46 Year-Old with PSA Level of 59.3

melindap
melindap Member Posts: 1
in Prostate Cancer #1

My husband Dave is 46 years old.  He had a blood test done for an annual screening for work.  His PSA came back at 59.3.  He had another PSA level 3 weeks later that was 59.1.  He is scheduled for surgery on 9/8/15 to remove his prostate.  We are driving an hour and a half to go to the University of Michigan for treatment.

Has anyone else had such a high PSA level?  I haven't come across PSA levels in anything I read that are higher than 20. 

We have a 7 year-old (her birthday was yesterday!) and I'm terrified he will not be around to watch her grow up.

I've been praying a lot.  Anyone have similarly high PSA levels?

 

Thank you!

 

Melinda

 

 

Comments

  • hopeful and optimistic
    hopeful and optimistic Member Posts: 2,346 Member
    #2
    Dear Melinda,
    I am very sorry

    Dear Melinda,

    I am very sorry to read of your post about your husband, and what you and your family are faced with.

    Yes higher PSA's, as your husband has can be a sign  of aggressive disease. . Has your husband had other PSA tests, other than the two that you mentioned?

    In order to better help and share information that we laymen have accumulated by our experience and study, we need more information from you.

    The most critical information that you want to look at is the biopsy results. You need to have a copy of the biopsy and all other medcial diagnostic tests and notes.

    Your husband cannot be diagnosed with prostate cancer, without having a biopsy. In the biopsy that your husband has had; how many cores were taken, what was the Gleason, and involvement(percent cancer for each core) of each core that was positive. What other information was revealed in the biopsy. What is his prostate size/

    As far as  the  digital rectal exam (finger wave), what did the doc notice.

    Was there any other diagnostic tests done?

    Was there a second opinion by a world class pathologist on the biopsy results. the test is subjective and an expert opinion may be critical.

     

    ........

    Before getting surgery, or another treatment, you and your husband need to know what is going on, if the disease has excaped the prostate..........if it has, surgery would be a very poor option, since the side effects of various treatments are cummulative, and he would still need other treatments such as hormone and radiation.

    ......................

    If you and your husband are interested in having more children, it is advisable for your husband to store semen for future use.

     

    Please get back to us.

    G-d bless

    H

     

  • Rakendra
    Rakendra Member Posts: 197 Member
    #3
    hopeful and optimistic said:

    Dear Melinda,
    I am very sorry

    Dear Melinda,

    I am very sorry to read of your post about your husband, and what you and your family are faced with.

    Yes higher PSA's, as your husband has can be a sign  of aggressive disease. . Has your husband had other PSA tests, other than the two that you mentioned?

    In order to better help and share information that we laymen have accumulated by our experience and study, we need more information from you.

    The most critical information that you want to look at is the biopsy results. You need to have a copy of the biopsy and all other medcial diagnostic tests and notes.

    Your husband cannot be diagnosed with prostate cancer, without having a biopsy. In the biopsy that your husband has had; how many cores were taken, what was the Gleason, and involvement(percent cancer for each core) of each core that was positive. What other information was revealed in the biopsy. What is his prostate size/

    As far as  the  digital rectal exam (finger wave), what did the doc notice.

    Was there any other diagnostic tests done?

    Was there a second opinion by a world class pathologist on the biopsy results. the test is subjective and an expert opinion may be critical.

     

    ........

    Before getting surgery, or another treatment, you and your husband need to know what is going on, if the disease has excaped the prostate..........if it has, surgery would be a very poor option, since the side effects of various treatments are cummulative, and he would still need other treatments such as hormone and radiation.

    ......................

    If you and your husband are interested in having more children, it is advisable for your husband to store semen for future use.

     

    Please get back to us.

    G-d bless

    H

     

    Psa

    My Psa was 300, and I have heard of Psas in the thousands.  That was 30 months ago, and I have advanced bone matastases and am doing very well.  There is no telling about Pca.  You cannot guess your husband's condition by comparison with others.  The best for you is to wait for more results and take your time making decisions.  Even if the prognosis seems to be poor, there are many cases that beat the odds.  There is just no way to predict the future with Pca.  Whatever the future may bring, I hope that he and his family will try to understand thathe time he has left, whether long or short, is the most valuable time of his life.  Celebrate the time, use it wisely and lovingly and your future regrets will disapear.  There are no guarantees in life - events are totally beyond your control.  But how you handle those events is totally in your control.  It is all up to you how you accept and deal with life.  My suggestion is to celbrate it all, even those events that you think are unfavorable.  Make it all count in your favor.  The choice is always with you.  I am sorry that you have joined the Pca group.  You have come to a good place for information.  love, Swami Rakendra

  • VascodaGama
    VascodaGama Member Posts: 3,707 Member
    #4
    Rakendra said:

    Psa

    My Psa was 300, and I have heard of Psas in the thousands.  That was 30 months ago, and I have advanced bone matastases and am doing very well.  There is no telling about Pca.  You cannot guess your husband's condition by comparison with others.  The best for you is to wait for more results and take your time making decisions.  Even if the prognosis seems to be poor, there are many cases that beat the odds.  There is just no way to predict the future with Pca.  Whatever the future may bring, I hope that he and his family will try to understand thathe time he has left, whether long or short, is the most valuable time of his life.  Celebrate the time, use it wisely and lovingly and your future regrets will disapear.  There are no guarantees in life - events are totally beyond your control.  But how you handle those events is totally in your control.  It is all up to you how you accept and deal with life.  My suggestion is to celbrate it all, even those events that you think are unfavorable.  Make it all count in your favor.  The choice is always with you.  I am sorry that you have joined the Pca group.  You have come to a good place for information.  love, Swami Rakendra

    How far advanced is your husband's case

    Melinda

    I am sorry for the diagnosis of your husband. His PSA is high but this cancer marker has nothing to do with his survival. Rakendra above is a good example in regards to high PSA values.
    Aggressive cases that could jeopardy live are judged on the clinical stage of a patient. How far advanced has the cancer spread? Is it curable or treatable?

