Hi Trevor,

Welcome to Cancer Chat. I can understand your confusion. Firstly I am not a medical person, just someone who has had and recovered from prostate cancer and who had researched a of of sites for information. As I understand it, most protate cancer is slow growing. so you could well be right, the tumour might have been there for some while. Your psa was not that high, mine was 70 when I was diagnosed. All depending on differnt sites the norm for people of our age (I am 71) should be 3.5 to 4.5 and get higher the older we get.

I personally think you have made the righ decision and wish you well. Take care best wishes, Brian

Hello Trevor, 

I wonder if you might find it helpful to talk to one of our team of nurses here at Cancer Research UK about your concerns. I'm sure that they might be able to answer some of your questions and help to clarify the information that you have been given by the Dr. 

You can call them free from a UK landline on 0808 800 4040 Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. 

Best wishes, 

Jenn
Cancer Chat moderator

Hello Brian,

  Firstly thank you very much for reading my post and your reply , I trust you are feeling as well as anyone diagnosed with any form of cancer .

Who knows where this road will take anyone and how the journey will end, I hope this will not sound to depresive, we have a family history of cancer deaths so I think at this moment in time 

it is proberbly going to be my exit .

You don't say much of your own experience if its not to intrusive may I ask is your case anything like mine, have you just been diagnosed ? or are you now cleared .

 Thank you once again for taking time to be interested , if it is any help I will up date my progress after the next chapter in July .

 Wishing you my best , Trevor .

Hi Trevor,

Thanks for your reply . I was diagnosed six and a half years ago with a psa of 70 which is quite high. Luckily the cancer was still contained within the prostate and after two years of hormone therapy and 37 radiotherapy treatments, my psa dropped right down to to 0.01, the lowest they can measure. Of my ten biopsy samples, four showed cancer and my gleeson score was 3+3=6 so as you can see, my case was much worse than yours and I have made a very good recovery, so please take heart from my experiance. I can honestly say to you Trevor, I must be a very lucky person fro cancer has made me appreciate the simple little things in life more than ever and I am enjoying life to the full. 

I will tell you something that I have heard and read several times about prostate cancer. it is said that prostate cancer is often so slow growing , it is something you will die with, rather than die from. You say you think cancer will probably be your exit because of a history of family cancer.  Well I also have a History of deaths in the family but that has no bearing on my cancer, nor should it in your case. Please do not worry too much, I know it's easier said than done but I think you stand a very good chance of not having problems from you cancer.

Take care, best wishes, Brian.

My name is Colin from Wimbledon I am 52 years old, I was peeing at night, I thought I was a dietetic, I went to my doctor 3 weeks ago, my doctor sent me for a blood test, & urine tests, I didn't think much about it, went back to the doctor 1 week later for the results, then she hit me with some bad news, saying my blood test came back  with I high PSA of 10, she carried out the test with her finger up my bottom, she said she couldn't feel anything, but said I will need further tests at the hospital, which this Monday I went to a few days ago, the specialist did the same test, asked if in my family any history of Prostate cancer I said NO, then he hit me with the bad news saying I have a 50% chance of having Cancer & a MRI scan is needed + a biopsy with needles must be carried out, so as you can imagine it has hit me like a ton bricks falling on me, I am very stressed and can not stop thinking about it, reading all about Prostate cancer on the internet which is making me more scared, next Wednesday the 18th March 2015 I have the Biopsy & then a week later get the results, I don't have anybody to talk to about this subject & getting worried if it will be positive result, then what do I do? Remove the prostate or go for the other treatment radiotherapy etc, so that's where I am today, very stressed trying to keep my mind off it, I am a self employed Property maintenance man with a mortgage  & bills to pay, Girlfriend & a daughter to take care of.
If anybody could give me advice or support it would be very much appreciated, my contact details are.
Colin Webb
 

Regards
Colin.

