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[2006] Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?/Merged

breezylawn

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:( Oh boy, blood in my urine, not a good sign...off to the doc at my wife's insistance...physician finds small lump on my prostate....now I'm off to urologist....has anyone had this problem? Is this the beginning of prostate cancer???? Should I start making out my will??? Blood test results have not come back, and I'm being pre-mature, but my wife swears by this site and how helpful everyone is...any advice? Any holistic methods in the meantime?:bawl:
Bill
 

mikey0531

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Re: Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?

Hi Bill,

I'm no expert -- but my dad just went through what you're going through. And, although it doesn't mean YOU have prostate cancer, my dad does. BUT -- it was so early that they just recently treated it with a "one shot" dose of radiation. They put pellets inside. From what I understand -- even if you do have cancer, as my dad put it .... "if I have to get cancer, it's a good one to get." It's very treatable with early detection.

And, my husband also had prostatitis (sp???) -- I guess it was some kind of a growth that the urologist broke -- it was gross my husband said -- and it burned like the devil coming out -- and then he was treated for a long time with cipro. Now, he's good.

But, I don't think you have to run out and make out your will :) I hope you see the urologist soon to put your fears to rest.

Oh --and yes, I think there are certain things you can avoid drinking -- I think my dad said too much coffee is one thing. And, my husband swears by cranberry juice. But, I'm sure you can find a wealth of information on the internet. Good luck.

Debi
 

bogey21

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Re: Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?

breezylawn said:
Is this the beginning of prostate cancer????......Blood test results have not come back, and I'm being pre-mature, but...

Could be, but prostate cancer is not the end of the world if caught early. Blood test will give you PSA. Common wisdom is not to worry unless PSA is over 4. Don't believe it. Key is doubling time of PSA. If it doubles in less than a year, start checking via biopsies, bone scan, CAT scan, etc. The lump on the prostate would worry me because it is a whole lot easier to treat prostate cancer if it has not excaped capsul than if it has.

My recommendation is this: See what your PSA turns out to be. If it is above 4 or has doubled in the last 12 months, get aggressive. Don't let Doctors tell you to come back in 3 or 6 months. Prostate cancer is usually slow growing but the sooner caught, the better. If any doubts at all, demand that your prostate be biopsied; demand a bone scan; demand a CAT scan; demand an endorectal MRI.

I have been there. I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March 2000. I was treated with IMRT and HDR radiation in June - August 2000. Cancer came back in one spot and I was retreated with Cryosurgery in March 2006. Right now it looks good again.

Get aggressive. Don't let them drag this out. It is your life, not your doctor's. Prostate cancer can very often be beaten when attacked early.

GEORGE
 

PamH

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Re: Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?

A friend of ours just had the very same thing happen. Yes, his is cancerous. They said they could use "seeds" but he is pretty sure he wants them to operate and take it out using robotic surgery. He mentioned a newer procedure and I cannot remember the name, something like Deveneti which is a computer driven robotic surgery. I think his is a fairly small lump too.
By the way, good luck!
 

Keitht

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Re: Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?

There was an item about prostate cancer on a UK TV programme earlier this week. There is apparently a growing band of medical opinion that in many cases a "Watch and Wait" approach is the best treatment. There will obviously be tests etc to decide if that is the best way, but concern is growing that the treatment can be worse than the disease. On the programme they said the surgical route had "A high risk of impotence and a very high risk of incontinence". Talk about being between the rocks and a hard place!!
 

bogey21

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Re: Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?

Keitht said:
There is apparently a growing band of medical opinion that in many cases a "Watch and Wait" approach is the best treatment.

I have heard that this is more the norm in parts of Europe, not so much in the US unless patient is pretty old.

Keitht said:
...concern is growing that the treatment can be worse than the disease. On the programme they said the surgical route had "A high risk of impotence and a very high risk of incontinence".

With surgery (and even cryosurgery) there is always the risk of impotence and incontinence. Every year these risks are becoming less and less as the medical profession is becoming better in managing them. Thus such concerns should be diminishing rather than growing!

GEORGE
 

boyblue

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Re: Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?

No Will Bill, I hope you're fine. Thanks for your post though, you have inspired me to get tested. I cancelled an appointment last month after I thought about it too much:eek:.
 

The Conch Man

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Re: Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?

