I can't say it better than PeterDA just did above - and will add my best wishes to you and your Pops.

Sorry to hear about your dad.
There are many men here that are doing well with Gleason 8 and 9.
You will probably have more post later.
Your dad sounds otherwise very healthy so that will help a lot.
Good luck, give him a hug and tell him he'll be fine.

Bill

As others have said without more info it's unknown what treatment will follow. I'm his age with gleason 8-9's but it wasn't caught in time for possible curative surgery. I hope the available treatments keep me going for years. His finess will come in handy if he starts HT. Please followup with more info when possible.