Dazed and Confused

Well Ian it sounds a familiar tale. Not sure if that's reassuring or not but it's meant to be. You mention a scan. Was this an MRI or bone scan. You will have been injected with radio active 'dye' for the bone scan.

It may help you to download the toolkit from the PCUK site under publications. This contains loads of information that will help you put questions together for the consultant. There will probably be various treatments available to you but you need to research them as ultimately you will probably need to decide which treatment option to take.

It sounds like the nurse you saw was very on the ball and hopefully due to her actions they have caught it early. Believe you me there are a lot of medics out there who wouldn't have made the connection between going to the loo more often and Prostate cancer.

Try not to worry to much over the coming days it does get easier. At your appointment you should get a proper diagnosis. Ask what the staging is eg T2a etc. Take someone with you otherwise there maybe a few more whooshes as you may not take it all in. Ask whoever goes with you to makes notes as this will help you later when considering your options.

Hopefully you will be in the cure camp. But if not there is still hope. There are many men on here who were not cureable but are still hear and enjoying life many years after diagnosis

Please feel free to read my profile ie click on my avatar.

All the best
Bri

Good morning Ian and welcome

3+4 = 7 isn't the lowest it could be but it's nowhere near the highest either and take heart from the fact that it starts with the 3 and not the 4 as that's a little better, even though the end result is still =7.

Strange I know, but we are looking for positives here. The other great positive as Brian says, is the fact that your GP was so on the ball. That isn't always the case. Whatever happens now may well have been a much more serious situation further down the line and options which may be open to you now may not be then.

Get the toolkit from the site. It does help when you are writing down your questions for the consultant. Firstly though I would ring your surgery and ask what you PSA was at their last test. The receptionist will give this to you. Don't be fobbed of with anything other than the actual number and then post it on here. It might help with advice, although PSA really is only an indication that something needs looking at and that's been done. You could also ask if you can record the meeting at hospital on your phone.

There are nurses on here who will answer questions for you if you don't understand what has been said.

Hopefully, many of the treatment paths will be available to you. You will be unlikely to get help from medical staff with decision making as that is often left to the patient.

PC comes in many forms and can be either a pussy cat or a tiger. If you have the pussy cat version then you'll have time to make a treatment choice. IF it's the tiger version then you may have to make a decision much sooner.

Whatever one it is, as Brian says there is much hope as treatments are not only coming through all the time but they are now also tweaking old treatments with some success.

You will be well supported here so ask anything you like, somebody will know or advise you.

My only advice at present is to take one day at a time, don't look on the gloomy side and don't rush into a treatment decision if you don't have to.

Best Wishes

Sandra

Edited by member 28 Dec 2016 at 09:12  | Reason: Not specified

My husband got his PCa diagnosis on 22nd December.

Different as my husband is a 6 (3+3) and on both sides compared to your 7 (3+4) on one side.

We have been given all options re treatment and are currently thinking active surveillance but investigating the TOOKAD treatment that was all over the press last week.

They have said that TOOKAd could be considered for a 3+4 Gleason score - one side is optimal ( my husband has bilateral 3+3 so not optimal as on both sides)

It is not NICE approved yet due to equipment problems in NHS but clinical trials at stage iIII were very positive ( critique on NHS choices worth a read)

May be worth having an awareness of as I would hate someone to make a radical life changing treatment decision and then find this out afterwards.

Regards

Clare

'Time spent on reconnaissance is never wasted'

Hi Chris thanks for your time

thanks also to Clare for the info

ATM i am leaning more towards RT/HT

rather than any of the other options but could be swayed by MDT

Active surveilance doesn't appeal to me because it would feel like i am waiting for an assassin to take aim and hoping i dont get run over by a bus

Prostatectomy seems to have a longer getting back to normal timespan

RT/HT seems less disruptive to life outside of the circle

i have downloaded the Toolkit and will read,reread and read again 

hopefully i can switch off and have a little peace until the Twelth

Ian

Hi Wiganian,

I was offered similar options recently at Preston.   My choice was for surgery because if there is a problem you can then have RT.   Once you have RT you can't have surgery or more RT on the prostate.   RT also means 20 to 30 trips to the hospital at 5 a week after 3 months of hormone treatment.

Good luck

Peter

Give yourself both time and a clear head or at least the best you can. 3 months would not be excessive. The thing I remember most is the intensity and shock of being told. Visit my profile. I thought I was being calm and rational when I was told however you are not really. As everyone on here its a huge impact at whatever stage or age. I didn't discover this forum until post op and don't regret our decision to op for ralp . In my opinion you are not back to square one as you are gathering good facts and experiences. You need to weigh up the impact of cancer free potential, incontinence and ED . Inquire about nerve sparing , size of lesion , location in gland as reading your posts there may be other options. Mine was multifocal and MDP advised surgery and non nerve sparing. We chewed this over and dismissed RT. We felt we were not pressured and made the best decision we could. Hope this helps. Seasonal greetings.

I AM adviced HT+IMRT by specialists here and am already had my firrst dose of hormone injection on Dec12th

My gleason 4+4 and psa 28 on Oct. How ever the faculty/Specialists  in India and germany is recommending RP,  as it will remove the cancer from me(

Iam now confused. can anybody advice me the after effects of IMRT andRT. Is incontinence permanent with RP ? With RT incontinence will be lesser or nil?

Shoukath

Barry

Very informative link.Still difficult to make a decision.Individual experience and
their opinion may b more helpful
SHJ54