Cancer fight begins

[gouch]

I opted for surgery. Just wanted to get it out of me. It turned out it had spread locally outside the prostate, so I had to have radiation to deal with that. That was five years ago and haven't had any sign of cancer since. If I had to do it all over again, I would probably opt for radiation rather than surgery, even though radiation is no picnic.

They don't tell you ahead of time that the surgery will shrink your dick down to the size of a 10-year-old plus they cut the nerve that allowed me to have an erection, so. But life goes on and that's a good thing.

My wife just recently finished 9 months of pure hell fighting colon cancer. So far everything looks good but it's still early. My best friend just passed away a couple of months ago from skin cancer and another good female friend has terminal breast cancer and is now just trying to live as long as possible.

So everyone, please get a colonoscopy, and have a doctor look you over really good for anything on your skin every year. You guys have your PSA checked every year and you gals get those breast exams. Don't put it off, it aint worth it.

Best of luck to you and as my doctor told me, "This is just one more thing in life you have to deal with."

 

[JustinsDad]

Your positive attitude goes a long way. I, like most people my age have friends and family that had the C. Those with positive attitudes do seem to fare better. One great guy, one of the best custom rifle builders and a great elk hunter got depressed when he had it. It was a different form of C. He was going downhill quick. I don’t advocate what he did but it worked for him. He took micro doses of mushrooms and got himself positive. That was about 5 years ago and he recovered into full remission with no surgery or treatment. I’m not advising that either but him getting positive about it sure helped him. Stay positive like you are now.

 

[shoots-straight]

So yea, my wife has breast cancer and fighting those effects, as she does chemo every 3 weeks. I had the prostate scare last year, but so far no cancer. had laser surgery to allow me to pee. Needing now to monitor. The list of friends with cancer is too large to post. Most are still alive and beating it. You can too! Prayers for you!.

 

[Northwoods]

I’ll be praying for you.

 

[SaskHunter]

Keep your chin up, bud, and beat that sh&t!

My FIL beat prostate cancer and made it his b*tch. A few years later, he's still hunting a killing big critters!

 

[recon6036]

I had my first visit, yesterday, with the Urologist since my diagnosis. I’ve done a ton of research and had 4 pages of questions for him.
In the end he told me exactly what I thought he would, which was he recommends a Radical Prostatectomy - nerve sparring, if possible.
I don’t necessarily disagree, but I reached out to Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN for a second opinion.
I’m just waiting for my MRI and biopsy results to be sent to them for review.
Still positive, not looking forward to the lifelong side effects from a Prostatectomy, but we’ll see what Mayo has to say…..F’ Cancer!!

 

[elkantlers]

Agreed, F' Cancer!!

Good luck to you.

 

[Steiny77]

Hopefully not as bad as you might think.

I'm 65 and started having high PSA about 8 years ago, so they did a biopsy at my local hospital. First biopsy found nothing but PSA remained high so I got an appointment with a specialty Urologist a friend had used and liked so they did a biopsy and found cancer in one of the 36 tissue samples (12 pokes x 3 layers). It was a rather non aggressive, slow growth type of cancer so we decided just to monitor it with routine checkups and bloodwork, then a biopsy every two years.

I've now had three more biopsy's with this outfit and no cancer detected in any of the tissue samples. It's in there, they just didn't poke it and it isn't spreading and causing much issue, my PSA numbers remain high, usually around 11-12. Doc says just to keep doing the biopsy's and we may even stretch them out to 2-1/2 - 3 years apart since nothing much has changed. I feel pretty lucky about it so far, he tells me it's quite possible, and somewhat common it could remain like this until old age and death.

If it comes down to a procedure, my guys says he typically recommends removal -vs- radiation, as radiation damages tissue and would make future removal difficult or undoable. He also mentioned they have a new procedure using ultrasound that is showing real promise, but most hospitals don't offer it and many insurance companies won't cover it.

Good luck ! Caught early, prostate cancer is about the most curable of cancers.

 

[gouch]

I had my first visit, yesterday, with the Urologist since my diagnosis. I’ve done a ton of research and had 4 pages of questions for him.
In the end he told me exactly what I thought he would, which was he recommends a Radical Prostatectomy - nerve sparring, if possible.
I don’t necessarily disagree, but I reached out to Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN for a second opinion.
I’m just waiting for my MRI and biopsy results to be sent to them for review.
Still positive, not looking forward to the lifelong side effects from a Prostatectomy, but we’ll see what Mayo has to say…..F’ Cancer!!

If possible, talk to a radiation oncologist for a different perspective.

 

[recon6036]

If possible, talk to a radiation oncologist for a different perspective.

For sure. That is the plan by going to Mayo. I have the Urologist recommendation, now I just want to hear from an Oncologist at highly rated Cancer treatment center.
I don’t want to wait too long, but I believe a second opinion is the smart thing to do.
My Urologist was real confident in his abilities and was straight to the point, which I actually respect…..not very personable, but that’s ok.

 

[Maverick1]

I know this is nowhere related to hunting and I’m not looking for sympathy in any way, but I was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer recently and thought I’d reach out to others who have experience with the different treatments, side effects, lifestyle changes, etc.
I’m 55 with a Gleason (3+4)=7 scoring.
Follow up is next Tuesday to discuss treatment options.
Im in good spirits and am very thankful it seems to have been caught early enough.
Anyway, Ill obviously follow medical advise, but if anyone wants to share experiences, recommendations, etc, that would be great.

Wishing you well!