I've had prostate cancer since May 1996 ~~ they took everything ~~ When I took the PSA ~~ My # was 15 ~~ I had to wait three months cause I had to have open heart surgery 1st ~~ Been on the harmon shots in the belly every three months @ a cost $2,000 (I pay) ~~ I have to take a PSA test every three months of which its still recordin 1.3 (remember ~~ I don't have a prostate) ~~ Every year I have to do a full body bone scan ~~

No its good but I'm just lettin you know its treatable ~~ Not everyone has the same problem as I do ~~ I'm in my 60's ~~ My uroistists says to me ~~ I'll be worried when it doubles ~~ That hasn't happen yet ~~ I'd recommend to any male to get a PSA test at 40 not 50 ~~ Hope everything turns out ok for ya ~~ New technoligy has improved in the last 10 years & remember ~~ Tiger just lost his Dad to prostate cancer ~~
 

Clark

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Re: Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?

breezylawn said:
Oh boy, blood in my urine, not a good sign...off to the doc at my wife's insistance
Hmmm, that's a good woman you got there. I mean, really, you would have gone to the doc on your own, right?

Good luck with this. Virtually all of us males get worried about this sooner or later :=(
 

ysr_racer

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Re: Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?

breezylawn said:
Should I start making out my will... Bill

If you’re over 30, yes you should. Anybody over 30 should. And a living trust too.

Also, you should list any special medical requests you have. Do your family a favor; take care of this so they don’t have to. We all go at some time. Make it easy on your survivors.
 

pcgirl54

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Re: Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?

Please keep us posted on your progress with the doctor. There are many options you need to be informed so your wife was right to post here. I also posted some links for you below.

My father is 88 and was diagnosed two years ago. His PSA was 39 five years ago he had a superpubic tube put in at age 83 from a kidney blockage. Two years later it was 87 yes you read correctly. They gave him one year,it is almost 2.5 years and no symptoms He lives independtly,drives and takes care of his house. Gleason score 8.

He has a Lupron shot every 3 months and takes Casodex pills every day as a precaution for the 10% of cancer that the shots may not treat. Very expensive shots/pills.
No radiation or surgery at his age so he went the hormone therapy route. He had a bone scan because this cancer goes to your bones. His PSA is now 2 one year after meds from 87. Only side effect was hot flashes.

I made my father take that PSA test,he had not had a physical in 30 years. He was caring for my mom for 10 years who has since passed from Alzheimers and neglected himself. My brother was just tested and is ok. My husband 52 is going to have one next week.

It is just as important for men to have this test as a mammaogram is for women. So tugger men have this test. Prostate cancer has many treatment options.

Here are some websites:
http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle/id-1856.html

http://www.prostatecancerfoundation...58A7/Hormonal_therapy_for_Prostate_Cancer.htm

http://www.myprostatecancer.com/facts.html

http://www.phoenix5.org/

http://www.fightprostatecancer.org/site/PageServer?pagename=treat_home
 
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DonM

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Re: Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?

Clark said:
Hmmm, that's a good woman you got there. I mean, really, you would have gone to the doc on your own, right?
(


Accountability- This is one reason why married people live longer- The spouse is there, and you must be accountable to them. Without a spouse or partner we tend to put things off, or ignore them totally. Now extended family helps as well, but a life partner is much better.
 

breezylawn

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Re: Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?

:wave: Thank you Tuggers, you have been so helpful. My appt with the urologist is next week at 2:30 and yes, my wife will accompany me. She asks lots of questions that I neglect to do...so, hopefully, all will be well, but I shall keep you posted. I took the blood test last week and should get the results back before I go to the urologist. Whew! This will put a scare in me!
Bill:bawl:
 

Lee B

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Re: Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?

Over a year ago, while in my ts on Kauai, I thought I'd call my home phone to check on messages. One was from my Kaiser doctor who said that my PSA test went from 32 last year to 48 this year (or something like that) and, as it's an indicator for cancer and that's a big jump in one year, "I'd like you to call the Urology Department and schedule a needle biopsy." That's not something you want to hear while on vacation.

Another message was from the Urology Department telling me to call back and schedule a needle biopsy. I decided that, since Kaiser appointments can be pretty distant, to call from Kauai and make the appointment for a few weeks later. Two words I don't especially ever want to hear together are Needle and Biopsy.

The biopsy itself was unpleasant, but I'm a big boy. I was to return the next week to hear the results, which would be when they come back from the lab (so the Urologist wouldn't know any sooner than that).

I showed up for that appointment from the lab and, as the first thing the Urologist asked was if my wife was with me, I knew the results were not good. The biopsy is not one sample but MANY. In my case, only about 1/4 of them had a CA (that's the abbreviation that hospital employees say instead of the dreaded word) type of cell.

Next, there's a measurement of the agressiveness of the CA type. With prostate cancer, a Gleeson score less than 7 can be ignored for awhile. A score of 8 or more should be acted on immediately. Mine was 7, right in the middle. My choices were: Watchful waiting; surgery--prostatectomy; Androgen Suppression (drug that stops you from making testosterone, which encourages prostate CA); External Beam Radiation and Radioactive pellet implantation. The urologist said I could take a month to decide, after absolutely refusing to pick one for me.

