Prostate Cancer

[DIGGER]

Had a 8:00 appt with Dr Patel (Radiologist) for 1 yr since they found cancer.   He said all is well and about as good an outcome as there is to be had.
Had a 10:00 appt with Dr Corey (Urologist) who found my prostate cancer.  Corey looked at lab work and said same thing.
I asked him what are chances of cancer coming back in prostate or elsewhere.  He said "we didnt do radiation to slow the cancer down...we did the radiation to cure the cancer.   If you can go 2 yrs cancer free you will be considered cancer free.  I have lots of patients 15 yrs after prostate radiation still going strong.  Then you will have about a 10% chance of cancer showing up there or elsewhere but so does a normal healthy person". 

Thanks to all for your prayers

[Valkorado]

That's fantastic!  Carry on!   

[John Schmidt]

Good deal, glad it worked out for you. Treatment these days is better than when my dad had it nearly 43 yrs. ago. As for going strong 15 yrs. following treatment, I wouldn't mind that. I'd be 96 but who knows, if still going strong it might well happen. I've already outlived the other seven members of my biological family and the other three members of my adoptive family.  

[carolinarider09]

Excellent News!!!!   

[scooperhsd]

Excellent News!!!!   

+1

[Jess from VA]

 

[Patrick]

Good ! Glad to hear that.

2 years doesn't sound very long though. Try and keep them checking on a regular basis so it doesn't pop up somewhere else.




They said kinda the same to me [ 5 yrs though] for the throat cancer.

[Jersey mike]

Good for you. Congratulations 

[bassman]

Congratulations DIGGER !  Great news.   

[DIGGER]

Thanks all

[DDT (12)]

Digger,

Great news! Hope you can find some peace of mind and enjoy the positive effects of such reports! Congratulations and best wishes for continued good results!!!

DDT

[Whooray]

That is great news!

[Oss]

Very happy to hear your good news   !   

[Ramie]

Glad to hear your clean.  Was diagnosed in July with low risk prostrate cancer.  4 out of 12 biopsy's where positive.  Chose to monitor it for now as Doc said no reason to be concerned, it might kill me in 15 20 years.  Basically chose to do so to give me time to understand everything and decide between surgery or radiation.  I'm 70 now have a friend who died of it young and friend who had radiation and had it come back and surgery is not an option after radiation.  Wife says just have them cut it out like they do breast cancer.  I told her it's a little more complicated then that. 

Just wondering if you experienced any side effects from the radiation?

[DIGGER]

Glad to hear your clean.  Was diagnosed in July with low risk prostrate cancer.  4 out of 12 biopsy's where positive.  Chose to monitor it for now as Doc said no reason to be concerned, it might kill me in 15 20 years.  Basically chose to do so to give me time to understand everything and decide between surgery or radiation.  I'm 70 now have a friend who died of it young and friend who had radiation and had it come back and surgery is not an option after radiation.  Wife says just have them cut it out like they do breast cancer.  I told her it's a little more complicated then that. 

Just wondering if you experienced any side effects from the radiation?

Yeah…my pee habits changed a little but Ive already adapted to the change.   I pee a little more than I used to and have to go during the night most nights and I didnt used to.  These changes I can Live with.  All 12 spots on the biopsy were cancerous in my case.  On prostate cancer scale of 6-10 (ten being the worst) mine was a 7.  Still considered early detection.  Doc said you dont do anything at 6….just monitor it.  PSA….did biopsy and radiation at 4.5.     1 yr later last week it was 0.67.  Docs liked that number

[bassman]

Glad to hear your clean.  Was diagnosed in July with low risk prostrate cancer.  4 out of 12 biopsy's where positive.  Chose to monitor it for now as Doc said no reason to be concerned, it might kill me in 15 20 years.  Basically chose to do so to give me time to understand everything and decide between surgery or radiation.  I'm 70 now have a friend who died of it young and friend who had radiation and had it come back and surgery is not an option after radiation.  Wife says just have them cut it out like they do breast cancer.  I told her it's a little more complicated then that.  

Just wondering if you experienced any side effects from the radiation?

Ramie.....here is a resource I personally found very valuable during my journey with PC....you can download it in a PDF or send away for a hard copy - both are FREE.  Be careful doing research online as some of the material is rather OLD...some 8-10+ years old.  I was on active surveillance at my initial diagnosis for a little over two years.  During the initial consultation I was also given the option of total removal but declined and wanted to wait and see.  When it came time for action of some sort, my doctor advised against removal and encouraged me to get an HDR session and 28 radiation beam treatments along with hormone injections for two years.  That was my selection and so far everything has worked out rather well for ME.  PSA <.01 since treatment two years ago and just stopped the hormone shots.  The hormone shots do have side effects but I've learned to live with them and hopefully some of the side effects will reverse themselves and others just go away.

That's MY story and EVERYONE is different so your experience will vary.

