..Hello I am new here..

..Hello Friends & Neighbors,
..I have been reading here for the last few weeks but waited to post till all the stats were in. I am a 42 y/o and have a history cause Dad had PCa at 58 y/o 11 years ago. All my numbers are higher now than his were back when. I am happily married to my high school sweetheart and our relations are healthy and fun. We have been blessed with 3 children 13 y/o girl, 13 y/o boy & a 8 y/o girl. Family is supportive and I am a lucky man for all I have witnessed in this life. I am not always happy but I am always thankful. I like this forum and appreciate the information and support system you all provide. Thanks for sharing..

November 8, 2012 PSA 6.6 DRE test found nodule

December 8, 2012 PSA 7.2 DRE test found nodule

January 11, 2013 Internal MRI, found 2 lesions (nodules)

March 28, 2013 BX 16 needles 9 positive for PCa, G score 2x 3plus3=6, 2x 4plus3=7, 1x 3plus4=7,
3x 4plus4=8, 1x 4plus5=9

April 9, 2013 CAT scan & Bone scan both negative metastasis

April 11, 2013 appointment to go over all results with Dr Lee Richstone Urologist "Smith Institute for Urology". Da Vinci Machine surgery scheduled for May 8th 2013..

..Hoping for nerve sparing at surgery, that is my hope for now..
..Nick.........

Post Edited (Appleseed) : 4/12/2013 8:19:29 PM (GMT-6)

Nick:

Welcome to the club; sorry you have to be here, but i'm glad you found this solid band of brothers (and spouses.) They've helped me tremendously.

Ask and search to get the information you need. As a fellow G9, i encourage you to get well educated -- it can be a tough battle; I hope yours isn't but prepare anyways. It looks like you caught it early with the clear scans -- that's great. Never let your guard down though -- stick with your hope, but have backup plans and go at it quickly.

I'd encourage you to reach out to a good Medical Oncologist and get them in your corner sooner rather than later. Just for opinions and covering the bases at this point.

You're in a good spot now ...

Regards,

Ray

My treatment plan: starve it, radiate it, poison it, then go at it with pliers and a blowtorch if needed. And keep praying all of the time.

Welcome aboard Appleseed!
Looks like you have some higher Gleason scores than the average guy.
I had DA Vinci 9 months ago. Amazing machine! Whoever does your surgery, be sure that they have done MANY surgeries before you, like 1,000. One of the main reason we use the DaVinci is for nerve sparing.
Be aware of the side effects of surgery. You will heal fast, so fast you won't believe it.

May 8th surgery date, that is the first anniversary of the day my uro told me "I am afraid you have prostate cancer". I will be thinking of you that day, will say a prayer they get it all.

Bill from Florida

..The surgeon will be Doctor Lee Richstone. He is noted to be a well established Da Vinci Urologist Surgeon with 1000 or so operations under his belt 400 on the prostrate, Doc also teaches technique to other surgeons. He is in his 40's and I do like the vibe I get from him in our dealings, respect & trust are there as of now. I did speak to a few different Nurses who highly recommend him as a Doctor and a Gentleman. Doctor Lee gave me 4 patient contacts to call as a reference of himself. It was given to me in casual conversation, not in a sales pitch. I called the first gentleman today and we had a good conversation, this man had a wonderful outcome post surgery. But our numbers are different, that G9 thing with so many positive BX is on my mind for Nerve Sparing.. Keeps me wondering??..

..Good information Ray, I am learning, Thank You. I will research this G9 Beast and hope that during surgery bx and after surgery tissue/organ bx the pathology for G9 is contained or as you put it caged and then thrown in the garbage where it belongs.. Wow rouge cells that run a muck, sounds a bit like the host....LOL!!..

SteelGuy said...
Nick:

The thing with G9 is the cancer cells are 'poorly differentiated' -- they look and act sorta wild. So they more readily can flit around, jump through barriers, and spread. [obviously, i'm not a medical professional]

There's a good chance since you caught it early (as shown by your scans and that all your cores aren't G9), it could still be 'organ confined' ... that's what you want. Then they can get it all in the surgery. If it's gotten out of that cage so to speak, then you've got to move fast to keep it from spreading.

I'd encourage you to talk with Medical Oncologist too. You're close enough to the city -- Memorial Sloan Kettering has fine docs. Depending on what the pathology report shows and depending on doctor they may want to put you on a quick adjuvant treatment to make sure.

I think you're in a good spot ... i just don't ever want to let this beast get the upper hand on me or my brothers.

