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Also...it might not hurt to get a second opnion, especially if you are not in a major metro area. We inadvertantly got a second opinion. We lived in a suburban metro area when my husband was diagnosed but were scheduled to move six weeks later. We decided to move first and get settled while my husband was still able to pack and unpack...we had already purchased a house here. We were referred to a dr here....another area with great hospitals and healthcare....and our records were sent. The dr here concurred with the dr at home....his numbers were too high for watchful waiting beyond six months, so that option did not make sense....and the cancer might have spread to the lymph nodes by then....who knows....and especially since his PSA had jumped from 5-7 in a year and a half. It really does seem to boil down to what your PSA and Gleason numbers are. Good luck with your decision...it’s not easy.
Just had a friend complete proton beam therapy for prostate cancer at Loma Linda School of Medicine in California. They have a very high success rate ( 90%+) and there are none of the dreaded side effects in most patients. Proton beam therapy is available at other centers around the country. You might want to look into it.
Ok. Just came from the urologist.
I'm in the watch and monitor category, at least for right now.
I have another biopsy in 3 weeks, tell us more, if it's more serious, or gets more serious, we'll reconsider options. This will better give us idea of what we're working with. Personally I thought we had that already, but i guess he wants second option himself.
For now, I'm happy with that arrangement.
Unfortunately, the recent MRI also showed stage I I I avascular necrosis of the right femoral head, too, as it was plainly visible in the MRI, too.
That means the bone is dying, so back to the orthopedic surgeon for decisions. That may, for now, be a watch and wait, too as eventually when the pain of the joint hits, there is no option but total hip replacement, as the dead bone is no longer any good for the joint.
Darn it! One thing leads to another, has always been the case in my health, and why I draw,SSDI.
So for now, I can continue to enjoy THAT part of my life to its fullest extent. The future cards may hold something different.
Unfortunately, the recent MRI also showed stage I I I avascular necrosis of the right femoral head, too, as it was plainly visible in the MRI, too.
Darn it! One thing leads to another, has always been the case in my health, and why I draw,SSDI.
...
Ain't that the truth! A few months ago I got a coronary CAT scan which negated an earlier false result from a poorly done ultrasound. However the CAT scan revealed that I have nodes on my lungs, no doubt from smoking in my misspent youth, which I stopped over 19 years ago. I go back in about 7 months for a another scan to see if the nodes are growing.
Ok to put it point blankly, and far less tactful than I'd lik, but the prostate in the male is,the organ that provides orgasm , the prize at the end. I see absolutely no reason to go through "all that work" if there is no prize at the end.
We're not talking shooting blanks like with a vasectomy, were talking not shooting the gun at all.
Not up for that. It WILL be over.
I guarantee you he hasn't had an orgasm since his prostate was removed.
That part is not for me yet.
Not to mention most men with prostate cancer resolutions suffer erectile dysfunction ( ED), it would appear that that NOT even shooting the gun isn't an option as the gun isn't even put together let alone loaded.
And, NO I'm not going to have a sometimes workable, artificial part "implant" to facilitate an approximation to an erection.
No, none of that for me YET.
IF I was in my 60s, id feel different. But clearly I'm not.
Well see what the urologist says tomorrow.
Geese this is less than tactful now. I'm spilling my guts, and haven't yet had to spill my guts...on an operating table.
My OH says will abide by any decisions I have to make. That doesn't help much.
Let me put it this way, I'm going through somewhat what a woman goes through when she's told she has,reached menopause. And ISN'T ready for childbearing years to be over. Or the hormone changes or the vaginal dryness, or painful intercourse for first time.
I have no lack of libido, rather I'm rather still a raging stallion ( ask my OH, lol). So, no, not teady to give that up.
It's be like me asking you to cut off your right arm due to psoriasis. Would you be willing to do it so quickly????
Hmmm....
Well then he was a good faker.
OP, I'm sure you've discussed this in great detail with your urologist, but those other readers who may be less familiar with the subject might take a look at this article: https://www.roboticoncology.com/sex-...state-surgery/. The main take-away is that following prostatectomy, sex is different, not less pleasurable. Orgasm (since OP brought it up) still occurs, there just is no ejaculation.
Ain't that the truth! A few months ago I got a coronary CAT scan which negated an earlier false result from a poorly done ultrasound. However the CAT scan revealed that I have nodes on my lungs, no doubt from smoking in my misspent youth, which I stopped over 19 years ago. I go back in about 7 months for a another scan to see if the nodes are growing.
I hear you. The same thing happened to me last December only in my case one spiculated nodule, "suspicious for malignancy" in the middle lobe of the right lung found after a cardiac MRI.
Due to location no biopsy was feasible so I am minus a lung lobe.....it was only an inflammation for which I am grateful.
On one day last December last year I was diagnosed with congenital heart cardiomyopathy( no symptoms, no idea) and highly likely lung cancer.
Now I know how I function with stress..... quite well as it turns out!
I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2011 when I was the ripe old age of 49. I had a robotic prostatectomy within a few months.
Unfortunately, the surgery failed and I experienced a slow rise in my PSA for a few years until it got to the point I needed to act. That was in 2016 when I underwent salvage radiation therapy (SRT) and went through 37 radiation treatments delivered over 8 weeks.
Since my SRT in April of 2016, I have remained cancer-free. Of course, I'm hoping it stays that way.
And even after all of the surgery and radiation, "Mr. Happy" stills works as good as he did before. But as was mentioned earlier in this thread, your recovery after treatment is dependent a lot on how healthy you were prior to treatment.
Postponing treatment because you are worried about having sex afterwards is foolish, but that's my opinion. If you have a family, you need to consider them as well. Would they be happier with a father or husband above ground and maybe only partially "operational" or would they be happier with a father / husband who stuck to his guns and is now six feet under?
Check out the HealingWell forum. They have an entire group dedicated to prostate cancer. I learned more about my cancer and how to treat it than I ever did from the numerous surgeons and radiologists I've dealt with.
What is your PSA? Anything over 4, and you need to get a biopsy. Anything over 7 and you need to get a a biopsy and evaluation as to the Level. I was at 4 for many years, but my biopsies all came back negative. I changed Urologist, and had my PSA monitored and a much Deeper biopsy (ouch), it I was diagnosed with Grade 2 cancer. I had a bone scan and I went through Cyberknife radiation therapy with 40 treatments, plus hormone therapy and I am in remission.
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Proton Therapy
