Cant make decision

Sorry about your diagnosis.  At your age I would say Radiotheraphy.  Your PSA is worrisome.  It is rising really fast.  Have they done a CT scan on you, or an MRI?   You have a low Gleason, but you need to ensure it has not spread.  Your family historywould give you an idea.  How agressive is it with them?  Everyone is different, and lifestyles make a difference but they should give you an idea.  

Good luck,

Mike

laserlight said:

Nev, PSA

The psa rising is not good, but you have already confirmed that you have Prostate cancer. Your PSA score is an indicator that something is going on and it needs to be watched. The item to keep in mind now is the treatment options avail to you. I donot think that any body here is qualified to recomend a treatment option for you.

I would start to look into treatment options and the side effects.

Cancer treatment is a personal decision. The doctors can only describe the various treatment, but in the end it is your decision.

 keep in mind  you have cancer and it needs to be treated.  Good Luck

 

Kurt

 

Nev Family

Welcome to the board. I am sorry for your diagnosis at such young age. Making a decision is difficult and one needs to consider the many "parameters" of his own life. All discussions should involve the family and you may need to check about your financial and economic affairs the fact may bring into your home.

In any case you need to "knock down" the bandit but even with a steep rise in PSA you got time to check details of treatments and their side effects, which should include the possibility of waiting until April. Do not look for a "quick fix". There is not simple answer to your question. You need to write down all the risks that each type of treatment entails and decide what is best or acceptable to you and your family.

Radical treatments are the ones that can provide cure if the cancer is contained. In cases of extra capsular extensions radiation modalities got better chances than surgery to provide successful outcomes.

A proper diagnosis does make it a difference when deciding on the treatment. Many guys get second opinions on their results (biopsy included) and try to locate the cancer with high standards/resolution machines/modalities of image studies. The traditional equipments give many false negatives which could erroneously diagnose a case as contained.

I would suggest you to search for information on image studies using the contrast agent C11 acetate and F18 (PET/CT). These agents seem to give better results to identify metastases.

Both radicals; surgery and radiotherapy are good choices in contained cases. Radiation sometimes become the choice to many that are afraid of ED (erection dysfunction) and incontinence, whose side effects are typically associated with surgery. However, radiation can cause those outcomes too but less frequent. There are also the many that decide on surgery because of the possibility of having salvage radiotherapy in case of failure of the first attempt. They base this fact as important because salvage radiation is not recommended to be done to the previous radiated areas (tissues would not resist to rad on top of rad).

It is therefore important to look for apparent metastases before deciding on a treatment. In positive cases of metastases, the isodose planning for a radiation attack would differ from that of a contained case (it would include areas of probable metastases) and such would avoid repeated treatment (radiation) at the same areas.

I recommend you to get a copy of this book that may help you to understand details of the radicals;

“Guide to Surviving Prostate Cancer” by Dr. Patrick Walsh (third edition);

I also recommend you to look for specialists with loads of experience in their field. Outcomes differ much according to the experience of physicians and modernity of facilities.

You could try to get an insurance now that may cover some of the expenses with testing, etc., even if that is late for covering the treatment performance.

You are not the first young "member" joining our boat. Guys here will not leave you alone without an answer to your queries.

Wishing you find peace of mind.

Hope for the best.

VGama

VascodaGama said:

Image Studies

 

Nev Family

 

Welcome to the board. I am sorry for your diagnosis at such young age. Making a decision is difficult and one needs to consider the many "parameters" of his own life. All discussions should involve the family and you may need to check about your financial and economic affairs the fact may bring into your home.

 

In any case you need to "knock down" the bandit but even with a steep rise in PSA you got time to check details of treatments and their side effects, which should include the possibility of waiting until April. Do not look for a "quick fix". There is not simple answer to your question. You need to write down all the risks that each type of treatment entails and decide what is best or acceptable to you and your family.

Radical treatments are the ones that can provide cure if the cancer is contained. In cases of extra capsular extensions radiation modalities got better chances than surgery to provide successful outcomes.

 

A proper diagnosis does make it a difference when deciding on the treatment. Many guys get second opinions on their results (biopsy included) and try to locate the cancer with high standards/resolution machines/modalities of image studies. The traditional equipments give many false negatives which could erroneously diagnose a case as contained.

I would suggest you to search for information on image studies using the contrast agent C11 acetate and F18 (PET/CT). These agents seem to give better results to identify metastases.

 

Both radicals; surgery and radiotherapy are good choices in contained cases. Radiation sometimes become the choice to many that are afraid of ED (erection dysfunction) and incontinence, whose side effects are typically associated with surgery. However, radiation can cause those outcomes too but less frequent. There are also the many that decide on surgery because of the possibility of having salvage radiotherapy in case of failure of the first attempt. They base this fact as important because salvage radiation is not recommended to be done to the previous radiated areas (tissues would not resist to rad on top of rad).

 

It is therefore important to look for apparent metastases before deciding on a treatment. In positive cases of metastases, the isodose planning for a radiation attack would differ from that of a contained case (it would include areas of probable metastases) and such would avoid repeated treatment (radiation) at the same areas.

 

I recommend you to get a copy of this book that may help you to understand details of the radicals;

 

“Guide to Surviving Prostate Cancer” by Dr. Patrick Walsh (third edition);

 

I also recommend you to look for specialists with loads of experience in their field. Outcomes differ much according to the experience of physicians and modernity of facilities.

 

You could try to get an insurance now that may cover some of the expenses with testing, etc., even if that is late for covering the treatment performance.

 

You are not the first young "member" joining our boat. Guys here will not leave you alone without an answer to your queries.

 

Wishing you find peace of mind.

 

Hope for the best.

 

VGama

 

 Well I'm sorry you and wife had to join this club, but there are many year's a head of you! This prostate cancer that you have is a low grade cancer and can be controlled. The first thing I would look at is your diet and exercising. This could be great to battle against this monster and plus you will feel much better too.

I have a friend that in 2010 had psa 4 and went to 22. The had gleason scores of 3+3 in 6 out 12. In 2011 had raidation treatment and the psa continue to psa rise to 30. The first of 2012 he went on lupron and by the end of 2012  his psa was less than 1. He has changed his diet and a little bit of exercising.

All these guy's above comments are great. The last thing I will say, is the last thing you should do is remove your prostate--- at this time. At the age of 47 you should get a second opinion.

You and wife will be fine! My prayers are with Y'all.