    Surgery and/or other treatments for prostate cancer have its own risks that you should be more concerned with. There are rare cases of death from the initial treatments but quite often survivors find a live of misery due to physicians bad practice and due to the therapy’s side effects that can become a permanent nightmare.

    Your husband and you should be aware of these facts and should take them into consideration when making decisions. Surely he is not confronting a case of death and acting the soonest (in one month) does not assure a long term survival.

    His and your live will change. Some facts taken as natural now will alter and you will have to adapt. I believe that several other tests and exams have been done for the diagnosis and that the results did assure surgery has the best choice to treat the condition. Now you should get informed about the experience of the physicians that will do the operation and try to accept the outcomes.

    I would recommend you to make a list of questions including the worries and doubts, and that you take it to the doctor at his next appointment. Better to carry a pad to write down the answers. Here is an example with ideas for the items of your list;

    http://www.cancer.net/navigating-cancer-care/diagnosing-cancer/questions-ask-doctor

    http://csn.cancer.org/node/224280

    Wishing your husband luck in his journey.

    Welcome to the board.

    VGama

  • BLUEpac6
    BLUEpac6 Member Posts: 43
    #5
    psa 59.3

    In 1/2009 Ifound out my psa was 110 and after biopsy with gleason 8 was told I had aggressive carcinoma and was probally out of prostrate.To make a long story short the first person I saw was a robotic surgeon and he would not even talk to me about surgery as he said it was probally out of prostrae and I then went to aucologit who scheduled me to have seeds and then radiation theropyI had a bone scan which was negative. I was given a hormone shot and was to wait 90 days for treatment.I went to cancer treatment center of america oklahoma for a second opinion and they said same thing surgery was to dangerous and would do radiation.They did a mri and catscan that were negative except for a hump extruding from prostrate.In the mean time a friend who was worried abot me as his daddy died with prostrate cancer was talkig to his urologist about my situation and the doctor called me and said that Ineeded to have the prostrate removed as if I radiation and cancer returned there would be no cure left.He put me in touch with Dr. seth lerner at baylor clinic in houston and after looking at records said he would open me up but if cancer was in lymph nodes would close me back up. Lymph nodes were clear and he removed my prostrate.This was in aug.2009.Ihad no pain or side effects from surgery except for loss of sexual function.In2011 my psa had crept up to .06 and was told I needed salvage radiaton so in jan.2011 Ihad 35 radiation treatments with no side effects and really never could tell I was taking radiation.Today aug.2015 my psa remains less than.01 and am doing fine with no side effects still except for loss of sexual function.Ifeel fortunate as the bad prognosis I was given from start.I think peoples prayers helped a lot.As you read everybodies case is different and you have to try to make the best deciison for your case.pray you do fine.

  • Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3
    Max Former Hodgkins Stage 3 Member Posts: 3,819 Member
    #6
    hopeful and optimistic said:

    Dear Melinda,
    I am very sorry

    Dear Melinda,

    I am very sorry to read of your post about your husband, and what you and your family are faced with.

    Yes higher PSA's, as your husband has can be a sign  of aggressive disease. . Has your husband had other PSA tests, other than the two that you mentioned?

    In order to better help and share information that we laymen have accumulated by our experience and study, we need more information from you.

    The most critical information that you want to look at is the biopsy results. You need to have a copy of the biopsy and all other medcial diagnostic tests and notes.

    Your husband cannot be diagnosed with prostate cancer, without having a biopsy. In the biopsy that your husband has had; how many cores were taken, what was the Gleason, and involvement(percent cancer for each core) of each core that was positive. What other information was revealed in the biopsy. What is his prostate size/

    As far as  the  digital rectal exam (finger wave), what did the doc notice.

    Was there any other diagnostic tests done?

    Was there a second opinion by a world class pathologist on the biopsy results. the test is subjective and an expert opinion may be critical.

     

    ........

    Before getting surgery, or another treatment, you and your husband need to know what is going on, if the disease has excaped the prostate..........if it has, surgery would be a very poor option, since the side effects of various treatments are cummulative, and he would still need other treatments such as hormone and radiation.

    ......................

    If you and your husband are interested in having more children, it is advisable for your husband to store semen for future use.

     

    Please get back to us.

    G-d bless

    H

     

    Particluars

    Melinda,

    Terrilby sorry about your husband's results. As Hopeful noted, with out at least a detailed biopsy, the doctor's can't really assess where he is at with the disease. Undoubtedly, since he has surgery scheduled, they have biopsy results in hand.

    A PSA that is as high as his is not good for a man any age, but worse given his extreme youth (by prostate cancer standards).  As a writer noted below, he needs careful evaluation for metastatic disease. But, there are lot of prostate treatment options, and even most Stage 4 patients live a very long time (and of course your husband may not be stage 4 anyway).  Most lower stage cases can be either "cured" (remain undetectable) or be kept in check, many times even for decades, so you have much cause for hope. Donot be assuming the worst.

    I had a  friends's PSA go over 1,000 once, having been 660 the month before, so truly astronomical numbers do at times occur.  I was reading a Prostate Cancer journal in my urologist's office one day, and a story feathured a man and his wife; the man's PSA had been verified at around 3,000. He was in total remission for several years at the time the story was written.

    I hope you share his biopsy figures if you seek further feedback.

     

    Good luck to the two of you,

    amx

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