This all stems from high PSA testing results. I am symptom free.
I’ve know that even if it is cancer, it is one of the very treatable ones and I learned from my fellow mods it is usually a slow growing cancer.
The Doctor had me on a 14 day prescription of Sulfamethoxazole before my retest. I guess to rule out other causes of the high PSA. This unfortunately was while I was on my first longish vacation since before COVID. Made it tougher than normal to remember to take the pills.
If the results say Positive, I’ll check out @Qadgop_the_Mercotan’s thread on prostate cancer.
I’ve got a lot of anxiety, but not a big scare at least.
So I guess I’m asking for some good thoughts and vibes if you can spare them that this is a negative test result and I just need to stay watchful going forward.
You’re going to need a biopsy. Not much fun, but you need to find out. You’ll survive it and finding the result either way is better than not knowing. Best of luck with this, it’s often just BPH or other less serious problems.
Is that accurate? It seems like I’m going through a fairly slow process for the Doctor to not mention that yet. I had the impression that if the last test was low, I would be done, at least for a while.
BPH stands for benign prostatic hyperplasia. It is a condition where the prostate gland, located at the base of the bladder in men, enlarges over time.
This story is entirely anecdotal. It’s only good for encouragement.
In 1998, my father informed my sister and me that he had had a prostate biopsy. Out of eight samples taken, three showed cancer. The urologist said his was the slow-growing type, and there were choices as to treatment. After a discussion with the doctor, Daddy chose hormone treatment. He was 74 years old, and that selection would accommodate his age and lifestyle. Momma had died recently, and Daddy was independent, active, and could take care of himself.
Long story short: once treatment began, his PSA dropped to almost zero and stayed there. When Daddy died in 2008, at age 84, his cause of death had absolutely nothing to do with prostate cancer. His most recent PSA prior to passing was still almost zero. He was still driving, going on casino trips, doing everything he wanted to do right up to the very end.
I hope your biopsy goes well. I wish you nothing but the best.
If you’re doctor doesn’t think you need it then perhaps it’s not that much to worry about. That would be great, although enlarged prostates create other problems, though still better than cancer. I don’t know what symptoms they’ll need to see before a biopsy is considered necessary.
My understanding is that the PSA is suggestive of an issue, but not definitive. Your doctor may be satisfied if your results are low this time, however. There are definitely things that can cause higher PSA readings besides prostate cancer. For instance, having sex recently cause increase it for a bit. Sulfamethoxazole appears to be an antibiotic, so your doctor may be trying to rule out an infectious cause as well.
If your readings are still high, I’d expect a biopsy. They’ll take little pieces of a bunch of places. If they do find cancer, they’ll grade it once based on how aggressive. If I recall correctly, each one gets a score between 1 and 5, with 5 being more aggressive. They add the two highest together, and come up with a Gleason score. That would help guide the treatment plan.
My father had a fairly high Gleason score, and actually needed intervention. Lower values will lead more towards “watchful waiting.”
I’m sure those more knowledgeable will come by and point out what I got wrong, and elaborate more, but I wanted to get some information out there for you at least.
As @VOW’s story shows us, the key to cancer in general but prostate in particular is to die of something else first. So look at it this way: you’re now going to be 4 months closer to that goal.
Seriously, the whole problem-scare-wait process is a PITA better avoided. But by doing the right things early you maximize getting the right result.
Hooray for favorable early returns and hoping for continuing good news.
TLDR: So results dropped below 4, what set this off was a 4.9 reading following a 4.2 earlier.
With no symptoms, he felt no need for MRI or biopsy yet. He mentioned the 3.97 is only a 20% chance so waiting for more data is best.
I’ll make sure I’m at home for the next round of anti-biotics, so that will be no issue. I wasn’t likely to take a long vacation in late March anyway.
He asked about symptoms in detail, and I realize I’ve actually improved if anything, going 6+ hours before having to get up in the middle of the night to urinate. There were many nights where it was more like 4 hours. So the antibiotics probably helped a lot.
Congratulations! So happy to hear it worked out well for you so far. Not going to go into the details but a doctor was sure I had prostate cancer. A biopsy showed no signs of it. Eventually my prostate grew way too large and I had to have the center of it cut out so I wouldn’t need to pee through a catheter, but no sign of cancer.
If this is all new to you there are several prescription meds for BPH that materially improve the peeing at night problem. Not helpful if the real problem is cancer, but useful if it’s not.
May it long continue!