Judging from my experience. Don’t take no for an answer and be as annoying as you need to be. And enjoy your trip.

Congratulations on your 50th! My wife and I leave for the UK to celebrate ours next week — 14 years after I was diagnosed with prostate cancer at age 59 resulting in an urgent radical prostatectomy. Prostate cancer does have a reputation for moving slowly, but it doesn’t always. Long story short, my PSA never went high enough to be of concern, alone, but after ticking up for the first time in a routine physical, my doctor monitored it more frequently. It continued to rise enough that he had me see a urologist even though it was still at an “acceptable” level. The urologist shared the PCP’s concern and suggested I consider a biopsy. I agreed to the procedure, and when told of the results was informed that the first 12 samples taken were all fine, but the 13th and final sample taken confirmed the presence of cancer. I quickly met with a team of specialists (radiologist, surgeon, oncologist) in the same room at the same time, expecting competing points of view regarding treatment, but they readily agreed without a doubt that a radical prostatectomy was the correct course of action in my particular case. The surgery was scheduled for as soon as possible, but when a cancellation occurred, I received a call saying that I was at the top of the waiting list and to come right in! After the surgery, the pathology report showed that my PSA number was still(!) in the acceptable range, but was quickly moving higher as the cancer was aggressively accelerating. Thankfully, it had been contained, and totally eliminated. Had it not been caught, and aggressively treated, so early, it would have gone undetected and quickly metastasized. Everyone is different, I was younger, had lost my mother to cancer at a young age, and I know older men who have taken a wait and see approach. But, even with my case being but a single point of reference, I would strongly encourage your husband to at least get a biopsy taken right away.

I started my prostate journey at Duke. There are some renowned experts there and they are a national center of excellence. But I also ran into waiting a long time for appointments and biopsies. I also found that questions weren't always answered and I was even told false information about a grading finding. I sought a second opinion at UNC down the road, also a center of excellence. Appointments were much faster, and they found a separate lesion that resulted in a higher Gleason grade. When I told them about what I was told about the grading system at Duke, two UNC doctors both joked out loud if Duke was making up their own grading system. Sure there's a heated basketball rivalry between these two, but you might seek a second opinion at UNC. Have everything sent over and you'll get called quickly - I was.