Partner Newly Diagnosed

btshea
btshea Member Posts: 2
edited March 2014 in Prostate Cancer #1
My partner of 11 years was just diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. He is 48 years old. His PSA count is 30 and his is an 8 on the Gleason index. Needless to say, we are very worried and terrified by everything we read online. We live outside of Boston and are currently at Lahey Clinic in Burlington. His surgeon seems pretty aggrssive and very responsive with information and tests. He specializes in the DaVinci proceedure and that seems to be the way to go if surgery is called for. We will most likely seek a second opinion at Dana Farber too. Anyone out there have any advice on medical care in the Boston area? I will take any and all suggestions.

Thanks to all

Comments

  • lewvino
    lewvino Member Posts: 1,010
    #2
    Sorry to hear that your
    Sorry to hear that your partner has been diagnosed. I'm 54 with Gleason 7. Waiting for my surgery date with the daVinci procedure on August 12th.

    Do your research and get other opinions. I live in Tennessee so I'm not familiar with the medical Care up in Boston area. There are so many options to explore. Keep us posted on how he does.

    Larry
  • 2ndBase
    2ndBase Member Posts: 220
    #3
    Prostate cancer
    At 52 I was dx with psa 24 and Gleason of 9. I got a second opinion and was told I had a 50% chance to live 2 years and a 2% chance to survive 10 years. They assumed it had spread even though it did not show up on an scan, which it seldom does at these levels. I took one shot of Lupron followed by 40 radiation treatments. I was treated in first half of 2004. The radiation killed all the cancer in my prostate ( confirmed by second biopsy last Dec.) As predicted it had already spread and my psa is rising again at a pretty fast rate. This treatment was the best for me and the side effects are a lack of sexual desire and ability, fatigue, etc. but my life is good. I got all the stress out of my life and my wife is an angel. If your cancer has spread your doctor will probably not want to do surgery and I personally am very glad I did not have to have it. Your decision needs to be made by you alone and you have to believe it will help. I have had no other treatment to this day though I'm sure more will be recommended when I tell my urologist about my latest psa reading from my family doctor. Get the treatment you think will do the most good and try not to stress about it. The data for preferring one treatment over another is pretty flimsy at best but something needs to be done. I would not still be alive had I waited till now. There has to be plenty of great medical people in your area so take advantage of that and get at least one more opinion. Call me if you want to talk sometime 765-759-5841. All the best.
  • shipjim
    shipjim Member Posts: 137 Member
    #4
    Just diagnosed
    Sorry to hear the news of your partner. DaVinci is how I went and was very happy. Get multiple opinions His numbers are high so be very diligent. You'll want bone scans, mri, ekg etc but your doc will order those.

    Surgery may or may not be your answer. Lahey is good don't know Farber. For me getting it out was my main goal. If you do other things such as radiology, hormone etc then surgery may NOT be an option.

    Keep us posted. jj

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