YANA - YOU ARE NOT ALONE NOW

PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT SITE

BRONZE

Al S and Donna live in New York, USA. He was 52 when he was diagnosed in August, 2008. His initial PSA was 2.1 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 7 and he was staged T1c. His choice of treatment was Active Surveillance. Here is his story.

In March of 2008 after getting my annual physical my doctor saw that my PSA was 2.1 up from 1.5 the year before. Rectal exam was normal.

I was referred to a urologist given the rise in PSA from the prior year. In July 2008, my digital rectal scan was fairly normal and my rectal exam showed no tumors to the touch. My free factor PSA was 8% however so a biopsy was recommended.

In August 2008 I got a biopsy which came back a positive with a Gleason score of 3+4 with 20% cancer found in the right mid gland and 30% in the left apex.

My first inclination was Da Vinci Surgery but after meeting with my urologist yesterday I've decided to go for active surveillance with a change in diet, PSA tests and digital rectal scans every 3 months and an annual biopsy.

Any input from people taking a similar path is very much appreciated.

 

UPDATED

November 2008

 

 

I got a second opinion on my biopsy hoping for a lower Gleason score and diagnosis. Instead it came back worse. Of my 3 positive cores: 2 cores were upgraded from 3+4 to 4+3 and one core was upgraded 3+4 to 4+4.

So my active surveillance program went quickly out the window (although my no red meat and no dairy active surveillance diet & my exercise program did not) as of October 30th, 2008 I started to be treated as a high risk radiation patient. This entails nine months of hormone therapy (Trelstar & Casodex) plus brachytherapy (seed implants) after the third month of hormone therapy followed 30 days later with 5 weeks of external beam radiation therapy to get any PC cells that may have escaped from the prostate. I'm glad I've made this decision and begun treatment.

The day I started my HT I got a baseline PSAs test which came back as unchanged over the last 6 months which I attribute to radically changing my diet upon learning of my diagnosis in August.

Al's e-mail address is: al142s@aol.com