Snowcake, please don't let those "what if" things overcome you. Many years ago I got into a serious problem with depression because of major health problems of a family member. I look back now and...
If anybody wants to go into overload mode on the topic of variation in chemical testing, Google something called uncertainty in chemical testing....
I'm 6 1/2 years out from surgery and getting up once or twice a night is the routine. My urologist never expressed any concern about it and the posts here indicate it is nothing unusual either so...
It sure seems like a long time ago when the "free market" was supposed to provide goods and services of better quality at a lower cost because of competition among providers. Today it seems like the...
Deon, You aren't alone in feeling that way. It seems that the only thing that is true all the time about prostate cancer is that you really don't want it. I wish you well with the surgery and...
I had robotic prostate surgery about six years ago and most of the time right after coming home it felt like the surgery never happened. I kept on reminding myself that even though it doesn't hurt,...
The topic of this thread always gets me back to the thought that someday the surgeons with the present day experience that you want will retire and somehow those you now cast off as inexperienced...
Halbert, thanks for the nice, easy to follow explanation. I worked in quality control for lots of years doing dimensional inspection work on lots metal parts for lots of applications. By the time you...
Another question is how well does the same test method repeat the test results on the same blood draw. If you test 10 different samples from the same blood draw, how much variation in results is...
My thought for what it is worth is that as long as the protection of one's turf is the primary goal and not what is best for all, nothing will really change in healthcare in the United States. Look...
My urologist said I had a 197 g. prostate. He removed it robotically but never said that the size made anything more difficult about the surgery and I had no out of the ordinary issues with the...
Yep, rising to the occasion is something we all hope to do. :yeah:...
It is true that a lot of different things are experienced by the people who post here but it is easy to lose sight of the fact that everybody does not experience all the things that can happen. You...
If you think about it, the cost of testing and treatment is likely to be at the expense of an insurance company if you are under 65 or over 65 with a Medicare Advantage Plan. Is that fact buying...
I know what you mean, Mel. The mail order route isn't necessarily the lowest cost option. I've gone the route of standard Medicare, supplemental insurance, and a BCBS drug plan but only get...
My first PSA test was in 2009 at age 62. It came back at 5.2 so that started the follow-up tests and finally surgery. I was a Gleason 6 but I figured at that point in time I was in the best position...
I think the question really is how can we separate the effects of prostate cancer treatment from what goes in the normal aging process. Not having that endless energy of a teenager is a normal part...
If you are on any medications that you take late in the day, check to see if any contain a diuretic or contain something that may act as a diuretic. I'm on a medication that has a diuretic in it and...
It is just a matter of time before the medical care system of the U.S. collapses because of the costs. When only the 1% can afford medical care, there won't be a need for 99% of the medical care...
I'm a believer in screening. I've been at 0.00 for going on six years now after diagnosis and surgery. Where would I be now without screening? Certainly in a spot I wouldn't like to be in....
You know you are getting old when you celebrate because there are no new problems or nothing getting worse showing up when you get a medical checkup....
Toss in the fact that you really don't know what the future holds for you and you quickly see that insurance is just another form of legalized gambling but the stakes can be very high....
Mel, my experience was in early 2010 but here is what happened to me. In June of 2009 the company I worked for for over 36 years announced it was closing up in late 2009. I was going to turn 62 at...
La Salle, I think you should check with the surgeon about what is going on with a lot of abdominal pain. My surgery about 5 1/2 years ago was more "normal' than what your husband had except my...
BillyBob, that is the whole thing, in my opinion. I was fortunate to get into a line of work that I really enjoyed doing and was quite successful at doing. Early on, however, I had a bump or two in...
Simply put, if you are a newcomer surgeon, how do you get to the high number of surgeries to be considered proficient if everybody goes to the more experienced surgeons? Likewise, when the older...
Teenie, one little benefit I had from doing some walking around the house after surgery was that the small amount of discomfort I had after the surgery went away completely for a short time during...
ScaredSon, the word cancer is scary but your father has an awful lot going for him. He is in very good health, has a very good mental outlook, and has very good eating and physical activity habits....
Once in a while I have a slight leak when picking up some relatively light object but not when picking up something heavier like a bag of salt for the water softener. I figure that with heavier...
I'm in my middle 60's and nothing works like it did 40+ years ago, especially after prostate surgery. It does get a little discouraging at times but I look at it this way. A good looking woman is...
What you see in a biopsy is just a matter of luck of the draw and opinion of the person looking at the tissue. No doubt there are times that cells don't exactly fit a 2 or a 3 rating or a 3 or a 4 so...
The more decimal places you use to carry out a measurement the more times you will see a variation in those numbers. No measurement process can repeat or reproduce the exact same measurement all the...
Look at it this way. The longer you go without a recurrence the less time you have left to worry about a recurrence. :smilewinkgrin:...
That is my experience, also. I had surgery about 5 years ago and my PSA testing is on a six month schedule. There has been no change in my PSA number over this length of time and my doc has not...
Look at the bright side. Not having a prostate means that you have one less thing to give you problems as you get older. But don't worry, you still have lots of other things to give you problems as...
Play4parr, My situation was that I had a PSA of 5.19 at age 62. A biopsy gave me a G3+3 on one core and the ultrasound showed a prostate size of 197 grams. Since I had two significant prostate issues...
I used a recliner after both heart surgery and DaVinci prostate surgery. The recliner made getting up to a standing position easier in both cases and I tend to move around a lot on a bed so the...
Good points alicomp and Jim. People need to get information from Social Security and their Senior Health Insurance Program before jumping in to apply for Medicare. Not everyone is eligible for...
The one to really look out for is the Ford Pinto Plan. :devil:...
Very good advice. Exercise like walking is recommended after surgery but exercise like moving furniture is a big "No-No." Get your "comfort zone" set up before making that trip to the hospital....
Many years ago the first Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago was quoted as saying "The police are not there to prevent disorder, they are there to preserve disorder." Note that changing a word here and...
I have a high blood pressure medication that includes a diuretic and is covered under my drug plan. The same medication at the same dosage but without the diuretic is not covered by my drug plan....
I doubt that the percentage of men coming down with PC has changed to any degree. The problem is how the information is gathered and put together. If 100 percent of men of all ages were tested then...
I'm thinking that in 1975, the higher death rate was because of the cancer being more advanced at the time of diagnosis. A cancer diagnosis was probably made after looking into the symptoms the...
With the test results given out to 3 decimal places and the range of readings of the last 3 tests being only 0.005, I don't think there is any reason for concern. Remember that 0.005 is half of 0.01,...
Perhaps little steps of touching him to show some signs of affection would help reassure him that he is not any less desirable as a person now than as he was before his bout with cancer. A man's body...
Yank, I feel like a runner-up. My uro had my prostate ranked at 197 grams. It was removed in January of 2010 by the Da Vinci method. I had no out-of-the-ordinary things to deal with after surgery and...
33 is very young to have prostate cancer but then again your PSA indicates something abnormal is going on. My own opinion, for what its worth, would be to have a biopsy to get some more information...
Medicare coverage begins on the first day of the month in which you turn 65 and other insurance coverage will probably automatically terminate at the same time provided you are eligible for Medicare....
Worried Guy brings up a lot of good points in his posts. I had Da Vinci surgery in 2010 and it seemed like the best way to go in my situation. I weighed the effectiveness of surgery compared to...