Having Surgery?
My story is a family one. In December of 2016, my brother had a PSA of 8.9. A biopsy showed a Gleason score of 9 and a prostatectomy found cancer has already spread to the lymph nodes and he is now Stage 4. He was treated with radiation and is now in hormone therapy.
In January of 2017, my GP informed me my PSA was 7.6 and sent me to a urologist. He did another PSA and it was 6. He suggested waiting and doing another PSA. I elected to have a 12 core biopsy. It was negative, but I requested that my cores be sent to Confirm MDX and that testing showed that I had cancer somewhere in my prostate. I then went to another urologist that had me do an MRI and a 18 core biopsy. One core came back with a Gleason score of six. I requested the core be tested for Genome and after five weeks the lab said my sample was too small to test. My doctor said we should continue active surveillance. I just completed another MRI last month and it showed a score of 3. Don't fully understand what that means.
It has been extremely difficult to watch what is happening to my brother. Not only is his cancer advanced but he is both incontinent and impotent. The 30 biopsies has left me with some ED and the doctor suggested another set of biopsies. I am tired of the anxiety and told him I want it out. I tentatively have surgery scheduled for May 9th. I really don't know if I made the right decision. I also have two cores that had HGPIN cells and one that had ASAP cells. My Doctor Googling tells me that is going to be cancer. Thinking I should get another opinion?
- Tnewman
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