New to group and all this everything all over the place, don’t know what to do or what to say. Went for blood tests came back 7, two internal exams led to an MRI, which has now led to a biopsy tomorrow, how long before these results come back?
I know that it's easy to say but try not to panic at this stage.
When u say blood test I presume you mean psa which is obviously not high at 7. The hope is that even if it is cancer it will be non aggressive and therefore easily treatable.
Do you know what the MRI says? If not try and get hold of a copy of the MRI report, that can tell u a lot.
The Biopsy results will take 2 - 3 weeks to come back. From your name I presume you have a Welsh connection? Do you live in Wales as I do? Which hospital do you go to? How old are you?
As has already been said try not to worry too much. The worst part of this is the waiting for test results meetings and appointments.
Hi, A PSA result of 7 did suggest that you needed further testing for prostate cancer. It isn't actually a very good test since there are a few reasons for raised PSA , some of which aren't cancer and I have heard of men with a higher PSA than 7 who didn't have cancer. A further indication is a Digital Rectal Examination, which I believe is what you referred to as an "internal" exam. The doctor does this to see how large, smooth, tender and/or hard the gland is. The doctor may have passed some comment on this, but unfortunately they often don't.
The prostate gland does get larger as you get older and this in itself does not make a doctor suspect cancer. If it's tender, then this suggests it might NOT be cancer. If it feels irregular, hard or a lump is felt, that indicates cancer.
It does sound as if your MRI did find something which raised the suspicion that there is a tumour in the prostate gland. This is in some respects a better indicator than a DRE or a PSA test. This is not entirely certain however hence the need for a biopsy, as only this can confirm it definitely.
I'm afraid you may have started on what many people refer to as a journey, it involves a lot of waiting. e.g. waiting for results, waiting for appointments, waiting for treatment and so on. It also involves learning some new words and phrases like "PSA".
Hopefully you won't get far a long this journey and your biopsy result comes back negative. If it doesn't then hopefully the health professionals will explain everything on the way, but sometimes they don't, so you have to ask.
It usually takes a couple of weeks for the biopsy to be tested, but it may be longer, if you don't already have an appointment, to get the results.
Being told you have cancer is quite a shock, so just in case that happens you might like to have a few questions written down to ask and then either yourself, somebody who goes with you. or the person giving you the results can write down the answers for you. Otherwise, you may forget to ask the questions and you may forget the answers.
Some things you need to know form the biopsy result, (if it is positive), is what percentage of the gland is affected, whether there is "perineural invasion" or not, whether any tumour is contained in the gland or has grown through the capsule and what the "Gleason" score is. These indicate what your prognosis and treatment might be.
Also if it's positive then you may have to undergo a bone scan. Which, I'm afraid entails more waiting and then all the r4suilts are taken to a Multi-disciplinary Team who recommend what the best treatment options are. More waiting.
None of this takes that long, it does seem a long time however.
