A bit of sad news

Coyote Chris

Coyote Chris

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I went to the doctor to get some blood pressure meds that didnt interact with Viagra.
My doc sent me home to die.
Tomorrow, I get a 3T MRI on my prostate....45 min in a torpedo tube.
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Good luck, Chris! Prostate cancer is one of the more easily treatable cancers and modern medicine is pretty remarkable. My prayers are with you.

Mike
 
Been there, done that. Two months of daily radiation a year ago. Going in for my final checkup next month.
Remember this: I FELT BAD BECAUSE I HAD NO SHOES, UNTIL I MET A MAN WHO HAD NO FEET.
 
mikesim said:
Good luck, Chris! Prostate cancer is one of the more easily treatable cancers and modern medicine is pretty remarkable. My prayers are with you.

Mike
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Thanks for all your well wishes! My female urologist did her best to give me prostate cancer in 2017. One of the worst years of my life....blind biopsy, 3T MRI, 4K score test.....nothing.
Yesterday it was time for my 5 year redo of the 3T MRI. I have a new female Urologist...very nice person. I read the radiologist report and googled all the gobbly goop and she called me this morning and we discussed it. There is a vague lesion now inside the prostate. They rate them as follows. 1 means no way is this cancer. 2 means very low chance this is cancer. 4 is high probability this is cancer. 5 is cancer. I have a 3. ". Vague PI-RADS 3 area of interest"... 3 means "we have no idea...ambiguous...1 in 3 to 1 in 5 men have them.....
So we talked it over and since my PSA hasnt changed significantly for many years, we decided to do another PSA in 6 months instead of a biopsy....if no big change, continue watchful waiting. If higher, consider biopsy.
The really good news is that we have gone from an era (2017) where they chemically castrate you and take a robot named the di vinci machine and take out your prostate, leaving many terrible side effects...and boy do I know men that have had this operation. Now, if low grade, they dont chemically castrate you.... they radiate you as little as 5 times with all sorts of new beams. Harvard Medical school publishes a great book every year about a quarter inch thick on the year's advances. I just got my 2024-5 book. They are amazing.

Here are some very helpful hints if you are up for a PSA test. I went in to my doc for numb feet and he gave me a pop PSA test, after a 2,000 mile bike tour, sex, and being dehydrated. 7.3 but with a good free to total percentage of almost 25 percent. I then bought my own PSA test for 66 bucks. From the same lab. No sex for 2 days, stayed off the bike, and drank water like I drink tea and juice. PSA of 5.6, which is normal for someone with a 68 ml prostate (20 year olds have 20 ml ones) and a 27 percent ratio free to total which is even better.

Something else to feel good about is this paper.
Upgraded PI-RADS 3 Prostate Lesions Are Less Likely to Harbor Clinically Significant Cancer

Study shows an upgrade to PI-RADS category 3 may result in unnecessary biopsies

https://www.rsna.org/news/2024/january/imaging-to-identify-prostate-lesions#:~:text=%E2%80%9CAt%20many%20institutions%2C%20lesions%20that,the%20NCI's%20Molecular%20Imaging%20Branch.

My advice to y'all is if you get a PSA test, do your homework and prep for it. Be consistant. Do it in the afternoon. Be hydrated, no bike riding, not even strenuous activity, and no sex for 2 days.
No one told me all of this. Thanks to Frosty for some of it. And remember, your prostate grows as a matter of course, skewing the curve. Here are my numbers.
6-23-17 3.59, 12-17 3.26, 8-3-18 3.48, 2-15-19 4.4, 9-2-19 3.7 , 3-19-20 3.6 , 10-15-20 4.8, 5-28-21 3.6, 12-11-21 3.2 , 11-1-22 4.9

4-25-23 5.5, 10-12-23 5.3, 3-26-24 5.7, 10-11-24 5.6 Note the last 16 months. No significant change.

The numbers are uneven due to no one telling me about bike riding and dehydration and giving samples at the same time in the afternoon. The important thing is there is no significant difference in the last 2 years really.....the prostate grows, it makes more PSA. Only 3 percent of prostate cancers are serious. Most men getting autopsys after a traffic death or whatever have some level of prostate cancer.
If you have a large prostate and a negative biopsy, infection and complication rates can be as high as 20 percent. If you need one, you need one, but I would be darned sure you need one.
Bottom line. Maybe I have low grade cancer. Maybe you do too. Dont let someone ruin your life. Make informed decisions, and above all, enjoy life every day. Dont let fear rule you like I did in 2017. December I go for an 11 days cruise from San Diego to the sea of cortez. Next fall its the Panama Canal again. And there is the rally......
 
