is there truth to the addage if it can be felt it may have escaped?

I have read in many places that significant findings on DRE indicate an advanced disease?
and then not curable but still some treatments are available.
But I am sure the gleason score and stage and bone scan and CT scan and MRI
will give a more complete picture of the treatment options? They say psa tests and finding the strawberry seed has really nipped the PC in the bud. The old way before PSA was the doctor felt something, and many treatments were too late. You know as an aside, I have had regular psa tests and exams, but what bout 50,000,000 men who have not had a psa or a dre. I know lots!!!! Are their enuf urologists to serve all men over 50?????????
I also have friends with negative biosies that have given up do to the pain of the biopsy! no repeat for them. what a mess this is! every thing I read has a contradiction! there is NO better treatment defined. My biopsy in 5 days uner a general, yippeee no pain till later?

I had "firmness" on DRE. Had not escaped.

Take a breath...you are going to have a heart attack...I know the anxiety is difficult.....

Step away from the computer. If you google anything you'll get a fix of truth, lies, and total garbage no matter what the subject. Google is not always your friend.

The biopsy will give you information that will help you make a rational decision.

And no, there is no defined treatment. I thought every one wanted options?

 

My PSA never got above 1.3 .... But the nodules that were felt warranted a biopsy. Gleason 6.

Four and a ½ years later PSA is still <.01.

thank you guys, this site is great! and hearing from the guys that are going through it is much better then any google result. Boy this business is big bucks! do the biopsies get paid by the core or the job? I'm glad for a general anestesia! I am seeing not many guys with that option. But I need a driver and a single guy buggen a neighbor for a 2 hour hospital drive is quite the hastle. But my neighbor is a good guy. I also had a driver for my leg surgery (vericose). Man they won't let ya outta there? I guess you be a drunk???
they are liable for getting you drunk?

My biopsy was charged as a procedure (office visit, prep, etc) and then an add-on by the number of cores. Then Bostwick (the pathology lab) billed by the number of cores.

As you can imagine, this is why I earlier suggested you verify everything with your insurance company. Supposedly mine was pre-approved. Insurance paid the procedure costs, but only 6 cores, so I was left with 6 out of pocket at retail. The uro eventually wrote off the 6 because he was in network, and Bostwick (not in network) wrote them off after I talked at length to a lady at the office who had also gone through cancer in the family. I don't know if it was Bostwick policy, or just a courtesy for me. I learned a lot with that experience. Verify everything. Ask for help when you need it, and appreciate it if you get it. Insurance is a business.

I got a local, drove myself (since they did not give me anything mind-numbing), cleaned up, and went back to the office. I was given Levaquin for a couple of days to fend off infection.

Forgot to answer the original question.

My initial alarm was an elevated PSA and low free-PSA from blood work.

My DRE was "unusual". The uro didn't find anything specific, but was not happy with the overall feel, so added to the PSA input, we went to biopsy. He did say that if my PSA had been normal, he might not have asked for a biopsy.

After surgery the path report showed multiple extra-prostatic extensions, and I had lots of negative margins. The trick is that they were on the side of the prostate that the DRE can't feel.

So The DRE is just like the PSA in the sense that it can tell us there are possible problems, but it can't tell us that there are no problems.

FWIW, I'd be much more nervous about general anesthesia than just doing the biopsy without.

I felt absolutely nothing during my biopsy, just heard the clicks. And no soreness afterward. Piece of cake. And I had a positive DRE, but from all indications it was contained. Makes me wonder what it would have been like 5 years down the road had there been no PSA test to indicate something was going on.