PSA 7.3 - referred to urologist

Cheers, Chris. Right now, Id rather be addicted to Diapezam than anxiety. Still quietly hoping for BPH, but who knows....

I had to laugh reading your note - I know I shouldn’t - that you are now more wound up than ever. Yes, prostate stimulation including orgasm does increase PSA temporarily.

Do take the positive from him, that you may be 80% in the clear, then you’ll have something like green light laser therapy for BPH to ‘look forward to’😟.

Roll on the mpMRI, keep taking the tablets, and keep calm and carry on.

Fingers crossed for you.

Cheers, John.

Just to give you some idea of timescale (bearing in mind we are using different hospitals).

I had my MRI on 5th October I then had a letter dated 8th October telling me I had an appointment for a biopsy on 19th October got results from that on 13th November

Hope this helps a bit

Bob

H,

Calm down dear!

Wait until you have a diagnosis. It will probably be a week or ten days until the radiologist evaluates the radiographer’s imaging, and then there will be a subsequent consultation to be arranged with your consultant to tell you result.

The only reassurance I can give you, if you do indeed have cancer eventually, is to check out the morbidity rates for prostate cancer compared with other cancers, and as one GP said to me “prostate cancer is one of the best you can get”.

Obviously he didn’t have it!

In my case, I don’t have cancer currently, and my chances of survival for fifteen years are 98%, by which time I will most likely be dead of something else.

Hope your MRI comes up clear.

Cheers, John

Edited by member 13 Dec 2018 at 00:54  | Reason: Not specified

Had MRI, to the (faint) sound of Miles Davis, or "Davies" as it was incorrectly catalogued by the hospital typists. Receptionist seemed unimpressed by my spotting of typo. Oh well. I now feel I have developed pain in hip, although it seems to be more of a muscular tweak to the front than any aching persistent pain on the side. Needless to say, I have convinced myself of advanced Pca. Night all.

Yes, receptionist gave me the old "Oh, I'll let them know". Sure you will.

Hi Chris. You're right, of course. I just seem unable to subscribe though.

Thanks Bob. I have this option coming, if I get to hear what I don't want to hear. Today, I appear to have hit rock bottom again & I am beginning to feel sorry for the rocks.

H

Don’t worry about the timescale. They sent my appointment for my biopsy 3 days after my scan.

Bob

Thank you Janet. I am just numbed. 50 years old is not young, I know, but I thought I'd go another decade before learning of something horrid. Now I doubt I'll see 60 at all.

Thanks John - I never did like jelly. I just hope it isn't at the advanced stage now.

H

Thanks Chris. You, Bob, John, Luther...everyone so supportive of me and yet all the while I was feeling an imposter because I hoped I had nothing at all. 

H

Luther - I forgot to say. "It's worth a lot" your final comment. Bless you and all of you for being able to offer me kindness in your words.

Thanks Luther - I just want to be around a while to watch my boy grow into a man.

He's 20, so I might get lucky. To me, he is still my little boy though; I guess he always will be. I can't stop crying (although I try to do it privately) and I am such a whimp compared to all of you. 

Living life between PSA tests is something I am not looking forward to getting used to. Luther, you are a good man and I just want to let you know that you have brought some relief to an aching heart. I guess that's enough now, otherwise I will sound like a soppy whimp.

H

I am not anxiously awaiting the result, and even if it shows a rise and then the next one is higher too, I’ll deal with it. It won’t be the end of the world, and it will just be a matter of whether I bother to have any further treatment or not.

I have put this disease into context, and in my case it won’t be a killer. Not the same for everyone here, unfortunately.

H, wait until if and when you get a diagnosis and a G score, then you’ll know whether to really start worrying, or just be chilled about the whole thing, as I have from the start a year ago.

Best of luck today.

Cheers, John

Evening all. Back from biopsy - not an overly pleasant experience I must say; felt like I was driving home with a rock wedged up my ass. 

I got mixed news from consultants I spoke to. The bad news was that the MRI of course didn't come up clear (zones 1 & 2?) and I was in zone/band 3 with some weight towards 4. Basically, I was told 4 & 5 were strong indicators of Pca and 3 was pretty murky waters that could go either way. Anyway, I was also told that PCa wasn't a definite at this juncture and only the biopsy could tell with any degree of certainty.

Then I found out that the second PSA I had done at my uro appt. (3 weeks after my 7.9 at GP) had dropped to 5.8 (this was also done immediately after a DRE from uro). Not sure of any relevance here, but at least it hadn't risen. 

The guy doing the Biopsy made it a hat trick of DREs and confirmed slightly enlarged but smooth (GP had said the same thing). He also said that the MRI had shown any areas of suspicion to be confined to the gland itself, which again I took as good news but probably meant little.

Results in 2 weeks. Still convinced it is PCa, but might get lucky on the Gleason, I hope.

H

Cheers John! I feel a bit (& I really do mean "a bit") more positive about my potential outcome. Not that I don't think I have Pca, but that it might not be the worst variant that I know others here have had to somehow endure. Of course, I could be talking out of my ass (wouldn't be the first time)....speaking of which, it's still feeling pretty sorry for itself.

I almost pulled out of the biopsy at the last minute thinking I might just take my chances and run. Not sure if I did the right thing going through with it all tbh.

H

You have definitely done the right thing having the biopsy just as your medics have advised.

The sooner you have a diagnosis the better for us all, and then you can either bugger off and stop bothering us, you hypochondriac, or be welcomed here to s*** street.

Which in my own case, is not too shitty at all!

Others have much worse prognoses of course.

Anyway, Merry Christmas from the Red Sea, Santa is everywhere here in Egypt.

Cheers John.

I'm afraid that even if I get lucky I will still be popping in to say hello. Still believe I will be a fully paid up bona fide member of the s*** club though. Ditto on the Happy Xmas thing.

Stop worrying about grey areas on a scan. A radiologist will do his/her best to interpret these but it is not an exact science. Accuracy is the wrong word to use.

Have you confused a DRE with a biopsy, in which sample of prostate tissue are taken and examined off-line in a lab? Only the latter will tell whether you have PCa and give a Gleason score for it.

Relax!

AC