Good luck on YOUR journey.  

https://www.pcf.org/guide/prostate-cancer-patient-guide/

[Ramie]

Glad to hear your clean.  Was diagnosed in July with low risk prostrate cancer.  4 out of 12 biopsy's where positive.  Chose to monitor it for now as Doc said no reason to be concerned, it might kill me in 15 20 years.  Basically chose to do so to give me time to understand everything and decide between surgery or radiation.  I'm 70 now have a friend who died of it young and friend who had radiation and had it come back and surgery is not an option after radiation.  Wife says just have them cut it out like they do breast cancer.  I told her it's a little more complicated then that. 

Just wondering if you experienced any side effects from the radiation?

Yeah…my pee habits changed a little but Ive already adapted to the change.   I pee a little more than I used to and have to go during the night most nights and I didnt used to.  These changes I can Live with.  All 12 spots on the biopsy were cancerous in my case.  On prostate cancer scale of 6-10 (ten being the worst) mine was a 7.  Still considered early detection.  Doc said you dont do anything at 6….just monitor it.  PSA….did biopsy and radiation at 4.5.     1 yr later last week it was 0.67.  Docs liked that number

My PSA was 5.7 when I had biopsy, still at 5.7 6 months later.  I changed Urologists and have a very experienced one now.  He had them do an MRI and found one additional spot that wasn't caught on the Biopsy and scheduled another.  (Biopsy not fun) Of my 4 that came back positive 3 were a 6 and one was a 7.  We'll see what the one they missed is then I'll make some kind of decision.

When you first hear the word cancer it's unsettling but the doctor explained to me that quite a few men have PC and don't know it and will never no it as something else or old age will get them first.

Thanks for the info

[Ramie]

Kind of stealing thread from digger but wanted to update.  Had a second biopsy to focus on the spot the MRI found that the original biopsy missed.  Turned out the cancer at that spot had a Gleason score of 8 which is an aggressive cancer.  If I hadn't had that MRI I might have been screwed. 

The Dr. said I could still do radiation treatments but he recommended surgery.  They did a bone scan and a CT scan and they all came back clean so Saturday morning I had a Robotic-assisted radical laparoscopic prostatectomy and am now home recovering.  Will find out in a week the results of the biopsy on the tissue they removed and get my catheter removed.  I mainly decided to have the surgery because If any further problems show up I can still have radiation.  I would encourage anyone who is diagnosed with a low risk prostrate cancer as I originally was to request an MRI.

I was on the fence as what to do as mine was considered a low risk cancer.  I was told by one of the doctors that in Canada they would not even treat the low risk  cancer I was diagnose with, don't know if that's true but thank God my wife who found me a talented Urologist was the one that asked about an MRI. 

[suthrncop]

Great news !!

[DIGGER]

Kind of stealing thread from digger but wanted to update.  Had a second biopsy to focus on the spot the MRI found that the original biopsy missed.  Turned out the cancer at that spot had a Gleason score of 8 which is an aggressive cancer.  If I hadn't had that MRI I might have been screwed. 

The Dr. said I could still do radiation treatments but he recommended surgery.  They did a bone scan and a CT scan and they all came back clean so Saturday morning I had a Robotic-assisted radical laparoscopic prostatectomy and am now home recovering.  Will find out in a week the results of the biopsy on the tissue they removed and get my catheter removed.  I mainly decided to have the surgery because If any further problems show up I can still have radiation.  I would encourage anyone who is diagnosed with a low risk prostrate cancer as I originally was to request an MRI.

I was on the fence as what to do as mine was considered a low risk cancer.  I was told by one of the doctors that in Canada they would not even treat the low risk  cancer I was diagnose with, don't know if that's true but thank God my wife who found me a talented Urologist was the one that asked about an MRI. 

Praying for you.   Stay on top of it and keep us informed.  I am 1 yr and a couple months past radiation and all is well so far.

[Oss]

second opinions are so crucial

also a great wife who will search for a good MD

Great news !

[John Schmidt]

Good for you Ramie. My PSA had reached 11.1 before I was able to begin treatment the fall of 2019. My Gleason score was 10 in all but one of the 15 samples taken at biopsy, at the time my PSA was at the level mentioned. The dr. wanted to start treament immediately which required a couple hours a day, five days a week, for two months. Due to my age, removal was not an option. At the time I was caring for my wife who was in her last days and I had no way to have her attended to each day while I was gone for two hours so had to delay treatment. I did start the hormone shots immediately but was unable to begin treatment until September, 2019. All lab work since has shown the PSA too low to register and the testosterone has increased to over 200. I go in for new labs in early May, haven't seen the dr. for a year. Our agreement is he looks at the labs and if no issues he doesn't call me in. If an issue appears, he calls. He told me the treament would make me impotent, I told him since I'm in my 80's I didn't really feel that was going to be an issue. He smiled and told me "you never know" referring to my now single status. I simply replied that "I've had my day in the sun so don't expect miracles." 

[99ISrdr]

Great news! I was diagnosed 10 yrs ago. Multiple good treatment options available. I had surgery and doing great, undetectable PSA for 10 yrs!

