Been to see the specialist today

Yes, my MRI did show something.  My radiology report, which I saw after my biopsy, said "...likely clinically significant tumour in the left peripheral zone with an irregular and probably breached capsule...".  I'm 55 and my PSA was 5.1 and the DRE showed my prostate was irregular. 

I believe there are conditions, such as prostatitis, that can cause false positives on MRI scans.  Like everything connected with identifying PCa there is a lot of uncertainty.

Mxs your Mri sound pretty similar to ours.  Are you happy with the decision to wait? I suppose I'm the kind of person that can't settle until something is sorted.  I would find it reassuring though if we were in your position.

Jon I think the Mri we had was just the standard one, but the biopsy was the same as yours. How long did you have to wait for your biopsy results?  We have received a letter yesterday, with an appointment for the 14/11, so 3 more weeks to wait.

I know they say PCa can be a slow growing cancer, but it worries me that if the capsule has been broken, then we need to move quickly.  It's really weird as it's the last thing on my mind at night and the first thing on my mind in the morning, but sometimes it's like it's not really happening to us! Indeed I wish it wasn't.

Lyn your comment was interesting about some surgeons only operating on the patients they are sure they can remove all of the cancer from, making them look better!  How do I find out how good a particular surgeon is or how good the oncology care is in a particular hospital?  We're from Hull and have a quite new cancer centre, but not sure if it's a leading centre or not? I'll have to google. 

Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to reply.

I had surgery and they knew going in it had started to spread. That said a PET scan indicated it hadn’t gone much beyond the prostate. They think they got it all even though the post op biopsy was T3b. My first PSA test six weeks after the op should confirm if I’m fully clear. 

In summary my surgeon was happy to take on a tricky procedure confident the current surgical techniques were capable of doing the job. 

There is a tool on the below site where you can check how many procedures surgeons have completed along with surgical outcome data. 

https://www.baus.org.uk/patients/surgical_outcomes/radical_prostatectomy/

with the increase in the psa its best to go ahead with the template biopsy, at least then they will know. How long do you have to wait for it? Must be nice to be able to put things to the back of your mind, wish I had that ability.

thanks for that link Lyn, I will check it out.

can a nurse specialist give results of the biopsy?

our appointment has been brought forward by two days and it’s now with the nurse specialist.

Thanks

Edited by member 08 Nov 2018 at 15:57  | Reason: Not specified

When I had my ‘Dear John, you’ve got the Big C” meeting, there were three there, including the consultant urologist who I had never met before. It was no surprise to me as I already twigged I had PCa.

So please don’t hope that a phone call from a nurse instead of a consultation with a specialist will necessarily be good news, as there are wide variations in the protocols of different NHS Trusts, within miles of each other, as I have discovered just this week.

I hope the phone call brings you good news nevertheless.

Cheers, John.

Edited by member 09 Nov 2018 at 10:27  | Reason: Not specified

A nurse specialist did my biopsy and told me that if I didn’t have cancer the local GP would inform me. If I had a letter with an appointment then it wouldn’t be good news. The letter duly arrived and I knew then I was in trouble. The nurse specialist gave me the bad news. I was informed about the Gleason score and how many cores were affected. To quote “Gleason 3+4 is not a pussycat but it’s not a tiger either. Now you will have to go and play with the big boys!” That didn’t impress me. There were other nurses around to check on me afterwards. It didn’t help that my wife and I saw people coming from the other nurse specialist’s room crying. 

Its a horrible wait. I’ll be thinking about you both.

Ian