I did a lot of online research and, because the type of cancer in prostates is called Adenocarcinoma, and as that in the lung is what killed my Dad, I decided not to go with Watchful Waiting. I didn't like the surgery because of the probability was high for impotence and/or incontinence. The androgen suppression had side effects that didn't appeal, so that left me with pellets and external beam radiation.

The e-beam radiation is five days a week for seven weeks, which sounded pretty limiting, whereas the pellets were one visit and maybe a follow-up visit. So that did it for me: pellets. Then I kept on researching and learned that, with modern imaging, the e-beam radiation is much more accurate than before and skin fistulas are not a problem nowadays. Also, the pellets have a half-life of 45 days, so the side effects of them could be much longer than the 35-day e-beam treatments. So I elected the e-beam treatments.

They started out a piece of cake but gradually I noticed that my bladder was being affected by scatter of the radiation hitting the prostate. I liken this to putting a flashlight on my palm and noticing that the other side of my hand glows. My large intestine also got affected, so things got a little runny at the back door, with more visits to the throne than were normal.

The last week of treatment I was going to the bathroom every night maybe five times because the bladder couldn't take the pain of much fluid pressure and woke me up. After treatments stopped, that stopped being a problem in less than a month. Maybe 2 weeks, I can't remember.

The Radiologist said that when I ever have a colonoscopy, the specialist would know that I had radiation, even though the intestine would not be a permanent problem for me. The bladder is absolutely back to normal, from my viewpoint, UNLESS I hold off from using the toilet for some reason, and let it fill to high pressure. Then it will take several weeks to lose that sensitivity again. The back door function is virtually normal now, maybe a little softer than before, but hard to tell.

The radiation was a little more than a year ago. My last PSA was less than 1, I think. I take it every six months or so. Would I do the radiation again? Probably. Of the five choices, every one has drawbacks. I still have erectile function and no incontinence, though those things can happen with radiation treatment up to three years later, I found in researching.

Exposure to radiation is a known cause of cancer, so I may only have bought a few more years. I vowed never to regret a decision, so I don't. Life will deliver what it will.

My very best wishes in this exiting time of life.
 

JudyH

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Re: Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?

Thanks, Lee, for sharing that experience. I wish you the best. I always look out for my hubby.
 

Dave M

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Re: Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?

Best of luck with your appointment, Bill. However, don't despair if the dreaded "C" word comes out.

A year ago my PSA score jumped to 7.8 from 3.2 in my preceding test. I had a biopsy done which confirmed prostate cancer. Like Lee's experience, I listened to the various options and read a lot. And then read some more. And some more. All of the options were available to me, based on my PSA and Gleason scores.

I went for additional opinions to a surgeon (to hear about the benefits, downside, etc. of prostate removal) and a radiologist (to hear similar info about various forms of radiation). Ultimately, I got a surgeon, a radiologist and a mediator (the department head of a large prostate cancer group) in a room together to discuss with me advantages and disadvantages of all of the treatments.

It became apparent that those under 60 often favor prostate removal, which guarantees removal of the cancer if it hasn't spread. Those over 65 often favor some type of radiation. The short and intermediate term results with both seem to be about the same. The difference is that there isn't yet enough info from the long-term studies to determine what the effects of radiation will be 25-30 years later.

At 62, I was in the middle. Ultimately, I chose to have radioactive seeds ("pellets", as referred to by Lee) implanted. The procedure would be straightforward and over quickly. I could go back to work in few days versus several weeks or more with radical surgery. Nor would I have to endure the inconvenience of day-after-day radiation treatments. I expected the incidental adverse side effects to be about the same or less than for most other treatments. And the improvements in performing the procedure seem to have minimized some of the adverse risks of years ago.

It was a single one-plus hour surgical procedure, performed last October. When I awoke in the recovery room, I felt fine. I was allowed to go home as soon as I could urinate - a few hours later. The procedure was done on a Friday; I was back at my desk at work on Monday.

I had some pain (not severe at all) for several weeks when urinating. My urinary flow was weaker than before the procedure, but was helped by doubling my Flomax prescription, a medication I had already been taking to improve urinary flow. I had a few other temporary side effects, but nothing that affected my quality of life. The only day of work that I missed was the day of the surgucal procedure and I have not had to cancel or change any personal plans that I would otherwise have made, other than during the first few days after the procedure.

Today, I have no noticeable continuing side effects.

Earlier this month, I had my first PSA test since the seeds were implanted. My score had dropped from 7.8 to a fantastic 1.9. As my radiologist stated, "It appears that we were on target with our implants."

I'll have PSA tests and a prostate check-up every six months for the rest of my life. That's fine with me!

I was never really worried about the result. The docs made it clear that the success rate - for any of the treatments - is very high, assuming the cancer is found reasonably early, especially before it can spread to some of the nearby critical organs. The docs were positive, I was positive and the results were all I had hoped for.

