Wellness

[Calcgirl]

My boyfriend may have prostrate cancer.  He is having a biopsy July 21st.  PSA sky high and hard prostate. 

Anyone here who can offer advice, etc? 

Have a nice weekend.

[January121]

Hope everything works out & the biopsy comes back negative! Good Luck!!

[RedTop]

The husbands of 3 close friends have dealt with prostate cancer, and all were treated differently.   The one who had family history of prostate cancer had surgery just 3 years ago to remove the gland, due to its abnormal size, but did not need any other treatment.   One chose to have the radioactive seed implants over 10 years ago, and the other took radiation therapy which was 5+ years ago.   All 3 did very well with their individual treatments, and continue to do well.  

Best wishes to your boyfriend as he seeks his diagnosis.   

[riley1]

My husband elected to have his prostate gland removed about 15 yrs ago. He had his PSA levels checked every 3 months then 6 months then every year for quite some time. He continues to do well. 

We did a lot of research on this and the pros/cons of different procedures. My hubs went to Johns Hopkins for his procedure and the surgeon was one of the top in this field. 

Good Luck

[Retiredpsych]

My husband is going through this right now.  He has aggressive prostate cancer. We met with the surgeon on Wed and have elected to have the robotic prostectomy.  Hopefully in 3 or 4 weeks (insurance has to OK it). There are a number of options out there (surgery, radiation, seeds, cryo, wait and watch, etc.)  Do your homework. Some of them have a less successful outcome.  Others are for men under 70.  Some are for enlarged prostates while others are for "younger" men. Everyone is unique. The biopsy will produce a Gleason Score (not to be confused with the PSA number).  I had never heard of a Gleason Score. That score will tell you what stage the cancer is in and that score will have a lot to do with your options. Our urologist gave my husband a book to read, 100 Questions and Answers About Prostate Cancer. I highly recommend you read it.

 If you have not been told, the biopsy of the prostate is not pleasant for the man. Pretty painful.  Just letting you know in advance so you can help him out that day.   And finally, a lot is said about the PSA test. AMA is now saying it doesn't do anything and shouldn't be done. In my husbands case it saved his life. His prostate was not enlarged, so during physicals it was  thought to be "normal". Our super doctor didn't like the PSA number going steadily up and sent him to a specialist (urologist). His cancer is exceptionally aggressive. So, I am very glad your boyfriend is getting a biopsy.  Treatment and cure is better than the alternative!! If I can answer any of  your questions about the biopsy, etc. just let me know.

[croemer]

My husband went through this...this year he had a robotic prostectomy. He caught it early...stage 1. There are a limited number of surgeons who do this surgery...we found a great one locally. The surgery was about 2 hours long and he was in pain for about one week. He would come home with a catheter for about 4 days and he would return to the doctor to have it removed and flushed in the office to make sure everything is working properly. He would have about 5 small cuts used for the arms to the robot and tubes to remove blood and fluids.

We have had neighbors who elected to have radiation...from what we have learned you have some where around 27% chance of the cancer returning after this treatment. The little radiation balls we were told by our neighbor who chose radiation...melt together during the process...so if the cancer returns...they can no longer do surgery...your chose will be to take hormone pills for the rest of your life if it returns. They can not remove the little balls so you have to live with them. His cancer did return. You will be informed of his gleason score and what stage...this may determine his treatment. Read up and ask lots of questions. Take a pad with you with your questions and write down the answers. You may be in shock and not remember all the information. Here is some information on Gleason scores and what they mean: LINK

More info: LINK

Best of luck...try to stay calm...remember many men live a long life afterwards.

[hckynut]

Hello Moderators!  I spent a lot of my time typing a response to this thread.

Any idea where or why I do not see it? It also does not show up in personal list of replies I have made in certain forums.

 E.T.A.  I even went back to edit my post so I know it was in this WELLNESS FORUM right after I posted it. 

Now speaking of the preventative measures of this could violate Community Standards in what way? I have no problems with some of my posts being removed, but I do have a serious problem when my posts are removed for no logical reason. 

Would be nice if the Moderator that removed it would explain, what word(s)/preventative procedure or my having 2 close friends die from this preventable disease, explain their reason to me.

hckynut(john)

[esmeraldagooch]

Thanks for your replys to the OP.  My husband is in the same boat at the OP 's boyfriend.

[Slainte]

The prostate biopsy is very painful so be prepared for that.

My DH several years ago my DH had a rising PSA and came from a family where 3 other brothers had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. The first biopsy came back Gleason 6.  Google Gleason Score for more info, this is how they rate aggressiveness of prostate cancer.

Just a small section of the prostate was cancerous, so we did the "watchful waiting" for a year. PSA continued to rise. Next biopsy same Gleason 6 but more spread. More "watchful waiting" for a year. Third year biopsy (and these biopsies are very painful with complications for my DH) still Gleason 6 but spread to both lobes of prostate,  T2c. At that stage, he decided enough was enough and had the robotic laparoscopic removal of prostate. He'd had enough with the biopsies and uncertainies.

One brother had radiation treatment for his prostate cancer and has had many urinary problems as a result, but that was 20 years ago. The other 2 brothers had surgeries and have done well. My DH has had no recurrance, with PSA checked every year. 

If the Gleason score is greater than 6, treatment needs to be quicker due to the aggressiveness of the cancer.

Hope all goes well with your boyfriend.

[Mmsfoxxie]

Well, first of all, let's pray that it's not cancer, @Calcgirl.  If it is, his age will have a lot to do with surgical procedure and outcome.  The most important outcome is total removal of the cancer, of course.  On a lesser note, your BF would hope to keep his bladder control, sexual proformance and one that people don't think of.... emotional health if your outcome is less than perfect.  Loss of bladder control and sexual performance happens quite often and men can't deal with it.  I never realized how many jokes you hear about prostate cancer and lack of sexual proformance until it happened to us.

Be positive with and for your BF and try to ignore the days that he lets it get the best of him.  Good luck.