A bit disappointed

Hi Kevan

I've been busy with life stuff recently so not been keeping tabs here until this evening. Sorry to hear about your mess up with PSA testing. It sounds horribly familiar- When I turned up for my op, precisely as directed, crossing over into England to do so, I was sent back home after a few hours because the hospital admin had failed to coordinate things properly.

Maybe the resigned shrug of the shoulders kicks in eventually, but at the time it's a different story..

Yes, had the first post op PSA test via the GP - came back as <0.1.  

It was as well I didn't count my chickens, because the meeting with the consultant 2 days ago has given me considerable anxiety:

The way it was structured didn't help. The main news was delivered poorly and swamped by side issues- he spent more time on telling me to wear supportive underwear ( something that I was already doing). I also had to sit through lengthy platitudes about time and the benefits of pelvic floor exercises).  This didn't endear me to hanging on his every word...It all took place in a poky and claustrophobic setting; the consultant came in and sat down, whereupon the nurse who was standing squashed between us directed me rather patronisingly  to sit down. This,  even though I was merely standing because I had driven uncomfortably for the last hour and a half, and them eager to get going  because I had already delayed his news delivery by pointing out that I had yet to have a flow test and my bladder was still uncomfortably full.. God help us ...So I got that done and came back straight away.

Anyhow, I learned during this meeting  that  ( due to the histology report) I've had a free upgrade to T3. Needless to say, I've now switched over to the hospital based more sensitive PSA test every 3 months .

I understand many surgeons strength lies in their surgical aptitude.  Post op, the man came across a bit like a timeshare salesman who has  got the signature and everything afterwards requires less effort. Maybe there's an element of 'shoot the messenger' here- I'm unable to be entirely objective.  There was an awkward mix of sensing he was not at ease with what he was doing, but at the same time I wanted to give him enough respect to allow him to make a better fist of things. I came away short changed, with more uncertainty. 

Reading about your experiences only underlines to me how very lucky I have been through all of this.I was just disappointed about the PSA test as although I hadn't been worrying about on the morning I had built myself up for the result as this was a milestone one.

This is the only thing that has gone wrong so onwards and upwards.

I very much hope that your PSA will remain below 0.2 and that the incontinence problems improve for you.

This is another consideration when thinking about salvage RT - you need control of your bladder back in order to minimise long term bladder damage. Luckily the bladder control now appears to back to normal.

Every good wish for the future.

Kevan

Oh dear - I guess that's why they call it STRESS incontinence :-0

Sorry about the results - did they say anything about adjuvant treatment or will you wait to see and then opt for salvage if necessary?

Interesting. Some with a positive margin would plump straight for adjuvant therapy but John waited 2 years until it was obvious that the PSA was climbing. He had been told he had a 55% chance of recurrence. The advantage (in his mind) was that he had time to fully recover from the surgery and see what was what before having to deal with a new set of possible side effects.

Fingers crossed, Kevan, eh!

Edited by member 14 Apr 2016 at 16:42  | Reason: Not specified