That is all very positive! Congratulations! It only gets better from here. The odds are much in your favor that you got it all the first time....
Mel, Big change from your thread of 2/26 when you were disgusted. How did you get an appointment? Congratulations. I got my first shot yesterday. Mild soreness at the injection point. I understand...
Echoing Halbert, it takes time! Initially, each day is better than the previous. As time goes on it gets better, but it's not not always a steady improvement. Tiredness persists for quite a while. I...
Given the sleep apnea it makes sense to consult with the anesthesiologist. When I had recent hernia surgery they asked me to bring my cpap to the hospital in case they needed it. But that was not...
I'm now 3.5 years after salvage radiation and have had an undetectable PSA ever since. How often should I be getting a PSA test at this point? Every 6 months?...
Could you explain the issue or concern you have with anesthesia? Have you had a bad experience in the past?...
After checking the CVS vaccine website for Virginia unsuccessfully about 50 times this week, I decided to check it once again at 4:45 Friday afternoon. I thought it was pointless because why would...
Somewhere in the middle of my radiation I began to experience some tiredness, but nothing dramatic. It went away by the end of the treatment. Then a couple of months after completing RT I began to...
Assuming I can get the vaccine by August, I'll resume in person teaching. We will get together with other people who have been vaccinated. We are planning to have a family vacation in August,...
Hi Dave, and welcome to the forum. Feel free to ask any questions at all! It must have been an unpleasant shock when the pathology came back as a 9 rather than a 7. You've done well so far, and have...
I was on oxybutynin for a while to help with minor spasms that might have been causing leaks. It didn't help with that. I think my retention happened because there was a "ragged" connection between...
If you think you are at risk of developing urinary retention, I suggest that you get a catheter from your urologist. I had at least three episodes of retention and it was the worst pain I've ever...
Hello Team HW: It's six days since my "bilateral inguinal hernia repair with mesh" surgery, and I thought this would be a good time to update the group on how it has been. The anesthesiologist...
I'm glad you've thought this through carefully. All of us here wish you only the best. I can't help at all with the specific complications you mention in the first post, but I do have some advice as...
Given those complications, have you considered radiation as an alternative? Did you speak with a radiation oncologist, and if so, what did they say about your case? Radiation has its won set of...
I agree that 0.18 is not really LOWER than 0.20, but it is clearly not HIGHER!...
Congratulations! Six years undetectable is wonderful. I agree with you that the word "cured" feels strange. At three years my uro said that perhaps I should consider myself cured. That seemed...
The symptoms you describe are typical consequences of getting older. Prostate cancer has no symptoms until it is very advanced. That's why a PSA test is so useful. Have you been getting them?...
Very interesting, but I don't know what to make of it. I'd like to know what the practical implications are. Does it render the PSA test unnecessary? Does it replace a biopsy? What is the rate of...
I wish I had seen a summary of all of the different treatments with a detailed discussion of the merits and problems of each. What is the known probability of different side effects of each treatment?...
Reminds me of a story a friend told me. She had some kind of significant surgery. The doctor told her that she should/would be "up and about in 24 hours." At 36 hours post-surgery she wasn't feeling...
Hey Kauaiboy -- I'm having my hernia surgery 2/15. It will be open. The surgeon did not consider the possibility of laparoscopic. It seems that most surgeons won't do laparoscopic after...
My biopsy was similar to your dad's (4+3) but with a lower PSA. I got talked into surgery (by a surgeon, of course), but then had to have radiation when my PSA started rising again. My PSA has been...
Thanks! Based on your advice I've decided to cancel a week of classes. Now I have to figure out how to get a recliner for a week....
Hello all, I'll be having a double hernia repair next month, open surgery with mesh. I'm curious about experiences of other members who have had hernia surgery after a prostatectomy. What kind of...
This is a prostate cancer forum so we should focus on that topic and leave politics aside. For the most part I'd rather NOT know what your politics are. We should keep everything about the election...
Perhaps you should continue to work with the current urologist for a while, at least until you can get in to see the new one. What you should probably do a soon as you can is see a radiation...
Like you, I've had both radiation and prostatectomy, but I had the surgery first. After the surgery I recovered full continence slowly over about 9 months. Then I had radiation, and that left me...
The biopsy isn't fun, but neither is it terrible. With some luck your elevated PSA is due to something other than cancer....
A prostate biopsy is not pleasant, but it's far from terrible. Like many things medical, thinking about what they will do to you is the worst part. Be sure to take the anti-biotic pill in advance,...
I had my prostate removed by this controversial surgeon. It's interesting that he might have been having positive comments about himself posted here. When I met with him after my surgery, I tried to...
Is there a version not behind a paywall?...
I started SRT about a year after surgery. My PSA had been undetectable, but when it rose to 0.05 I decided to initiate radiation. No one recommended ADT. It's been 3 years now and so far no...
First of all, I agree that it makes sense to find out from your doctor is the missing < sign is a mistake. Second, if it's not a mistake, keep in mind that .014 is still a very small number, and it's...
I didn't say you didn't read or understand the article. I think you don't understand how scientific journal publishing works. The Russian Health Care Ministry is mistaken is saying that the results...
Buddy B: You keep saying that "The Lancet found" or "The Lancet says the vaccine is safe" but that is not accurate. Authors of the article had findings and made various claims. The Lancet merely...
I'm curious why you write: "So should I just get a RP?" Have you considered other treatments, esp. radiation? Or is there something about your medical history that makes surgery a clear choice?...
Nice, considerate people often try not to cause a ruckus and create unnecessary inconvenience for other people. This strikes me as a case where it is better to cause other people inconvenience in...
Tony, As others have said, G9 is a serious diagnosis that demands attention. If you take a few months to find out if alternative therapies work, you might be letting the cancer progress to the point...
There is some evidence that avoiding eggs, meat, dairy, sugar tends to reduce PCa recurrence. Chicken skin seems particularly bad. But the research will never show that a certain diet PREVENTS or...
That's wonderful. I think that guys who are starting RT should study your trend. Overall, it is downward, but not steadily so. There are a number of bounces, after each of which the downward trend...
Unfortunately, individual experiences with food and psa can't be very instructive. I quit eating dairy, eggs and red meat after my PCa came back after surgery. Then I had radiation, and my psa has...
I'd like to address one of your initial questions, especially whether to talk about it and how to treat him. The answer on how to treat him is easy, I think. Treat him as normally as possible. Don't...
For me the biggest challenge of RT was getting my bladder just full enough but not too full. There were a couple of times when I wasn't full enough and they had me wait a little while and drink a...
Nobody warned me that this was a potential side effect of RT. Radiation is a great treatment option for most people, but it sure can go badly wrong, as in your case. We all regret that this is...
Very happy to hear such good news. We are all wishing you a long string of <.006s....
Newly diagnosed men who have not yet decided how to treat their prostate cancer need information with which to make an informed decision. Home sheltering shouldn't get in the way of this process too...
Congratulations in completing your SRT. It's a really good feeling to be done. It's interesting how different people have different reactions. I have experienced some extreme emotions along this PCa...
You are facing a difficult situation. I'm glad that your oncologist specializes in urology because he will be much more likely to have experience with unusual cases such as yours. My RO was a...
I don't think a radiation oncologist is the person to give you a DRE. Not their specialty. A urologist feels prostates all the time so they have a trained finger. By comparison other doctors are...