Newbie

Hi Timmy2 and welcome to the forum, what you are feeling is perfectly normal, who wouldn't feel that way when told they had cancer. Timmy the early stages of testing and waiting for results is the hardest as well.  Your biopsy, it's a good idea to go with someone for support and to drive you home as you may be a little tender down there for a few hours, Don't worry about being embarrased the doctors and nurses have seen it all hundreds of times, the procedure can sting a little but nothing to worry about and is all over in about half a hour and you can go home. good luck with the biopsy and results, take care. 

Eddie

Hi Timmy2

Eddie is right the biopsy isn’t painful. I was on my own but having someone is a good idea. When you get past the idea of what they’re actually doing the one thing I didn’t expect was the noise the sample taking made. It was like a popping, snapping sound that I was not prepared for it. Prostate cancer moves fairly slowly so I’m told but it’s good to get this. Checked out early.
good luck with your biopsy results and also I have found over the last four years. It is healthy to talk about this crap. 

Hi Timmy2,

Finn finn and Eddie are spot on. Don't be alarmed about the rapidity of your referrals, etc. Everything moved fairly rapidly for me, too, and I hardly had time to think and take in all the info. Of course, those initial days and weeks are immensely scary.

Incidentally, your PSA of 13 is the same as my older brother's back in November 2022, and now after his treatment, he's on the firm road to recovery. My diagnosis was just a year after his. He always said I liked to copy him!

Very best of luck, and don't worry yourself about the biopsy, as it will be over and done in a jiffy.

David

Hi Timmy2.

A warm welcome. What you are feeling is perfectly normal but things do get better once you get your results. Just to let you know that after the biopsy you may notice blood in your urine and semen for a few days. This is quite normal but can be frightening if you are not expecting it. Take care.

Hi Timmy2,

Try not to worry that there's something they are not telling you & think of it more along the lines of the NHS working efficiently. 

The biopsy itself isn't the most comfortable experience but then again neither is going to the dentist, & isn't too painful and is over fairly quickly.  The staff have completed this procedure so many times so no need to feel embarrassed  or humiliated.  When I had mine last year, one of the nurses was chatting away to me & there was a radio playing in the background as well which all helped take my mind off what they were doing.  

My hospital recommended having someone with you so that they can drive you home afterwards as you can feel a little tender for a while.  Having said that, I felt fine so we stopped off on the way home & had lunch out.

Hope it all goes well for you

Hi Timmy

My experience seems to different to others, but if I had my time again, I would push, as hard as I could, for a general anesthetic- and I only had 4 samples taken.

Regards

Stuart

Hi Timmy,

For my template biopsy I had a lumbar anesthetic so I felt nothing and was awake the whole time which I think was about twenty minutes. A lovely nurse held my hand throughout and talked to me. It really was a lot less stressful than I had anticipated so please don't get too worried about it although that's easy for me to say! Stay calm and you'll sail through it. All the best,

Bas

Hello Timmy2  Another warm welcome to the online Prostate Community from me.

Plenty of great advice already from other Community members and lot of re-assurance for you.  Just a little bit of light reading for you - the first link is to a guide from Prostate Cancer UK - just diagnosed:

https://shop.prostatecanceruk.org/our-publications/all-publications/prostate-cancer-guide-if-you've-just-been-diagnosed

And the next one is how Prostate Cancer is diagnosed:

https://shop.prostatecanceruk.org/our-publications/all-publications/how-prostate-cancer-is-diagnosed

You can read them both as a download and if you have any questions, just give us a shout - we have all "been there - done that".

Best wishes - Brian.

Hello Timmy, as others have said, the shock and fear when you hear that you have ( in your case - still potentially) is horrible. Be assured - your reactions and emotions are exactly what we all fear - yes - us wives feel it too!

this is all happening so very quickly but that is the pace we all wish we could have experienced! I don’t know where you live but whichever hospital you are dealing. With deserves a real pat on the back! For many of us, our pathway through the diagnostics has been painfully slow with weeks and months of delays. ii know that the speed is almost breathtaking but the sooner all the facts and figures are known the sooner you can get on with the treatment

please remember that prostate cancer , caught soon enough, can be cured. If the cancer has spread, there is a whole armoury of treatments out there now which will manage the cancer - for many years in most cases. Years ago, we looked on cancer as a death sentence. Nowadays, in many cases, it can be understood as a ‘long term chronic condition’. As my husband and I have found and intend to pursue - there is a lot of living to do despite a cancer diagnosis!

I hope all goes well with the biopsy. I drove my husband on the day. He could have driven, I guess, but I wanted to be there with him.

good luck!

Hello and welcome. My husband had a biopsy last year and took me with him but then wished he hadn't as I was in a worse state than he was due to my hospital phobia. He said the worst but was having to expose his bits. He had no side effects after the procedure. Hope all goes well for you