Possible spinal stenosis

Hi Rtb , I think we all jump to conclusions at times and we cannot help ourselves . My OH has had back pain for years following a diving accident and when he had the RT it disappeared for a long time he is now getting niggles jumps on the bandwagon .  Every pain is oh is that . We are all human and do worry.   It could be age related ( you don’t say your dad’s age)  as things change over the years . Just be there for your dad and support him as no doubt he will you while waiting . As the waiting game is just awful . We need to put our lives in these specialists caring hands .  Huge hugs 

Liz & OH xxx

Hi Rtb , until you get a proper diagnosis it is only natural to jump to conclusions.  If the experts haven’t jumped to the conclusion that the pain is PCa related, I would tend to think it isn’t.  You mentioned low PSA (which is great) and if no upward trend, I would also draw the conclusion that it isn’t PCa based.  In the (probably unlikely) event that PCa is detected, although a big disappointment, is probably still curable or at worst treatable.  The waiting is the worst bit, but try and keep your dad positive.

Hi Liz,

Thank you for sharing your partners story. Dad has just turned 70, meant to be retired (self employed mechanic) but still keeping busy with doing a few car jobs, volunteering at a local museum doing up old air crafts so still very much labour intensive when he does do things so would expect aches and pains but as soon as they mentioned the leg pain possibly being spinal stenosis i went down the rabbit hole of dr google which is never the right the thing to do but i can't help but always want to know as much as i can about possible outcomes.

We've been through the waiting game before and when things start to look up for a while you forget how dark these times can be.

Hugs to you and your partner xx

Thank you for your reassurance David, greatly appreciated.

I''m hopeful that because he hasn't been given an MRI appointment yet that they are not thinking it is an emergency and as the only symptom of spinal stenosis he seems to have is the leg pain i'm hopeful it isn't PC related.

We have a close family member who was diagnosed after the cancer had already spread to his bones and had a turn recently within a day unable to walk and talk, speech has come back but he is now in a wheelchair and spending his last days at home. i think seeing how things have progressed with him makes the worry even worse as soon as bones are mentioned. 

Will try to keep positive until we have the full picture!

Hello Rtb 

I am so sorry to read about your dad - do you have his latest PSA and his TNM score from his diagnosis? That may help us to help you.

I know you have been on Dr Google but here's a link to our information on SCC:

Metastatic-spinal-cord-compression.

I hope this helps to clear things up.

Best wishes - Brian.

I don't have the latest PSA or TNM to hand, initial PSA was 58.5 at diagnosis, PSA as of January was 0.30, even lower in April post radiotherapy and has remained around that low at his last reading

Hello Rtb 

It all sounds good to me, he had surgery, yes and then on examination afterwards it looks like they didn't get all the cancer cells (The results revealed in the surgery histology report). Since then he's been on Hormone Therapy and had Radiotherapy which put the cancer cells to sleep and then kill them off.

I also would have thought there was any chance of SCC the MRI would have been urgent and not at the end of a long list.

I think he should be OK - but remember I am not medically trained.

Best wishes - Brian.

Thank you for the reassurance Brian, will keep my fingers crossed until we know more

Hi RTB , sorry to hear of your worries. Perhaps it might reassure you to know that doctors often reach a definitive diagnosis by ruling out other potential issues? So, they’ve ruled out statins. Hopefully they will rule out the spinal stenosis and move on to both ruling out or looking for other causes of the pains.

hth

Firstly, this is exactly where you need to be for support or finding out where the support you and your Dad can find out the answers to all the worries that the Prostate cancer give you.

The reply’s you’ve already had should help as it’s much like I would say but I’ll say anyway.

The profile you’ve put up is useful but you can embellish it with the PSA details and that would help especially with your question about any progression.

As was mentioned the trend of the PSA is the giveaway. If you get three upward results it’s assumed that the cancer is active. But if your Dads PSA number is still under 1, it’s safe to assume the pains are more likely to be something other than prostate cancer. Wear and tear the most common reason.

Relax for now, but always ask these questions to your Dads oncology team to make them aware of any changes, especially with pins and needles in the hands and feet, shortness of breath and or new aches and pains in the spine, hips or pelvis.

I have become a 61 year old guy that’s sitting down more than I want to and my fitness is my biggest worry. I’m a twelve stone weakling and due my comfy seat I’m loosing the muscle I had a couple of months ago. It my attitude that needs to change but I mostly feel apathetic about my fitness due to my low morale about the treatments I’m having. So keep your Dads head in the right place and everything can seem a bit better.

We are here on this forum to get help and to give it if we can. It’s anonymous so I hope you can be honest and feel safe. Good luck to you, your family and mostly your Dad.