Does this ever get easier?

Well cribriform just mean many holes like a sieve. So when the pathologist looks at prostate biopsies they look at the way the cells are laid out and if they are really nicely laid out in orderly rows they say those cells are Gleason pattern 1, and if they are very haphazardly laid out they say it is a Gleason pattern 5. You can Google images of prostate biopsies to get an idea as to what they are looking at. If there are gaps between cells they will say it is cribriform as well.

So cribriform pattern 4 means quite haphazard with gaps.

Now that is just a description; of more interest to you is what does that mean for the diagnosis. Well from what I've googled it is not good, it is associated with more aggressive cancers which are more liable to spread.

If your OH has this, I think they will be quite concerned about spread either in the pelvis or possibly to other parts of the body. A few years ago they would have tried one treatment and then if it failed try another and so on. Now-a-days it seems they decide to throw everything at the cancer from the outset, so depending on how worried they are they could add RT, HT and Chemo. But as kerm63 says it's best wait to hear what they say than try and second guess what will happen.

Hi Willow.

I'm retired and 10 years older than your hubby. So I don't have the additional strain of work commitments he has, but our diagnosis seem very similar.

I was T3a, bone scan showed lytic areas and a couple of lung nodules, but neither believed to be connected to the cancer. At this time I was Gleason 8 (4+4), 20 out of 24 cores. PSA 6.6

I was put on hormone tablets to suppress the cancer and had non nerve sparing RARP 5 months later. During the op they removed seminal fluid tubes and 9 lymph nodes.

Pathology of the prostate revealed Gleason 9 (4+5) may have been elevated due to HT and nothing untoward was found in the seminal fluid tubes or lymph nodes.

Ten months later my PSA is undetectable, but I have been warned that there's still a high chance of recurrence.

Post op I had all the usual side effects including incontinence and ED. I'm now fully continent and can get erections with Invicorp.

Like most I dread PSA testing times. 

No-one's mentioned anything more about the anomalies in the bones, no-one's mentioned anything more about the lung nodules. 

Sods law,  only two months after the op I had a heart attack, had to be stented but will require further cardiac treatment.

I'm beginning to feel like an old clapped out car going for an MOT, the more they check things out, the more they find wrong. 🙂

On the bright side everyones says how young and healthy I look. They've obviously got eye problems and need to go to Specsavers.

Best of luck to both of you.

Adrian

Edited by member 22 Dec 2023 at 05:41  | Reason: Not specified

I have been chatting to a Macmillan nurse online who has been brilliant .... Everything seems so hard  but will look into a local support group .Thank you 

Hi Dave, I have to agree with you .

I was gowned up for the op in Nov 2022, it was cancelled through a lack of beds.

A month later, I was again gowned up for the rescheduled op, and it was cancelled due to anaesthetists concerns. 

My wife and I were shattered by both cancellations.

I eventually got the op in Feb 2023.

I know operations sometimes have to be cancelled at the last minute, but I honestly believe that some clinicians don't realise how devastating these postponements are for patients and their families.

Edited by member 09 Jan 2024 at 19:13  | Reason: Not specified