My insurance only pays $17 for PSA Total. Imagine if it was done on all men over 40 once a month... it would probably only be 5$ and could be done at CVS. We would have a lot more data that way. I am...
Hey Ed... sounds like you are getting some good advice. My only comments are to research, research, research.... you have plenty of time. And be skeptical about anything you are told and read... the...
Blackdog... I am going to be very candid here. What are you trying to accomplish? There is no magic bullet on diagnosis of prostate cancer without a biopsy... period. If you don't want to do a...
Hey Okie... no need to apologize. Folks here are just looking to help and provide information. I have actually chuckled at a few of your posts and appreciate the candor. Best of luck in whatever you...
Thanks all for the support and reassuring words! I am actually looking forward to this. Not only because of the surgery to remove PCa, but my wife and I are going to make a little vacation out of it....
Wow... Great News! Merry Christmas!...
Well, by preponderance of the evidence my prostate has been found guilty of having cancer and subject to a penalty of removal by surgery. After having read countless articles, studies, forum posts;...
There is no winner or loser to this. Just eat in moderation, watch your BMI and exercise... otherwise eat what you want with some balance and watch the saturated and trans fats. You can Google and...
Hi Mule... glad to see you have made a decision! Yes, your PSA increase is a flag. It could be because of some benign reason, but given all your other stats and your decision to move forward with...
Okie... sounds like a great idea. About being crazy... nobody can say that about this decision... I can't comment on other idiosyncrasies you may have :smilewinkgrin:...
Good luck Iceman! With your age and stats you have an excellent chance of success (cure, ED and incontinence). Just focus on the cocktail they give you right before surgery where you will have 3...
Hi GC... glad to see you out the other side! I'll let others speak to your pathology report but it looks like you made the right decision to have surgery. As a side note, I have to say, this is may...
Hi Negative, If I can ask your age and results of the DRE(s)? Your doc certainly has a lot more information and expertise to make the call, but it may be worthwhile to get a second opinion from...
Good advice on here, but before you go second guessing your own doctor and canceling a procedure I would recommend you get a second opinion from another doctor. At the least, talk to your current...
Hi Hank... I am in a similar boat should I choose surgery. I have talked to or met with Dr. Patel (RALP) in Orlando (just got back 30 min ago), Dr. Tewari(RALP) in NYC and Dr. Burnett (Open) at John...
Oops... meant to have a point in my last post (only 1/2 cup of coffee so brain not completely engaged): The good news is that the NCCN and several of the associated centers are relaxing the...
Hi Tall.... I think we are both kinda right. :yeah: If you go back to last years version and for "Very Low Risk" men with > 20 year LE then it says to use Initial Therapy for "Low Risk". I can't...
Hi Gman... You seem to have a pretty good handle on it and you have all three basic options available to you (AS, Radiation, Surgery). Then NCCN guidelines were very recently changed (11/27/13) to...
There in lies the problem... there is NO proven diagnostic techniques to clearly state someone has indolent cancer. Even the best nomograms still have significant variability and never reach zero for...
Can someone define "over treatment"? AND, is it universally accepted? There are guidelines that are fairly well accepted... NCCN....
DanO... You had a great run on AS, a run that many would not have made. Good luck with the surgery!...
Pamss... What would hold you back from getting a second opinion on the slides? There is really no harm and if it confirms the score than continue as planned. If it downgrades, then you have AS as an...
Oh man... I hope my wife does not read this. Otherwise I'll be like: "No honey... you are smarter than any man" "They are not talking about you dear, you have wires going every which way in your...
I struggled with this as well. Folks just don't seem to talk up their ROs as much as the surgeons. In addition, the Physicist on staff at the RO plays such an important role that it is hard to...
Something else that may help. Many of the surgeons publish their email. I have contacted both Dr. Arthur L. Burnett and Dr. Ash Tewari by email. Dr. Burnett got back to me within 24 hours and within...
Also meant to say, if you have not done it already, you may want to get the slides read by another pathologist to make sure the G3+4 is not really something else. I had mine send to John Hopkins (...
Others more knowledgeable will jump in, but PSA testing and validity at predicting PCa has some controversy and is a bit like opening Pandora's Box... easy to test, but once you have the results it...
Hey Pop... as a fellow engineer, I understand the need to research regardless of what you may do with the information. Hopefully, you will not need any of it, but if you do and end up going down the...
mule... just keep doing the research and be careful when folks on this forum quote numbers. For each study that get quoted, I can find one that differs. For instance, if go to...
I think it was my post. I pulled out all tags so hopefully it is better... I am going to give up using mCode formatting....
Thanks for the link! I'll have to reread the study, but it appears to support what others have said and is in the NCCN guidelines. It only supports AS for patients older men, since it says... "Active...
Percy... I completely agree with you! You can find several sites online where you can order a PSA test for $49 and include PSA Free for $69. It makes absolutely no sense to test every 6 months to a...
"It's impressive to me that about 2/3 of men on AS have not sought treatment after 10 years, and many of the remaining third did so before there was a medical necessity." Huh? Source of information...
Hi Sassysage... my thoughts... have him read this thread. If after that he doesn't realize he is lucky enough to have someone in his life that cares enough to get information like you are doing, then...
Best wishes and Best of luck!...
Hi James... all good advice you already received. The only thing I will add/emphasize is to talk to the top doctors you can find. If you can travel, then talk to the ones outside your location. The...
Casey is somewhat correct... G3+4 does have 3 options (AS, Radiation & Surgery) based on NCCN Physician Guidlines (PROS-3). But because of DanO's age, it pushes him into treatment. Though, as Casey...
Hi Dan... you made it three years on AS... that is great! To continue AS is certainly an option. But what would be your tripping point? To me, that is one of the dilemmas of AS... picking a trigger....
Hey compiler... no worries. I've pretty much got my list sorted out. Figured I would keep it up to date for others that may look for surgeons... some of which may be near them. Thanks for responding!...
Thanks RickyD... added him. Yes we certainly do have pretty similar stats. Wishing you the best on your next and future PSA tests!...
Thanks for the additions! Updated through this post... still gotta figure out how to fix some the links... ugh...
Thanks Bill... Dr. Patel is definitely high on my list. Besides his creds, he is the closest to me (I am a 3 hour drive away in So. FL). Will be calling him later today....
Added the mentioned doctors. Will have to fix some of the code later... mCode does not like some of the links....
Thanks A Yooper... njs gets most of the credit for putting his original list together that got me started. Finding info on PCa is easy (almost overwhelming) but researching doctors is much more...
Thanks all... I'll add them to the list when I get a chance. njs... Thanks! I figured you had that post here, I just could not find it....
Thanks!... updated PS: Hate mCode that this forum uses... very finicky...
As I continue my research and decision making process, I put together a preliminary list of potential surgeons should I elect to go this direction. The same surgeons keep coming up over and over so I...
Glad you got it and it certainly adds to the pile of things for me to consider. With AS you may have caught it in time on the next biopsy... but maybe not... bit of a gamble (high stakes). Best...
Hi Casey... I've watched that video before. It really does not say much more than what is in other studies and what I have included in my thought process. As far as the over-treatment epidemic, I...
mule packer, You can go here to determine your stage or just give you uro a call, he should know. Based on your positive DRE it sounds like you might be a T2c (left and right sides)....