prostrate cancer

[sharon479]

  My husband is 55 years old and has been going
for a PSA blood test since he was 40.  Because my husband PSA went from a 2 to a 4 , the Specialist decided to do
a Biophsie. The tumor was cancerous. My husband had surgery to remove his prostrate. After surgery the Specialist
told him he had aggressive cancer.The Specialist did not want my husband to have radiation but to see how
the PSA test every three momnths would come out. Within the two years the PSA has gone from 0.04 to 0.14and
then the Specialist refer my husband to have radiation to the prostrate bed. This is where our Specialist thinks it is
but can not say for sure. My husband has now completed 6 weeks of radiation and the Specialist wants him to wait 3 months to get another PSA test done,. My husband and I think this is too long to wait, we would like a PSA test done after a month. Also this Specialist refuses to do a MRI or a Bone Scan to check for further cancer. My husband feels
good except very tired and a lot less energy than what he used to have. My husband excerise all his life, did not drink or smoke and ate very healthy so this was quite a shock. If the PSA is high, he is going to do Hormone Therapy. What do you think of Hormone Therapy and should my husband wait 3 months to do a PSA test.   Thank you


This discussion is related to Elevated PSA after radiation and seed implant.

[Woodie263]

I am sorry that your husband had such an aggressive cancer and that his psa keeps on rising.  Did it go down at all after the surgery to zero, or did it go up after, and keep on going up.  Radiotherapy makes you feel tired.  My husband had his prostate removed on December 19th, and has had 2 psa counts since over 6 months.  My husband also had an aggressive cancer with a gleason score  of 8.  He had no symptoms before the operation, but he was having a yearly psa test and the last test went up to 5.7 from 3.7. I wish you luck, and hope that his psa comes down at the next test.  Did your husband's pathology report that his lymph gland had no cancer cells in it?  Were his seminal vesicles free of cancer?  It is so scary when you go to the urologist and he says you have an aggressive cancer, and things look a bit grim.  I remember that I cried all day that day.  He was 62 when diagnosed.
Good luck to both of you

[HeinrikMD]

Hi,

The effects of radiation may extend for about 3 months. Hence, any determination you perform now may not be conclusive.

Your concerns about performing the bone scan are valid. This would be important to find out if the disease is limited to the prostate or not. It is unclear from your post, if during the period right after the surgery – the PSA was undetectable or not. I am guessing that it was still detectable. In this setting, it is indeed more likely that the disease is still confined to the prostate area, though I see no harm in performing the bone scans.

As to the question of the hormones, there is no clear cut guide. It seems that giving them earlier than later is generally better. But the definition of early is not clear. It is also unclear if the treatment is able to impact on duration of survival or not, but it is clear that certain symptoms of the disease are better controlled with it.

The 3 month waiting period seems reasonable, but if symptoms seem to be worsening then a re-evaluation of the plan would be in order.

Stay positive.