PSA test and prostate cancer

[NWYENKO]

Knowing that there are a lot of baby boomers on this site, I want to suggest that you guys get a regular PSA test even though it it poo-pooed by a lot of physicians. Mine went from 3 to 7 to 9 over 6 months in the summer of 2012. Had biopsies in the fall, had radical prostectomy in January '13. Informed by the doctor that cancer had broken out of capsule. PSA started to climb in the summer of '14, completed 38 sessions of radiation therapy last October. Also going through hormone treatments every 4 months for 2 years. Side effects are not much fun but hopefully worthwhile. Get that checkup. Jim

[Xplantdad]

That's on my list of things to do this year...thanks for reminder Jim [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]


Hope you are on your way to complete recovery!

[RST]

Great advise, I just had about of prostatitis, my PSA went from 1.5 to 33 .......... WTH. Doctor did test, I had a serious bacterial infection, thank goodness. I will now be getting PSA tested every 6 months for the rest of my life.

Don't take chances.

[BJCHEV396]

Have the old prostate manually checked by your doctor also.

[markinnaples]

I had my PSA tested by a new (to me) urologist and he mine was a little elevated, so they did surgery to test my prostate, and it all came out negative. Went back later to have my PSA tested again after and they said it was elevated again, but it wasn't that long after I had the initial surgery so the physician's assistant asked why they tested it again so soon after the surgery as it surely was still irritated from the surgery. Anyway, long story short, I left that practice and went to another doctor who tested my PSA and found it OK a couple months later and now I get it checked annually. Moral of the story is that you shouldn't always rely on one doc's opinion and getting another opinion is usually a good idea. Also, don't be afraid to speak up if something doesn't seem to make sense or isn't logical. This is your life and no one will care for it as much as you will.

[BJCHEV396]

Amen to that!

[Tommy]

Dads PSA is 182 as of this week. Yes, 182.... Things aren't good. Prostate, Liver and recently metastasized to the bones. He was on the lake Bass Fishing yesterday though.


Tommy

[al8apex]

ugh, been there done that

my father passed from prostate cancer in 1997 (after an 11 year battle - DO NOT go with the radon implants) so I knew that it was important to be tested annually

mine was slowly elevating over the years but nothing to be concerned about until the year after my wife died from breast cancer, now up to 6.9 (from 6.7) and my GP suggested I pick a urologist and referred one. hmmm, his was on vacation and the next appt was in 3 weeks ...

got a referral from my neighbor that HAS prostate cancer (low grade) and then researched him through two others (way excellent doc)
My &quot;node&quot; was virtually undetectable through the manual test but was finally found the 2nd time around.

Because of A. my psa number and B. my family history Dr. Gburek felt it was best to do a biopsy. Long story short, we found it very early and it was an &quot;aggressive&quot; version, I had 6 of the 12 samples positive, from 4-8 Gleason Scores (the scale is from 2-10, 10 being worst/most aggressive). OK, let's go over any options, but there really wasn't any with an aggressive version, so out it comes. I did the daVinci version of the Radical Prostatectomy surgery October 26th, 2012.

I was lucky, we caught it very early on and the surgery was a success, no radiation or chemo necessary. I am cancer-free 1 1/2 years after the surgery still. I will have another check up in another 6 months then after that (2 years after surgery), he feels I can be tested yearly just to be sure.

I want to STRESS that you get a GOOD urologist that understands how hideous this cancer can be. My urologist ordered ct scans AND an MRI - he was very pro active PRIOR to any surgery to make SURE there was no other cancer / metastasis.

I mention that because I went to a prostate cancer survivors meeting (they hold them monthly at the Mayo Hospital on 56th Street) and heard about one person's story: His GP was concerned because his PSA went to 2.9 from 2.7. He had a biopsy, it was positive and he had an aggressive Gleason number (8 or 9 I recall). His urologist had him get a followup psa test a week after his daVinci Radical Prostatectomy and it was 12.9. &quot;Not possible his doc says, have them do it again&quot;. 13 this time. His doc tells him to go to another lab, they were &quot;clearly&quot; messing up his PSA test. New lab is 13.1. NOW (what? why not get these tests BEFORE?) his doc ordered the ct scan / mri tests. Bad news, his bones are full, plus elsewhere - his prostate cancer had metastasized BEFORE his prostate was removed, so he had an unnecessary surgery ...

[KevinW]

Yes, I have been there too. First I want to say Prostate cancer saved my life! My father passed from Prostate cancer, he waited until it was too late to see a doctor, by then it has escaped and the treatments were always one step behind the cancer. not a good way to go at all! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/frown.gif[/img] So with my family history, I started PSA tests at 45, by 47 it had jumped 4 points in 6 months. In hindsight, my Father had his cancer at 47 also, died by 65. I really had no other choice but surgery as it was detected earlier. Going through pre-op tests, they found kidney cancer. The kidney was more dangerous than the Prostate, so it came out first, heal, then the prostate came out, both back in 2005. Been clean for 10 years now. But if I did not have Prostate cancer, the kidney cancer would have grown undetected and metastasized very quickly (tumor near the main artery) and killed me. There are no tests for kidney cancer until it is large enough to see on an expensive MRI test. By then it is almost too late. Side note, while I was going through this, I urged all my buddies to get tested. One guy did not and had prostate cancer, caught much later RIP [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/frown.gif[/img]

[NWYENKO]

Side note. I believe there has now been a link between Agent Orange and prostrate cancer as there is Parkinsonsons Disease. A marine friend of mine went on partial VA disability after his cancer.