Family History

Trew
Trew Member Posts: 932 Member
edited February 2013 in Prostate Cancer #1

Family History is important.

My father had PCa when he was in his late 70s and had his prostate removed.

We have no medical information on his cancer except he was placed on hormone shots for some time after his surgery.

 

I was DX with PCa almost 4 yrs ago.  PSA under 10 but gleason was a 5 + 4, stage with with bladder neck involvement.  Had surgery, hormone shots and radiation.  last PSA in NOV showed an increase from .001 to .1.

 

My only brother and only sibling was DX with PCa almost 2 yrs ago.  His gleason was around 5 for a combined score- much lower than mine.  He received proton treatment in Chicago.  At the end of his treatment his PSA was around 0.  This past week he was retested and his psa has shot up to over 10 since his last test about 3 months ago.  Certainly he has something going on.

 

I share this just to emphasis that once someone in a family has PCa all the men coming after that person need to be very diligent to get their PSA checked starting at an earlier age than is generally recommended.  That is my  opinion anyway.

 

I am certainly concerned about my 2 sons.  And 2 grandsons.

 

This PCa thing is war!! 

Comments

  • hopeful and optimistic
    hopeful and optimistic Member Posts: 2,346 Member
    #2
    testing for high risk groups such as

    siblings, sons, even cousins and african americans

    It's probably a good idea to have a baseline psa at say 35, and annual testing to include but not limited to psa's and digital rectal exams.

    Additionally there have been studies that tend to indicate that taking advodart or proscar may decrease the likelihood of some of developing prostae cancer

    Additionally the woman in our families may be more likely to develop breast cancer and need to have their magograms.

    Eating a heart healthy diet is great for all of us since we are more likely to die of heart disease than from cancer.

  • Trew
    Trew Member Posts: 932 Member
    #3
    My brother's urologist is not

    My brother's urologist is not worried about a psa jumping up iver 10.  /the Dr told him it was probably either an infected urinary tract or prostate and put him on antibiotics and then get a new psa in 3 months.

     

    the Dr told him with a gleason of 5 it is very rare to see an agressive PCa this soon after treatment.

     

    Just wanted to share that update.

     

     

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