MRI scan and beyond

Mac3,  your PSA is so low I imagine that the hospital doesn’t think you are urgent enough to bump you up the queue.  That is very annoying for you but actually incredibly good news.  I suspect you will end up on active surveillance but I am not qualified.  Active surveillance tends to mean you get tested (every 3 months typically) so if any Prostate Cancer is identified it will be caught early.  No need to worry.  David

Thanks David - steeling myself for the worst news so it doesn't come as a hammer blow. I don't know if I fancy the prospect of AS as it would hang over me . .  I think I would prefer to deal with it and get ird of it if possible.

Ian

Hell Mac3 

Low PSA is great,  Enlarged Prostate, not as good but the Urology department will have your MRI scan.  The attend with a full bladder on 11 December sounds like a CT scan to get another view of the Prostate for confirmation of the MRI. 

The full bladder "lifts" the bladder off the Prostate and this gives the CT scan a better view of your prostate.

I would think as the CT results will be available on the day the Urologist will be able to come up with a treatment plan. 

I would be compiling a list of questions for the Urologist on 11 December 2023 - including asking how enlarged is the prostate and in view of this what action do you propose to take and what are my choices.

I know it's easy for me to say but try not to worry, you are in good hands and you will have some answers next month. I hope this helps.

Best wishes - Brian.

Hi Mac3, we had an appointment to get the results 6 weeks after the scan. One week before this appointment we were told that they had postponed it for 3 months. At first I thought this meant there was nothing wrong but the more we thought about it the more we realised we needed certainty. I contacted urology and our GP practice. We got the appointment date brought forward to just two days later than the original. The GP rang in the meantime and told my husband over the phone that he has cancer. The MRI does not actually confirm cancer but reveals problem areas that need further investigation!

I was livid when I found out that the 3 month delay was because the consultant had decided to take the day off and the re-booking had been delegated to a non medically trained and non medically supervised admin assistant! We made a formal complaint to the hospital because, in that 3 month delay, to our minds, the cancer could have spread. This seemed to be very dangerous bureaucracy - a lottery with peo0les health and, even, their lives.

the message I took from this is that we could not trust the hospital and the nhs. We had to take ownership of my husbands ‘journey’. We monitored, recorded and pushed (politely) for everything. Don’t rest in comfort assuming the NHS has it all under control!

best of luck!

Thanks Brian - as always very informative and re-assuring 

Ian