What is the average age of the gentlemen on here?

74 now, diagnosed at 71. PSA always less than 1. Considered virtually undetectable by my oncologist. I am on Erleada and hormone injections every 3 months.

I was just there. Depends on his numbers, my psa was 7, Gleason 4+3/7, I have opted for high dose radiation and hormone therapy. I know what your going thru, just step back and go slow. Get a copy of Surviving prostate cancer by Walsh. There’s all kinds of info online. You tube has some very useful videos. If he’s Gleason 6, active surveillance is usually done. I’m 59, diagnosed at 58. Just starting treatment got the shot next the radiation. I know it’s hard but at least he has the benefit of you, support him. I had no such support. I wish you all the best.

Yes, he did explain it.

Being a "self advocate" is most important of all. When my biopsy showed I would need treatment my Uro gave me a book to explain the different procedures to help me make an informed decision. I thought "you're the educated doctor, shouldn't you be telling me what is the best treatment?" Urologist will most likely recommend surgery. Radiation doctors will most likely recommend their specialty. There are situations when one treatment is better over the other. It is SO important to gain as much knowledge as possible to make the best informed decision. Don't let anyone tell you what treatment to have unless there is a sound medical reason to avoid a certain treatment. Both Radiation and surgery have the potential for negative side effects, some of them permanent. Your husband needs to learn all he can!

karlarocha: you also may want to look at the National Comprehensive Cancer network (NCCN). As I understand it, they provide treatment guidelines followed by many doctors. They also educate patients. Here is a link for NCCN guidelines for early stage prostate cancer but they cover all stages, recommendations for patients and a bunch of information that helps a patient be a better collaborator/self-advocate: https://www.nccn.org/patients/guidelines/content/PDF/prostate-early-patient.pdf

Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF.org) has a good free dowloadable or hard copy of a prostate cancer tutorial.
Also, Patrick Walsh's book is an easy to read resource recommended by many on this site, including me.

And everything rockinat59 said is valuable.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but the decision for active surveillance is based on Gleason score, not PSA level. Surveillance is most commonly recommended with a Gleason score of six (3+3) You said your husband had a biopsy and should have been provided his score. My biopsy showed Gleason 3+4. If you search Gleason score you can learn the risk factors and recommended treatments for the different numbers (3,4 or 5). The score will have two numbers, with the first showing the stage of the most abundant cancer cells and second number showing the stage of the lesser abundant cells. My score showed I had more 3 than 4 development. Your husband's Urologist should have explained all this.

My husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer at 55. Biopsy shows we caught it early. This is just the beginning of trying to figure out what to do next. Is active surveillance the norm until the PSA scores are really high? I feel as if he should be doing something to combat it, just not sure what comes first. Hormone therapy? I'm so lost with all this.

73

Thanks for your help and encouragement.
I really appreciate the fellowship and I’m wishing you well also some prayers.