Rapid Doubling of PSA & Probable Recurrance
What a mess! My prostate was surgically removed in April 2014. A few months later, my PSA started going up so I began radiation treatment and hormone-blocking therepy. I completed all that in March 2015. Last month, my PSA was .83. This month it's 1.63. A retest, less than a week later, showed that it had increased to 1.82! My Oncologist is handing me back to my Urologist for further treatment. I want to be as smart as I can this time because everything that Urologist has done has had fairly devastating consequences. The surgery left me with ED & severely incontinent. To this day, I go through four to five Depends undergarments a day and seldom sleep more than two hours at a time because I have to get up and go to the bathroom. I guess I'm getting used to it but it's still not the best way to live. The hormone-blocking therapy lead to Type 2 Diabetes. Nobody in my family has had diabetes and this conditon was not on mine or my Primary Care Manager's radar before I started the Firmagon injections. Within two or three months after completing the therapy, I was a diabetic. My Oncologist tells me to not worry because they've got plenty of tools available to fight this latest recurrance. I'd like to know in advance what those tools are so I can research the risks and possible side effects and possibly go elsewhere for treatment. I just don't think me and that Urologist are on the same page. He's very proud of the number of surgeries he's done and, yes, he did take out my prostate and, no, I didn't die on the operating table, but I just don't think he is seeing the bigger picture as to the long-term consequences of his actions. What can I expect? Thanks everybody!
Comments
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Yes, a mess
Gene,
I'm sorry you are in your current circumstances.
Obviously, removal of the gland did not get all of the cancer. When to do surgery verses radiation is always based on the most correct staging possible. Whoever evaluated your overall case got something wrong, but lamenting that now will not help.
I am not conversant in metastatic disease, and know next to nothng about HTs, but the good news is that a lot of the guys here are deeply familiar, although none of us is a doctor, and none of us may give 'medical advice'.
From what you related, I definitely would get a new medical oncologist, or at least second opinions, and I would start now.
The guy's will need a fuller description of your diagnosis, biopsy reports, etc. Where you are being treated is also information they will want to know.
I hope the writers here are of assistance; they normally are.
max
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