Had my annual PSA check end of September and it was 5.73 which is a rise of 1 in a period of 10 months. Appointment with Urologist and an echo Graph. 6th October08 The results were a palpable Prostate needing Biopsy.
17th October Biopsy
30th October confirmation of Prostate Cancer Gleason (4x3) 7 staged t2b
Irm Scan 17th November
Urologist 18th November
Suggests Op 1st week in January
FormerMember
Progress update.
Had arranged to go into hospital and have open surgery on the 14th of January preceded by a visit to the anaesthetist on the 5th.
The attitude of the surgeon left me with some doubt as to his competence . I asked him about nerve sparing surgery and his reply was “these things are not colour coded green or anything youknow”
I then arranged through a friend to see a Doctor in Toulouse. The Doctor turned out to be a beam/radiotherapy advocate . He also suggested that I needed more scans as the one I had had only covered my pelvis area.
It was decided I should have more scans on the 22nd of December and then meetings after Christmas to decide the way forward.
I was not too happy with the delays so went to see my local GP who rang a specialist in Agen at a clinic there. This was Thursday afternoon the 4th of December I then had an appointment for the 6th and attended. The Dr I saw was very nice and caring and explained everything to me. He also offered Laparoscopic surgery with a quicker recovery period and I was most impressed.
So :- I have to have two more scans and then back to him on the 23rd with hopefully the operation mid January.
So thats where I am.
30th December
Now had the two scans, the first a radio active one with an injection and a wait for two hours before scanning. The second an MRI scan which was done yesterday the 29th.
The first scan was to see if it was in my bones and was OK the second was to see if it had got out of my Prostate and it does not appear to have.So now I see the specialist next Monday.
David, Have you began treatment? My dad is considering brachytherapy(radiation seed implants), Do you have experience with this? Hope you are doing well. Thanks, Kelly
Hi Kelly no I have not had my treatment yet I was suposed to have it in feb but got a urine infection and am having the op on march 6th. I have been looking at treatments since I was diagnosed in October. You have plenty of time to make sure you pick the right one. All but surgery have worst side effects. I read of a guy who had seed implants and some came away and blocked his bladder. If you have any radiation treatments it then means that you still have the cancer inside you and if later you need surgery the flesh which was radiated will not heal so that is not for me.
Please do as I said and read the yananow .net site and you will get a feel for which way to go. Also if you look on there you can see most people op for surgery and those that did not often have ongoing treatment for years. but a lot depends on your age and your gleason score and staging
hope this helps, if you need to speak for more info e mail me on david.mo@hotmail.co.uk
I was suposed to have my op 6th of February and was all set for it. In France you have to have a urine test before you go into hospital and mine proved to have a superbug in it which was a real downer for me.
A course of antibiotics and anothe rmonth and I am due to have the op next week going in on the 5th and op on the 6th so watch this space. I just want this over with having found it in October and yet no one seems to be in a rush.
I am home after having my operation on Friday the 6th of March. The most important thing I think I did was not rush into finding the right Urologist. The one I finally used was described by one of his colleague as an artist and I have to say he was right.
I had the procedure Friday morning and was up and walking with no pain Saturday morning.
I had no pain relief drugs while in hospital although they were offered.
He visited morning and evening every day. I was in for one week had the drain out wednesday and had the catheter removed Friday the day I came out. Not a nice experience but a bearable one.
I am doing the exercises and already my waterworks are getting better which is good. So, I am going to sit and relax with a beer as I have strict instructions not to do any work for two weeks!!!