The key to identifying and acting on prostate cancer is to have an annual PSA test to ensure that there isn’t a significant rise in score that signifies a possible problem. If cancer is detected, the key to deciding what treatment to elect is to listen to all of the professional advice (not our advice here at TUG; we do better with timeshare advice!) and then decide what fits best for you. Then never look back once you have made your final decision.
 

MULTIZ321

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Re: Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?

This thread has resonated with me. Thanks to all for sharing your stories and advice!

Luckily for me, my PSA a few months ago was within normal limits and soon I will schedule a colonoscopy (it's been 5 years).

Dave, how did you manage to arrange your group meeting with the physician specialists? I'm impressed you were able to do it.

Best Wishes,

Richard
 

Jestjoan

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Re: Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?

This web site was just recommended by the Montgomery Cancer Center to all its patients.

www.caring4cancer.com It covers many types of cancer.......I've only looked at the site briefly so far.

BTW, there is a term for the doctors meeting together to talk about a case. Maybe someone in the medical field can help out here.......I just can't remember at the moment.
 
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bogey21

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Don't Ignore Cryosurgery

As I mentioned earlier I was treated with IMRT and HDR radiation at age 65 in 2000. My PSA ranged right around 0.80 for almost 4 years, then increased rather rapidly to 1.97, doubling faster than I liked. Using color doplar directed biopsies my doctor found where the cancer was located and I underwent Cryosurgery (freezing the prostate or part of it to minus 40 degrees). Two months later my PSA is back to 0.83, apparently normal for me.

I learned a lot about Cryo during this round of prostate cancer and think it has merit. Over the last 6 years during which I have had prostate cancer and been treated for it I have come to the following conclusions:

1) If I'm under age 65 and the cancer has been confined to the prostate, I'd probably opt for traditional surgery. My reasons are that if the removal of the prostate is successful, there should be no further risk of prostate cancer. Performed by the right surgeon there is a good chance that impotance and incontenance can be avoided. In my opinion the biggest negative to surgery is the recovery from the incision and having a catheter for an extended time, up to 21 days.

2) If I'm between 65 and 75 with prostate confined cancer, and sex isn't a big issue, I'd probably opt for cryo. No incision to heal (just a series of punctures) and less than a week of the dreaded catheter. It is basically an outpatient procedure. Downside is the likelyhood of impotance.

3) If I'm between 75 and 85 with prostate confined cancer, I'd go for either cryo or radiation, either IMRT (downside is that it takes about 5 weeks to administer), seeds or HDR ( three big blasts all within a 24 hour period). I figure that if radiation fails, I'm old enough for Lupron and Casodex (hormone treatment) .

4) If I'm over 85, I probably lean toward "Watchful Waiting" under the theory that I will most likely die with prostate cancer rather than from it. I might also opt for Lupron and Casodex.

My general logic is that if you are young, solve the problem once and for all if you can with surgery. If you are older, use either the radiation or cryo option as they are easier to handle physically. Note also that cryo can be repeated and also used to treat failed radiation. If you are really old, then Watchful Waiting or Hormone Treatment may be in order.

The main thing to understand is that (1) you have multiple treatment options and that you will have to decide on which is best for you. Your doctor won't (or at least shouldn't). Your options are surgery, multiple forms of radiation (seeds, external beam, IMRT and HDR to name a few), cryosurgery, hormone treatment, and watchful waiting and (2) you generally have plenty of time to choose your course of action as prostate cancer is usually slow growing.

Note: I am not a doctor and have had no medical training of any kind. My observations are only those of someone who has been down the treatment road.

GEORGE
 
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breezylawn

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Re: Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?

:wave: Thank you Lee, and to all of you who replied. My blood test came back with PSA at 6.01. My firt appt with the urologist is today at 2:30..so I'm on my way. My wife had the GP fax over the results to the urologist.

I've got my fingers crossed that all will be well or at least treatable. I've been fortunate to never having a sick day in my life, BUT, to all of you reading this, a yearly physical is the best prevention.

Now, at 57 yrs old, I will make it a habit of visiting my doctor yearly. Prevention and early detection is the best medicine.

No longer will I put off physicals just because I feel fine. Life is a learning experience, and I'm still learning.:clap:
 

breezylawn

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Re: Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?

:wave: Hi all...here's the scoop on today's urologist visit...A medication called Levaquin to treat possible infection. More blood work up and go back in two weeks...if PSA is not below 4, time for biopsy:bawl:
 

Patri

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Re: Hey Guys...anyone having prostate problems?

[My very best wishes in this exiting time of life.]

Lee B, was that a Freudian slip?

And yes, breezylawn, you should make a will, even if you are totally healthy.
 

Miss Marty

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Anyone having prostate problems?


Flomax: Drug Interaction and Side Effects


Does Flomax cause Memory Loss when used over a long period of time?
 
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