Hi Colin,

I can fully understand how you must be feeling at the moment. It's the uncertainty and the not knowing that makes it all worse. But please be assured treatment for prostate cancer has improved dramactically over the past few years Colin. If you have read my reply to Trevor you can see what I mean. Most of us do what you are doing, trying to find info on the internet, I know I did. But I found a lot of bad information out there, some of it well out of date while some of the American sites were particulary bad.

They have told you that you have a 50% chance of having prostate cancer; well lets stand it on it head and put a positive thought on it and say you have a 50% chance of not having cancer. Even if you have, with your psa of ten, you stand a very good chance of making a good recovery just like I have. I hope this helps, Take care, best wishes, Brian

Hello Colin,

    Sorry to hear your story , and like Brian I would encourage you to be of a strong mind trust your consultant when he / she has more proof of just exactly what your problem is then you can choose the treatment that is appropriate if in fact you a cancer.

 You may have read my story ? , it was too a big disappointment to me when they explained the results of my biopsy, I am waiting until July for an MRI scan but with help from fellow sufferers I am content to take the hospitals advice, I have had meetings with both the radiologists & surgeons to be told what options were on offer but I feel that I should not rush to have treatment just now because of possible side effects after surgery and possibly end up with an unnecessary life changing result.

  I am 72 years old and untill I started with this situation I was working full time,as a funeral director would you believe !,I am now retired and enjoying every day and all the more pleasant things in life, what will be will be at the end of the day,I do believe that the consultants will do every thing that's possible to fight for my health.

   I hope Colin you can try and get on with your life ,easily said than done but worry when and if you get conformation   , unnecessary worry is more un healthy to us all than you may know.

  Wishing you all the best, regards Trevor .

ps,If you are dredging the biopsy as I certainly was,ask for it to be done under a general anesthetic,they gave me one and I never felt a thing and did not have any after effects . 

Hi Colin and Trevor.

We're ALL on here because of the 'C' word.  As soon as we hear it we assume the worst. That's not necessarily the case.  Like Brian, I spent a lot of time trawling the internet for information after my diagnosis. 

Trevor, take heart:  a Gleason score of 3 is relatively low.  As Brian has said, there appear to be two forms of Prostate Cancer: a slow-growing variant common to many men over the age of 60, and an aggressive variant which accounts for the deaths.  Given your age, the Gleason score, and the attitude of the doctors, I'd say that they are hoping it's the slow-growing type. Even if it isn't, there are treatments that can help.

Colin, I had roughly the same experience as you, and am 53 this June.  When I read about the biopsy on the web I nearly fainted!  However, reading this may help:

www.ianhughesma.com/.../

It covers everything from my PSA test onwards, including the biopsy and the Radical Prostatectomy.  Circumstances are different for everybody, and it may be the the prostatectomy is not necessary or - even better - that you don't have cancer:  live in hope!  Yes a biopsy is freaky, but if your Urologist is any good, it shouldn't be a problem!

Hi Colin,

If your biopsy results show that you have prostate cancer, the first thing you need to do is slow down and think.  This cancer will very likely not kill you, or even meaningfully screw up your life.  MOST IMPORTANTLY, do not rush into treatment until you have learned all of your options.  That means that you should consult with an urologist (urologists usually recommend surgical removal of the prostate) and ALSO with an oncologist (oncologists usually recommend radiation).  There is no significant evidence that one form of treatment is more effective than the other, although the surgery is more likely to result in lifetime complications (incontinence, etc.).  Do your homework and think about it.  Your PSA is not very high, and you can take a month or more to decide upon how to take care of yourself.  I was diagnosed with prostate cancer at age 55 (I am now 70), and I am in great health, although the cancer may well return (it often does) and require further attention.  You are going to be OK.  I am sorry that you have had to go through this stressful period; I assure you that every man is stressed at first, because "cancer" is such a scarey word.  Get over the scare, make a decision after appropriate consultations with both urologist and oncologist, and the uncertainty will fade and you will be able to live your life fully.  Again, DON'T RUSH IT.  Be strong, be positive, and do your best to stay physically fit.

The best of luck to you.

Steve