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Did you choose active surveillance? Why was it a good choice?
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: 14 hours ago | Replies (42)Comment receiving replies
It's not really the Medicare I can afford to pay the 20%. That was the doctor's suggestion since he didn't think it was aggressive I could wait to open enrollment next year. The true issue is probably I'm not excited about side effects. I know that all the scans MRI PET scan CAT scan and bone scan are all negative. I know the biopsy only showed half my prostate was affected. And my PSA is 4.5 I'm in my late 60s and decipher score is 0.41 which is low. My main concern is side effects. Of course I would take the side effects to the alternative but at the same time if it's not showing up on any scans it's not aggressive at 3 + 4 I wouldn't think? Especially if they can't see it to even treat they'd have to wipe out the whole gland at this point because they can't see it when all they've really know is this on the right side and can't be seen on scans. But maybe I'm thinking wron why not just watch it. With PSA test every 5 6 months and a biopsy. But I do know that at some point I'll have to end up treating it. Most likely.
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Considering you already have a Gleason 3+4 a 6 month PSA test may not be appropriate. You should probably get three months tests because with half your cores positive it could grow a lot faster than you would hope.
Urologists are not really the specialist in prostate cancer, They do the surgeries and the Initial diagnosis, but it is difficult to completely trust them for advice. If you want to a center of excellence where they have multiple doctors reviewing your situation, you might get different answers. Finding a Genito urinary oncologist, the ones that specialize in prostate cancer, might tell you recommendations that are quite different. One of the doctors in a recent Ancan.org Meeting talked about how his urologist told him he was just fine, as his PSA was rising. By the time the doctor finally had him get a biopsy his cancer had spread a lot. You may not have a lot of 4’a but you have a lot of cores with cancer, That is a factor that should be considered.
You could have one of those other treatments I mentioned, you might want to look into that.