MRi Scan two lesions in prostate

Hello Peter, most people who post here report the absolute shock and fear they feel when they are told they or a significant other are most likely to have prostate cancer. I remember that telephone call 2 years ago telling my husband his MRI result. I felt like I had been thumped to such an extent that I could barely breathe!

But, please don’t despair! Get as much information as you can so that you can understand the different treatment options etc. wwwprostatecanceruk.org is a good place to start!

any cancer diagnosis is frightening but treatments for prostate cancer are improving. Caught early, there is a good chance of achieving a cure. Detected at a later stage when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body means that, currently, there is no complete cure but it is in most cases very controllable! 

we found the worst part of the journey so far was getting through all the diagnostics. Once we knew ‘where we were heading’ with a treatment plan in place it felt as if we had regained some sort of sense of control of our lives. Life will never be quite the same again because the cancer diagnosis made us aware of our own mortality. We realised that life is precious and that we , as a couple, need to make the most of our time together. The whole experience has brought us closer than ever with much more appreciation of what we’ve got ( with each other) and what’s out there for us to enjoy and who’s out there for us to love.

i know you will get lots of support here and also all the answers you need if your experience is anything like ours! I wish you all the very best as you join us all on the prostate cancer journey 

Hi ya 

Thank you so much I know what you mean when i had the dreaded phone call yesterday, at the moment I seem to be isolated myself and feeling very low as when the GP wrongly said I'll be fine it's just a enlarged prostate that raised the psa levels i was so relieved, but waiting for the mri scan results like the x-ray results was horrible anxiety not sleeping and a little bit angry with the GP, hope your husband is doing well .

Hello Peter and welcome, even though you wish you haven't embarked on this journey. I can fully concur with Worried Wife's comments and excellent post. I am another wife who was catapulted into the prostate cancer world over 4 years ago and even though my husband has advanced metastatic prostate cancer he is still doing extremely well. To help me cope I decided to find out as much as I could about the disease so that we could firstly understand what all the terminology means but also to find out what treatment options are available. In those 4 years it has become clear that treatments are developing at a rapid rate with many more in the development stage. From a personal point of view the best first bit of information comes from a book which you can download for free. Here is the link.

https://issuu.com/magazineproduction/docs/js_prostate_cancer_guide_for_patients_ezine

The biopsy, according to my husband, was uncomfortable but it is needed in order to stage the cancer if it is present.

Anxiety and insomnia are common to many at the beginning and Macmillan have a support line for you or your family if you need to talk or ask questions plus they have access to free BUPA counselling if you think it might help. Also many hospitals have a Maggie's which is a great place to drop into.

This is the Macmillan support number.

0808 808 00 00

As a group we have members who have been through a range of treatments so can give you their personal experience but overall we are here to support each other so ask whatever questions you want and feel free to join in any of the threads.

The best piece of advice everyone will tell you is to try and get as fit as possible because the treatments can take their toll. Things do seem bleak at the beginning and prostate cancer occupies all your thoughts but things do get better once you have a plan. 

Hi ya

Thank you so much for your amazing advice I'll definitely have a look, have the biopsy on the 6th November so Just want to get it over with as all the waiting for results of the ultersound and mri scan have been awful but with a 66.7% chance I'm really resigned to the biopsy result ,Hope you're husband is doing well .

Thanks again 

Hi Peter (Psb2024 ) great advice and info from WW & AH, so I won’t repeat.  You are at that horrible stage not knowing and we have all been there.  Try and stay positive and make sure you are as fit as possible. PCa comes in lots of variants and once you have more info, we can help you through each stage.  You can read our own stories on our avatars (the beach in my case).  Good luck, David

Hi David 

Thank you so much for your reply it's much appreciated, I'll definitely give your story a read for sure hope you are well 

Thanks again 

Peter 

This is the most shocking and horrible time. 

After a while, usually when the tests are complete and you have something you can call a plan, there will come a realisation that you have embarked on a journey. 

I started on that journey myself earlier this year - you can read the how, what and when by looking at my profile.

This form is a huge help. 

There are people on here better qualified than I am to give you detail, some of whom have already responded. There is also lots of very matter of fact experience. 

I will say, from looking at your notes that your overall diagnosis looks better than mine, and I am on a "curative" pathway. 

Wait for the Biopsy (which, despite not actually being fun, is not as bad as you think it will be), and then the 2 - 4 weeks for those results to come through, and your way forward will gradually become clearer. 

Remember also, as was said to me by the nurse doing the biopsy, that even am aggressive form of prostate cancer is slower than many others. You have time to get the treatment right for you.

Hi ya 

Really appreciate you have taken time to message me, yes this time is awful especially when the GP told me the ultersound results was the psa levels was 7.7  because of the enlarged prostate and I'll be fine so I've had very different mixed emotions with the mri scan results being really bad, hope you are doing well and thanks again for your reassurance it's very much appreciated  

Peter

My PSA at start was 7.39.

A week ago, 3.5 months into hormone therapy, with radiotherapy still to come, it has gone down to 0.57.

Hope is there.

I have been learning a lot, mainly from the people on this forum.I recommend learning about this illness so that you can work out how to help the treatment by your own actions. There is much you can do, and just taking action will help the mental health.

Hi 

That's great news ,yeah I'm reading up on helpful things to do as building up to the biopsy on the 6th of next month, thanks again really glad your treatment is going really well 

Peter