What Can I Expect ....

Greetings All You Warriors

Hi ... my name is Jerry. I'm 53 (nearly 54) and I live in Sydney Australia. I have a wife, three kids and one grandchild (so far) who was born only about five months ago.

I have been lurking around these forums for a few weeks now reading all the different posts and stories and I am truly amazed. I get a real sense of a bond of brotherhood (and sisters) here. All the advice, support and encouragement that you all give each other is very inspiring. So good to see :-D

Anyway the reason I have decided to leap in a create a thread is that I am due to visit a Uro for the first time next Monday and I am very nervous.

The reason for my visit is that I have been showing dark brown in my semen which I assume is blood. This has been going on and off for some time now but it would only stay a week or so an then it would clear up for a time but is always dark brown.
I also went and saw a doctor some time before this started happening regarding going to the toilet to urinate up to 7 times a night. I also have a weak and hesitant stream. From this the doctor said it was enlarged prostate and placed me on Minipress which helps to sleep to a point where I only need to get up on some nights to urinate once. Sometimes none at all.
Lately i have also been getting lower back pain and pain in my hips and legs. Mind you I do have degenerative bone disease (Osteo) in the lower five discs of my back so I am hoping it is just that and the recent evidence of pain is just a matter of bad timing. The pain has been improving with Chiro treatments. (ALP in blood test was in range)

The doctor who put me on to the Uro had me go through a scrotum scan (all clear), a renal ultrasound (the wand and gel type) where they were alerted to no issues (prostate normal size - not enlarged), urine test (all clear - no blood) and also blood tests including PSA.
The blood test came back quite normal except for slight elevation in Glucose and Cholesterol.

Please view my PSA history below:
20.12.2011 - 0.66 ug/L
17.08.2012 - 0.73 ug/L
19.03.2013 - 0.77 ug/L
02.12.2013 - 0.65 ug/L
10.09.2014 - 0.56 ug/L
09.03.2016 - 0.66 ug/L
08.09.2017 - 0.81 ug/L

Now my question to you most knowledgeable men and women is that after looking at what I have posted what can I expect from my first visit to the Uro on Monday.

I am so nervous it's crazy. I'm getting to a point of depression where I go to bed some times as soon as I get home from work, trouble sleeping, not wanting to go out or do anything.

I guess I am trying to prepare myself for anything the specialist will tell me and if there is anything in particular I should be looking out for.

With this i thank you all for your time and consideration and for any information and posts that you are able to provide

:-D

Welcome to another brother from down under, since the sun is just coming up here in the eastern US, let me be the first US based early riser to offer you my hand of fellowship.

Jerry, it does sound as if you have prostate issues, blood in your semen (is it in your urine also?) certainly sounds like an issue, and you're wise to get it checked out. That being said, with your PSA readings, unless you're in a fairly rare situation, it's unlikely that cancer is your problem.

The Uro will probably do a DRE and take a urine specimen (be prepared to pee in a cup when you arrive). Because of your situation, he may schedule you for a biopsy--not to look for cancer necessarily, but to try to figure out what else might be happening.

Let's hope your stay with us is brief. Keep us posted with what happens and what they figure out.

I'll join the others in saying that what you have is not likely to be prostate cancer. The vast majority of people diagnosed with PC had no symptoms whatsoever, apart from a rising PSA. With your PSA it is extremely unlikely that you have PC. Relax about that, at least.

It sounds like some scar tissue broke off from a blood vessel in your prostate - do you bicycle or ride? But with a normal size prostate and low PSA and getting up frequently to pee, it sounds like bladder spasms. If so, an antispasmotic drug should do the trick.

Hi All

Thank you for your replies and encouraging words.

I guess one of my issues is that I do tend to google way to much and Dr Google would have me in a bad situation right now.

I get concerned that my urine flow is weak and hesitant when my prostate size is normal and in the back of my mind I have thoughts of the possibility of one of those low PSA aggressive cancers.

The Hematospermia has more than likely been going of for a couple of years now (maybe) but I also found a paper from Harvard (https://www.harvardprostateknowledge.org/hematospermia-demystified) stating that in a lot of these cases they are not actually able to find the cause and the risk of cancer unlikely. So when the blood disappeared I didn't worry so much about it. Sure it came back sometimes after several months and then it would also disappear. The thought of this article kept coming back in my mind so I just brushed it off and went on my way knowing that the blood would disappear. And it does.
Also being a dark brown/chocolate color every time I assume that it was old blood.

@ Tall - As far as riding goes I do have a motorbike but I hardly ever ride it these days.

@halbert - no blood in urine sample

Only a few days to go now before my visit but I will keep you guys updated once I have seen the Uro

Post Edited (JezzaSyd) : 10/12/2017 3:28:43 PM (GMT-6)

Thanks halbert - Some nice thoughts to start off the weekend with ;-P

I had a cystoscope in August of 2016. Four pages of pre-procedure prep advice made it sound like an unpleasant after effects period. I was in and out of room in twenty minutes without a single unpleasant event, spent rest of day at 100% of my usual activities.

Hey All

Not long back from the Uro appointment and I have an update for you.

So far so good.

The DRE went well. Nice an quick (is it usually fairly quick?) and the prostate seems fine. The Uro doesn't seemed concerned about any cancer in that area and considering my PSA levels and the result of the DRE he feels that for now there is no further need to investigate that avenue.

He does still wants me to do the following tests though to cover all the bases:

1. CT Urogram (I have booked for Friday morning)
2. I need to do a urine test everyday for three days and take samples straight the Path that day - I think he called it Urine Cytology
3. A Urine Flow test
4. Cystoscopy - this will happen anytime in the next 90 days once the hospital rings me to confirm the date. Thanks halbert i blame you for this one :P

Correct me if I am wrong but I assume the CT Urogram is to deal with the Haematospermia while the other three are for the urinary issues.

So that's it for now. I really do hope you guys are as best as you can be and I will keep you updated as I go if that's ok.

jezza

Post Edited (JezzaSyd) : 10/15/2017 11:31:08 PM (GMT-6)