Joining the Reluctant Brotherhood

Posted by jcbagley @jcbagley, Nov 22 2:00pm

Well, I've unfortunately had to join you all out here recently - but thank you SO much for providing such valuable conversations so far for a 'newby.' Here's a brief bit of info about me with my question at the end. I'm Jay and 71 years old and fairly healthy considering my age. I work hard at diet and exercise and want to stay healthy. I went to my Urologist after a referral from my GP in August this year. My PSA, which I watched regularly, went from 2.7 in October of 2022 to 9.93 in August of 2024. While I was waiting for the upcoming appointment date PSA went to 12.12 by September '24. Urologist said we need to do biopsy. Scheduled that for October (late - took that long to have an open appt time). PSA was 17.8 when I had biopsy. I had a PSA test today to have a PSA number for next week's scan date. Results of biopsy came back with:
7 of 12 samples cancerous with Gleason Scores as follows:
9 - 40% Grade 5 (4 + 5)
8 - 80% Grade 4
8 - 15% Grade 4
8 - less than 5% Grade 1
6 - 25% Grade 1
6 - 20% Grade 1
6 - 40% Grade 1
I have a PSMA scheduled for next week (took that long for that date to arrive) and have a follow-up appointment with the Urologist to talk about treatment options in mid December. That's the earliest available there too. I live in a rural area of Western Colorado and am frustrated about the length of time it seems to take to get appointments. I've read LOTS of information on my own so far, most of which I discovered though this board so thank you so much for all of that. Here's my assumptions/thinking of what I do next based on reading all this information here. I should probably get a second opinion as I feel like my PC is high risk and spreading fast since my PSA number has increased so rapidly in a very short period of time. I probably should go to a Center of Excellence place for help. Looks like I'll need surgery or radiation of some kind if the cancer is only in the prostate or surgery AND radiation if it is metastasized. I'll know if it is outside the prostate after next week's scan I think. I should collect the name/type of machine the PSMA Pet scan is done with AND the exact name of the agent used for the scan. I haven't been able to think much beyond this point since it's all so new and I'm really spending too much time worrying right now. 🙂 My question is basically if there's any other guidance, ideas, input from all about my understanding so far? I really appreciate and value your support. Jay

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Prostate Cancer Support Group.

@jcbagley

Jeff, thanks you SO much for this reply. You’ve hit on exactly what I was thinking so it’s great to have a confirmation of that. I do plan on connecting with Mayo in Phoenix area as that is closest to me. Great new info to me on choices other than surgery or radiation. I’ll get studying for sure. Next Tuesday for the scan can’t come fast enough for me. Thanks again. Jay

Jump to this post

@jcbagley, just checking in. Any updates? How are you doing?

REPLY
@colleenyoung

@jcbagley, just checking in. Any updates? How are you doing?

Jump to this post

Thanks for checking in Colleen. Next week gonna post an update hopefully. Got results, it’s in lymph nodes but haven’t seen doc yet. Rural area, real slow in moving forward. Registered just today at Mayo in AZ getting ready for connection there soon. Thanks so much for your support.

REPLY
Please sign in or register to post a reply.