Sorry I haven't got back to you all- its been a horrible week.
Colwickchris- I was referring to you, as I remember your appointment was the day before ours. You are on a similar path to us now then?
Chris j- I have decided that I am no longer doing negative. We have been blessed with a surgeon who is very proactive and on the ball. Yes, they thought our margins are clear, but some obviously escaped. The surgeon has done and MRI and a bone scan and no spread has shown. He therefore thinks that the cells are in the prostate bed.
There's not much point in having ever more sensitive equipment which detects psa at 0.05 if we still call it undetectable. It's not, it's detectable, the figure is 0.05. When my father was first diagnosed we were told the most important value was the doubling time. The first detectable reading was in may, the last in December. That's doubled in 7 months, and certainly indicates failure of the surgery. The surgeon says that as his Gleason was a 5 +4 and as its rising quickly, he sees no benefit in waiting until it reaches 0.2. Surely that just means there are more cells?
Lyn- we were indeed offered RT after the surgery, but, largely because of the positive report from pathology indicating clear surgical margins, but also because of the side effects,we decided not to do this. A mistake in hindsight?
Planning scan is next Tuesday.