Connect
← Return to Not that you would want to but if you could do it all over again?
Discussion
Not that you would want to but if you could do it all over again?
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Nov 27, 2023 | Replies (42)Comment receiving replies
Years ago I was seduced into thinking that prostate cancer was not a big deal. I recall reading many different sources that since it progresses so slowly that you would die from something else. I even read that getting a PSA test was not advised after age 70. Three years ago, at the encouragement of my wife I got a PSA test and even though it had gone from 5 to 8 I ignored it because my DRE's were always OK.
Last year after a DRE I decided to get a test, my PSA was now at 11. This caused me to get a biopsy and cancer was found, (Gleason 9). Having more tests determined that the cancer hadn't spread which has led to where I am today. On hormone therapy and just completed thirty days of radiation.
What would I have done differently? I would've ignored the idea that Prostate cancer could be ignored. I have strongly advised my 50 year old son to get tested.
Replies to "Years ago I was seduced into thinking that prostate cancer was not a big deal. I..."
You are so right about the importance of testing. My friend is starting the same treatment that you describe with the hormone therapy (first injection this Friday) and then, the thirty days radiation. Would you be willing to share your experience...side effects etc. with this so far? It would be so much appreciated, as apprehension is sometimes worse than reality. Certainly wishing you the best on your journey.
Ditto ! My dumb urologist stopped doing psa blood tests on this old man. Primary doc said blood numbers are a little off, see a hematologist! Did. Psa had shot up to 985 and a radiologic bone scan showed metastatic prostate bone cancer. Incurable. Am on hormone suppressants. Putting my affairs in order. GET THE DAMN psa TEST REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE numb-numb government agencies and slip-along docs tell you.!!! It's YOUR life!
Connect
Good advice for your son to start PSA screening at 50. I've given the same advice to my brothers.
It's tragic that some fools with spreadsheets convinced various health ministries and organizations that standard PSA screening had no statistical benefit. The incidence of prostate cancer that had already spread at first diagnosis has shot way up since PSA screening got rolled back.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26087383/