Scheduling/choosing surgery

As a Gleason 7, you could take several months to decide and not have any bad side affects.

goatts, you have some time before you have to go after it. Slow down, take a few deep breaths, and get yourself into the best facility you can find in your area. There are top end docs all over, you just have to find them.

Getting a second opinion on your slides is standard practice, as are referrals to specialists. I was told by the guys here at the start to always remember that Urologists are surgeons, so they know the surgical options. Radiation Oncologists do radiation, so they know those options.

What I found was that when I met with the right person, I knew it in my gut that he was who I wanted to lead my team. It's hard to explain, but it's real.

I had robotic surgery on Feb 17, and I'm going back to work tomorrow (3 weeks less 1 day). My only restriction is no lifting over 15 lbs. If you work out of your home, you might find that you're able to start doing useful stuff as soon as you're off the narcotics. I took my last percocet 48 hours after surgery ended.

You have options and you have (some) time. Use it well. Whatever you decide (surgery or radiation), it has to be the right decision, for you. And, when you make it, you'll know you did it right because you'll feel relief.

Hello Tom,
I am definitely a newbie here since having robotic surgery done on 2/23/15. I haven't put together my signature yet but when I got my first PSA in April 2013 it was 5.4 and biopsy was 4 positive modules out of 12. The doctors wanted to do the radiation seeds at that time. My wife suggested we get a second opinion so we drove from the coast up I-40 150 miles or so and went to a major cancer center here. The appointment was scheduled for three months later and the PSA then was 6.9 and the biopsy was basically the same. My options then were, watchful waiting, radiation or surgery. I didn't know that much about the cancer at that point and figured that the dos knew better than I. So, we chose watchful waiting. I stayed on the watchful waiting because my numbers never went to much higher than the 6.9. But the last time I got the PSA in November 2014 was 7.2. This alarmed the doctors because I was told that 6 was our magic number and if the numbers go higher than that, then seeds are out of the question. My last biopsy was 7 with 4+3. I decided to have the surgery at our meeting in December of 2014 and finally having it done on 2/23/15. My PSA numbers didn't show anything to aggressive but once I was opened up the cancer covered half my prostate and turned out to be a very aggressive cancer. Luckily, no lymph nodes were infected (out of eight taken) and no infection in my seminal gland. I was told that if I had waited six more months that it would have been too late to do anything. I feel good about my decision and had a very good surgeon who made very clear what was going to happen before during and after. I am set to go back to work this week, after two weeks out (only because it is a new job, but if I had some longevity I would be out another week) mostly because of the dreadful leaking when I am walking. I have been told that it will subside sometime soon, but not soon enough. I am 56 years old and had the surgery to prolong my life a little longer. Please excuse me for rambling on as I don't believe I have really helped you but just mostly told my story. Hopefully, next time I will be able to make more sense of it.

Jane - most can keep working while doing beam radiation. The only problem is scheduling. I managed to get a daily time slot before my normal work day. Except for about 3 days towards the end, I worked through it all. Fatigue can get some down, but not all.
Andrew

Tom,
My stats are very similar to yours, my bone scan revealed several places with bone metastasis. Praying that yours does no. My best advice is to find to a Major Cancer Center and discuss your options with a "team" of Cancer Oncologist. Try to find one that speaks to you and ones you feel that you can trust. Even with that still be your own best advocate. That's why I like this site so much. Advocates/educators like Tall Allen gave you excellent advise, he is one I often look to for advice. The most important thing I think to remember is to not get discouraged. My PSA was 71 and three years later, now with treatment. it is undetectable and I am "in remission". That is not to say the cancer is gone, there are still a multitude of cancer cells laying at bay, waiting for a chance to grow. My hope is for a "durable remission' and knowledge that there are many promising drug combinations in the works to fight this battle, to deny those C cells the opportunity.

Your earlier post about debulking-from what I have read about is not the highly recommended if it has spread. But then no treatment is sure fire for all cases. I had considered it. I don't have the full knowledge to really make a statement about that in any detail. I defer to others. When I was first diagnosed with the myriad of emotions about everything, I was for an all out aggressive treatment plan. But it turned out that the step by step-" best standard practices" is what my Insurance covers, so here I am. As mentioned by others Insurance at this point is essential, hopefully you have a good carrier.

One more piece of advice, Stay positive, educate yourself, from reliable sources.Don't overthink or fear or worry too much. Just keep the faith that you still have many. many more years of a normal and valued life ahead of you. We at HW will be in touch and following your post,
Dan in So Cal.