Ray

Another under 50 guy here....not a G9, so can't help you in that front. But, less than one week post robotic surgery, I am feeling pretty good.

Hang in there and be aggressive!

Welcome welcome...this forum has been a god send to me. My husband is also 42..we too are jr high school sweethearts...we too have three young kids...and WE TOO are dealing with the beast..PC. My husband had open RP on Monday. So hopefully the beast is gone. We have not yet received the path report yet but we should this week. Thursday he gets his cath out..yeah. It was such a relief to feel the weight that I didn't realize was sooo heavy to actually be gone...hope the beast is gone. I too recommend the book i call the prostate bible..Dr. Walsh Surviving Prostate Cancer. It was very helpful. These guys and gals here at HW have been the best at helping me with my questions in fact we were discharged from the hospital before 24 hrs after surgery (they think 42 yr olds bounce back fast) but not that fast as I called the on call uro twice in three hours after discharge. He didn't seem to answer my questions. In a panic in the hotel with three kids didn't know what to do so I got out my computer and asked these guys/gals my concerns and within minutes I was getting my questions answered here on this forum not from the oncall nurses or doctors. I've asked questions about tx....how to tell the kids about my husbands pc....catheters.....even dry orgasms. There is a lot that the medical pros don't tell you and I was blessed to find my friends here. So ask anything and don't hesitate to contact me personally if you wish. Life so far on the other side is gr8! Good luck.

Nick, Quincy here. Something went wrong with my signature as I am also a G9. You ask hoe serious that is, well . . . I just celebrated my sixth year of HT with no chemo or Rad so for me and my metabolism everything is going well. I have a PSA of 3.5 and my onc told me last week that there are plenty of new Hormones out there after the Lupron and Casodex fail me. According to her, the longer I can stay free of chemo the better, but that is just one onc's opinion. With a PSA of 7.2 I believe,and only a couple of nodules found by MRI I would say that it's time for a biopsy to confirm the presence of cancer. If none is found then YAY!!! If it is found you,I believe, are in watch and wait mode. In other words, get some rad for those mets if you have them and then get a PSA every 2 months. You might also want to consider HT like lupron or one of the other hormones. The side effects are hell but you get used to them soon enough. The main thing is to develop a close relationship with your Oncologist. She/He is your main line to your condition.

When I was given a PSA of 511 and a G of 9 my prognosis was 1.5 to 3 years. I've doubled that by following Dr.s' orders. you should do the same. The least of pain and the best of luck . . Q

Appleseed -

Don't forget that your Gleason score is an estimate based on a small sample. The pathology after surgery could, and often does, yield something different. Sometimes it even goes down (see my signature). I think I would have been called a G9 going in to surgery. I consider myself a G7 coming out, and a member in good standing in the zero (PSA) club.

Best of luck with your surgery and recovery.

- UG

Appleseed,
I'm sorry that you had to join us at your young age. I'm a grandpa but even at age 68 I was devastated for a short period when I was diagnosed with "high risk" gleason 8 (4x4 with tertiary 5).
Unlike your initial "consult", mine was a disaster when the young resident urologist offered me "open" surgery or hormones..I had to ask about radiation but was informed that they didn't do that there..No, I didn't kill the messenger, but can understand how this scarred up "ol curmudgeon" might have scared her even though I had a white shirt on..
Seriously, when I was informed that the surgeon would take a larger margin and also remove the "nerves" that was a deal breaker for me..I read books to include Walsh's and read everything I could find in my HMO's physician's library..At that time (2010) everything that I read to include NCCN guidelines coincided with John T's take on the situation..Since I knew that I would have to have radiation anyway I decided to get it right the 1st time and go with IMRT and hormones...Maybe it's an age and ego thing, but that's what I did and never looked back...Everone has a story to tell and that's mine..I wish that I had Steelman for an oncologist with his pliers and blowtorch! John T is about as knowledgeable as they come for a layman--He even went to Holland for a test and not to smoke pot--so he says..
All the best to you

I was a G9, which I only found out after the pathology report. I also has several nodules but the Da Vinci sorted it for me and I am still in the zero club after 27 months.

Hi Nick,
Was Dr. Richstone your only opinion? If not, you might consider having another doctor or lab look at your slides. It doesn't hurt to get the opinion and most insurance is more than OK with it.

Good luck in your journey,
Paul

Was it the tooth fairy that said a gleason 7 can be as aggressive as a gl9 or just some more anecdotal evidence from new uninformed posters.