mark 52

jojoman

hi mark my gleason was a 9 like yours.i had a rad and up to 18 months psa was.004 now up to 3.56 had cat and bone scans they see one lymph node about a milamter larger think thats it went to cornell and sloan both told me same thing after 4 more months psa still 3.60 so they say wait till it moves before we treat what would you do thanks

2ndBase

The 3.56 psa compared to .004 probably seems quite high to you, but since it stayed the same in the past 4 months it would be better to wait say six months and see where the number is. I assume you did not have hormone treatment? Whether you did or did not the next treatment usually given would be hormone treatments or castration which is equally effective and in the long run much cheaper. The hormone shot has just as severe side effects as castration except you won't be minus-two. That can be too much to accept and if it is just take the shot. You can stay on the shots every so often or do what I do and just keep watching the psa and if it makes significant jumps take another shot. I am due for another shot but have not convinced myself to do it and may wait till winter to just go ahead and have the castration surgery. You will obviously lose most of your sexual urges with these treatments but you can work around that in many ways that are too numerous to go into. Basically the hormone therapy is used until it no longer keeps the metastisis (rising psa) at bay. Then you can try chemo which may extend life for a few months or a year or so. It is a bunch of lousy choices, I know but I just totally avoid stress and do not spend time worrying about it. This is hard to do but you do not dwell on it and your loved ones know you are handling it then their worry will be lessened. Be sure your next psa reading is done the exact same way the last one was done at the very same lab. I had two tests a couple years ago that varied from .8 to 1.6 at different labs. It is useless to put a lot of stock in a psa number following radiation and or hormone therapy or both, but over time if your psa keeps rising then treatment is recommended. I do not have any solid data about how effective any of it is and really just have to believe in my doctors opinion and to be totally honest I just try to do what feels right for me at the time. I should have been getting psa tests at 40 years of age and just never really thought much about it. Now it is too late to go back and since I cant change the past I intend to make the best of my future. Remember, all men die, some never really live.