Biopsy or not?

I’ve been reading about this in detail. There’s a ton of conflicting information. I called my Urologist today and making an appointment for a biopsy. The VA and my private Doctor are telling me to relax and let’s watch it. The Pi-Rad 3 is disconcerting. I’m just gonna get it done and pull the trigger. I’m inclined to get on this fast and go aggressive.

I stay on top of this constantly. I’ve tracked it for 15 years. I’ve had prostatitis numerous times with the BPH. I’ve always thought someday there’s a good possibility I’d have it.

Peterj116, I had SBRT almost 5 years ago, 9/2000, and had the "spacer" put in so your comment of "that they now put a "spacer" between the bowel & the area getting targeted by radiation" isn't representative of what has been going on for at least 4+ years.

No I am not very helpful to this discussion. I have been questioned by the experts on this site why I reached the decision i did. I also have regrets on the decision that I made. I just didnt ask questions from this group until years later. I went to the Dr in dec 2019 with an uncomfortable urge to urinate. Constantly. A physical exam showed a slightly enlarged prostate. Urologist recommended a biopsy as a first step. My PSA was 1.0. which was normal for me. Biopsy revealed 1 out of 12 samples with cancer. At that point, I panicked. I could not live with knowing I have cancer in me. Dr suggested we do active surveillance. I requested removal. I just wanted it out. No other testing . nothing. I had robotic assisted surgery. Feb 2020. No cancer since. Post op revealed cancer with clean margins gleason 3+3. I suffer from incontinence and ED. My point to you was I had normal PSA . Although I did have cancer

I had 28 sessions of EBRT with a True Beam machine. I had fiducial markers embedded in my prostate to help with targeting the radiation, and I had a SpaceOAR gel pack injected between my prostate and rectal wall to create some separation between prostate and rectum to reduce collateral damage to my rectum.

About mid-way through my treatments, I started to experience greater urgency and frequency of urination, and some discomfort getting the urine flow started. I also noticed that I began having a couple of bowel movements a day rather than my usual one - so I guess there must have been some irritation there. None of this was a really big deal, but for a stretch there, I didn't like to find myself too far from a restroom. I did not experience any incontinence, urinary nor bowel.

30 days post-treatment, the side effects persist, but have eased off considerably.

The 28 trips to the treatment center, plus a couple of setup visits, got to be a bit of a drag, but manageable (I'm retired, so I wasn't trying to squeeze things in around work). I live about 20 minutes from the treatment center and the treatments themselves are quick (< 10 minutes), so I was usually there and back in an hour.