What to expect?

I would tell your friend that "early detection equates to many options" and that prostate cancer is slow at the start and education within the scope of reasonable time management is a good step forward.

Generally speaking, a 58 year old male may have an goal to live to being 90 (statistics would say that 80 is probably closer to reality) and taking action now that supports that life expectancy will likely improve the quality of life for the long haul.

You don't want to die of untreated prostate cancer, put some fear into your friend if he isn't taking the nudge.

@drj
MCC is an outstanding forum to get information and feedback from others about their treatments a journey with diagnosis and treatment. I did not join until was already being treated and would have really helped me deal with the apprehensions and anxiety. I learn a lot from others. I am a real introvert so talking about my cancer, worries, etc. was not something I could do easily. But using MCC removed that and I became a real poster with the bad habit of sending too long of responses.

What I tell all is do research, get second opinions, get Decipher test, PSMA, and bone scan to help guide you in what treatments based on the risk level and if confined to prostrate or not. The bottom line is for your friend to do what is best for him both physically and mentally. What works for one may not for another and that has a lot to do with mental anxiety not just what happens to you physically.

Very excellent advise. Best not to rush things first. Do more tests and consultation then decide on what’s the next step.

Your friend definitely needs to do his homework and get checked out at a prostate cancer center of excellence. Ignoring any type of cancer will most likely result in metastasis. Prostate cancer likely metastasizes to the bones, causing a significant reduction in quality of life. The short term easy path forward is to continue living life and ignoring the cancer. However, at the young age of 58, this path will result unwanted and painful consequences.

I would be very direct with your friend and let him know that a likely death or a painful existence is in store for him if he does nothing to address the situation. However, the treatment decision is ultimately left up to the individual - If he truly believes life is all about today and does not care about future health, it is his right to have this life expectation. Painful for us to watch, but totally up to him to make the decision on his own.

Best of luck with your conversations,

Jim

I am 63 and received an almost exact diagnosis. My psa was 7.7. Please see my post titled PSA six weeks after prostatectomy for details.

Well, I've peaked behind Door #4, death by prostate cancer.

Based on that, my medical knows their job is to ensure I die of something else.

So far, they are succeeding, mission has not been accomplished yet though.

I was diagnosed at age 57, been on this journey 10+ years, attached is my clinical history. Of those 10+ years, only three years have I actually been on treatment, the rest, off.

In these ten years I have celebrated a lot of birthdays, birthdays, anniversaries, vacations, graduations (no weddings or grandchildren yet...)

If he's had statistics, tell him life for most of the members of this club we didn't ask to join is in the middle, some are one or two to the right, they have treatment, say surgery, are "cured." I have two friends that way.

Others are like me, in the middle, never cured but alive and doing well.

Then there are the 27k or so in the US who die each year of prostate cancer, the ones two or three standard deviations the left. Some fought valiantly but their disease simply would not respond to treatment. Some were diagnosed too late since after the US Task Force recommended against routine PSA testing, many men were not diagnosed until it was advanced, very advanced. Granted, that recommendation against PSA testing was based on data saying we were overtreating some prostate cancers. Fortunately, that trends generally has been reversed with more active surveillance.

Have him keep in mind that online forums such as this and others are not filled with guys who were treated successfully, my two friends are not in this forum! You will find some who are bitter, rightfully so, their medical teams have not been all they could be. You'll find guys like me, who have been able to manage their disease much like a chronic one. Will it get me in the end, don't know but I've "won" for ten years!

So, it's ok, he is entitled to his pity party. He may not want to bury his head in he sand and ignore the problem. As the saying goes, bad news does not get better with age.

He'll discover so many treatment possibilities depending on his clinical data, it may be a lifetime of living with it but does not mean a lifetime of being on treatment for it.

Kevin