[DIGGER]

Great news! I was diagnosed 10 yrs ago. Multiple good treatment options available. I had surgery and doing great, undetectable PSA for 10 yrs!

Awesome!!!

[Patrick]

Kind of stealing thread from digger but wanted to update.  Had a second biopsy to focus on the spot the MRI found that the original biopsy missed.  Turned out the cancer at that spot had a Gleason score of 8 which is an aggressive cancer.  If I hadn't had that MRI I might have been screwed. 

The Dr. said I could still do radiation treatments but he recommended surgery.  They did a bone scan and a CT scan and they all came back clean so Saturday morning I had a Robotic-assisted radical laparoscopic prostatectomy and am now home recovering.  Will find out in a week the results of the biopsy on the tissue they removed and get my catheter removed.  I mainly decided to have the surgery because If any further problems show up I can still have radiation.  I would encourage anyone who is diagnosed with a low risk prostrate cancer as I originally was to request an MRI.

I was on the fence as what to do as mine was considered a low risk cancer.  I was told by one of the doctors that in Canada they would not even treat the low risk  cancer I was diagnose with, don't know if that's true but thank God my wife who found me a talented Urologist was the one that asked about an MRI. 

Good ! Glad u kept after it.

Not prostrate, but, I was mis-diagnosed for a long time. It pays to find a doctor that actually went to school and studied medicine.

[Ramie]

Was just able to look up my post biopsy reports today.  No cancer found in surrounding tissue or seminal vesicles.  No cancer found in left and right lymph nodes.  So everything is clean.

[John Schmidt]

Had a lab appt. today, really pleased with everything but my glucose and a1c, guess that's never going to change since the cook is rather narrow minded about what he fixes for meals.  Glucose was 170, a1c was 8, neither have changed once I got past the hormone shots rec'd. during prostate treatment. HDL is always about the same, ranges from 38-41 and also never changes...been that was for 60 years. All other readings were generally mid-range and well within specs, cholesterol is still in the basement so that's ok also. But what really pleased me is the T factor keeps going up and the PSA stays low. T=227, up from 193 six months ago, PSA=.008 and has been unchanged since 6 months following cancer treatment over two years ago. My daughter keeps telling me I'm going to live to be 100, I say that's fine...then ask her if she's going to change my diaper for me then. Mixed reactions follow! 

[Ramie]

My daughter keeps telling me I'm going to live to be 100, I say that's fine...then ask her if she's going to change my diaper for me then. Mixed reactions follow! 

Speaking of diapers, had my catheter removed yesterday and have to learn to pee again or I should say, not pee until I want too.  Doctor will check my PSA in 3 months and we'll go from there.

[DIGGER]

Oh to be able to pee on command is such a blessing that we all take for granted.    At the end of my 45 radiation treatments I had to wear diapers as I couldnt control my peeing.   Doc said all would fall back to normal shortly after treatments.   He was right.   After treatments I could control my peeing better each day.  After diapers I was having trouble getting a decent stream.   Took a while to get it all out.  Called my urologist and he gave me a prescription for some pills to help the problem.  Man did they work.  Got me back to normal overnight.   Took them for about a month and was able to wean myself off of them.  

It seems strange talking with you guys about all of this but we all take the ability to pee freely for granted.   If you can....you are blessed

[Jess from VA]

I don't have the best stream/flow, but no cancer or radiation either.

I've been sitting down to pee for a long time.  It's more relaxing and more effective and less dribbling/messy.  I often consult my reading material (kept handy), and occasionally I get lucky and have a little #2 as an added bonus. 

The seat is always down, and lid always up. 

I don't sit down to pee outdoors;  spiders, ants and the difficulty getting back up make that prohibitive.  Also, I can't get enough distance to prevent backwash.

[John Schmidt]

Ah yes...the days of "it" watching you shave in the morning are long gone. Now the best it can do is watch you tie your shoes. 

Following two months of radiation, it took about a month for all the plumbing to return to normal. I had no uncomfortable burning on the exterior, but eliminations of both types became a guessing game...sorta like uh-oh...guess how long I have til I can make it to the bathroom. 

[Ramie]

I know a lot of folks may find discussions on Peeing a little out there but the advice I found in this thread and others made a big difference for me.  To hear actual experience from others who have faced Prostrate Cancer has been invaluable for me and hopefully any who may face it in the future.  Don't put off getting your PSA checked every year.  Thanks to everyone here who shared their experiences.

[DIGGER]

I don't have the best stream/flow, but no cancer or radiation either.

I've been sitting down to pee for a long time.  It's more relaxing and more effective and less dribbling/messy.  I often consult my reading material (kept handy), and occasionally I get lucky and have a little #2 as an added bonus. 

The seat is always down, and lid always up. 

I don't sit down to pee outdoors;  spiders, ants and the difficulty getting back up make that prohibitive.  Also, I can't get enough distance to prevent backwash.

Manoman....I bet your urogist can give you some pee pills that will make a big difference.  The ones they gave me are "Tamsulosin HCL .4 miligram." Take 1-2 a day.   Made a big difference for me.