Post script. Sometimes, the Gods are trying to tell you something.....this MRI was ordered last April/May. I tried my darndest to get it scheduled but between insurance companies, Inland imaging and Spokane Urology, it was like fighting Mo, Larry and Curley. So when I saw my regular doc a month ago, he urged me to try harder...to get people to talk to each other....so after 4 hours on the phone, mostly on hold, and 5 people, I had to bully someone to get their supervisor. I had an appt in an hour for a few weeks down the road. So I go in and they say I am not on the schedule. They had canceled my appt due to the machine breaking down....but they left a message on my home phone....so they said wait a minute and they had the machine up and running in 15 minutes. Boy I was pissed but the machine is very relaxing for 45 minutes so I calmed down.
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This is one of the things I like about living in the boondocks. I can walk 10 blocks to the hospital and get PSA and a raft of other blood tests for under $100. No appointment. Just walk in and tell them what I want, wait a few minutes in the waiting area, and get my blood tests. They will mail them to me and also put it on my "portal" where I can download it, and my doctor is notified when something new is added to my records.
If I or my doctor think I need an MRI, she can schedule one for the next time the mobile unit is in town. Usually, no more than two week wait. Or, I can drive 50 miles to the main hospital and get one the next day. Same hospital chain. Medicare, not private "ream him out" insurance.
When I had 26 radiation treatments last year for prostate cancer, the treatment center was also in the same chain. They billed Medicare over $150,000.00. They got paid a little over $15,000.00 because Medicare providers have contracts with Medicare. Between Medicare and my supplemental insurance, I paid nothing.
I went from lifetime 2.0 PSA to 5+ in a years to 7+ six months later to 8+ one month later. A needle biopsy, THAT IS NOT FUN, showed cancer on both lobes. I told the urologist, "No cutting." so he set me up for the radiation. My PSA has gone to less than1. I go see him in 4 weeks after getting another PSA. No matter what, NO CUTTING. I'll be 81 next month. Screw it. No cutting.
As Red Green would say, "Hang in there. We're all in this together."
 
suvcw04 said:
This is one of the things I like about living in the boondocks. I can walk 10 blocks to the hospital and get PSA and a raft of other blood tests for under $100. No appointment. Just walk in and tell them what I want, wait a few minutes in the waiting area, and get my blood tests. They will mail them to me and also put it on my "portal" where I can download it, and my doctor is notified when something new is added to my records.
If I or my doctor think I need an MRI, she can schedule one for the next time the mobile unit is in town. Usually, no more than two week wait. Or, I can drive 50 miles to the main hospital and get one the next day. Same hospital chain. Medicare, not private "ream him out" insurance.
When I had 26 radiation treatments last year for prostate cancer, the treatment center was also in the same chain. They billed Medicare over $150,000.00. They got paid a little over $15,000.00 because Medicare providers have contracts with Medicare. Between Medicare and my supplemental insurance, I paid nothing.
I went from lifetime 2.0 PSA to 5+ in a years to 7+ six months later to 8+ one month later. A needle biopsy, THAT IS NOT FUN, showed cancer on both lobes. I told the urologist, "No cutting." so he set me up for the radiation. My PSA has gone to less than1. I go see him in 4 weeks after getting another PSA. No matter what, NO CUTTING. I'll be 81 next month. Screw it. No cutting.
As Red Green would say, "Hang in there. We're all in this together."
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Wow....your psa really shot up! I will do my own in 3 months and an official one in 6 months. No cutting for me either. Radiation is ok. My free to total psa ratio is great....for a guy with a 68 ml prostate (20 is normal for a 20 year old) I am happy staying pat at 5.5 or so. I am 75 and had a pretty good life.....but if things go south, I will not go like my two friends did where they cancer got out of hand.
The needle biopsy in a prostate the size of mine has a 20 percent chance of complications, and can actually spread cancer. The worst pain in my life was feeling the antisetic needle go in. I screamed and there are still finger parks on the gurney.
I am with you. Live life to the fullest...you are gonna die of something at some point.....do what you can but dont destroy what little life we all have left on this planet.
 
My younger brother had Prostrate cancer, treated with radiation bars implanted. Cured it for a while, then they found another spot in the prostrate with cancer a couple of years later, so he chose to have the prostrate removed. I am fortunate the my PSA readings have been quite low at .35 at age 75.
 
This book is published every year for $35. Lots of updates every year.
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Chucksklrst said:
My younger brother had Prostrate cancer, treated with radiation bars implanted. Cured it for a while, then they found another spot in the prostrate with cancer a couple of years later, so he chose to have the prostrate removed. I am fortunate the my PSA readings have been quite low at .35 at age 75.
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It is my understanding, although I havent finished the above book yet, that if you have the seeds/bars and they are removed, they can buy you quite a bit of time, but once you do the serious radiation, the di vinci removal becomes problamatic. and stronger surgury is required. In any case, chemical castration ruins your life. I was a grumpy old man with no energy or joys in life circa 20 years ago. The doc said my testosterone was in the tank. 202 total. I have been on Hormone replacement therapy these last 20 years and try and keep mine at 400-500. It makes life fun again. My cousin's hubby just did radiation without castration so we shall see how he does.
 
Had another PSA test Tuesday. April 10 2024 was 0.4. Tuesday's test was 0.03. Down more than 90%. It was 8.0 when I had radiation in June and July of 2023. Still have side effects from radiation, diarrhea 2 or 3 days a week.
But, at least the PSA is down.
 
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