[Misc] Prostate Cancer

[AmexRuislip]

Prostate cancer breakthrough raises hopes of stopping disease in its tracks

A PROSTATE cancer breakthrough has raised hopes of stopping the disease in its tracks. It follows the discovery of how sugar molecules which feed tumours are produced. The finding opens the door fo…

www.thesun.co.uk

Protein GALNT7
Ever come across this in your studies
@Harry Wilson's tackle

 

[AmexRuislip]

My plan is to get tested annually, so they will be able to see any deviation in level pattern that they may be.

Glad to hear your news
I'm working up to my May, for my next blood test, to ascertain if the PSA levels have risen, after the first one since I had my procedure.

 

[Finch]

Great thread. I had the pleasure of learning a lot about this last year, albeit different country, different health system. I TMI'd all my friends much to their amusement / disgust and I will continue to do so for the reasons the OP and others have outlined.

I initially had a PSA of 2.4, 2.7 and then 3.1 which lead to me being referred to a specialist as part of a best practice guidelines for my age (at a young age that's high, at an older age, not so much). Specialists gave me the facts, 20% chance at my age its cancer, get an MRI to check it out, its going to be x long in public and x long in private - but warned me half the health workers were coming down with Covid so if I am electing to go public if I don't get my appointment within x amount of time to seriously consider private. I immediately went private as I preferred not to have 20% chance of cancer hanging over my head and had MRI within 2 weeks. Result was clean. Specialists said great, MRI's are 90% accurate, we can discharge you from care or we can do a biopsy to be safe, what do you want to do? I said dunno, you're the specialist I think you're in the better position to make informed decisions on a diagnostic pathway, so he said fair enough, lets do a biopsy to be safe.

The biopsy was an experience, it can sound daunting but in all honesty I have no negative feelings about it at all. It was just a small period of uncomfortableness and I found the process kind of amusing. A few in the thread said they had a 24? sample biopsy. I'm pretty sure from memory mine was 12. The technician talked me through it, I asked a few questions - I can't even remember what I asked but he gave me a full rundown and talked about the different approaches in different countries and the results of studies leading to NZ doing it this way. He is looking at an ultrasound screen to guide him and they give you a local injection and then lube you up and pop the contraption up your behind. The firing of the needle is loud and a bit physically jolting and the first few I didn't feel a thing painwise, just the general motion of something firing off inside me. The last few I did feel a little bit of a prick but it was really nothing. A dentist is way worse imo if you take away the stigma of this being up your butt.

The give you a little education on what to expect next with a handout. Advice that you are going to find blood in your urine and semen for the next week and that's normal. They give you advice to drink plenty of water so you can start the process of flushing that blood out of your urine. The make no mention of taking action to flushing the blood out of your semen, I only really think of this later - was that just a wink and a nod scenario - you know what you have to do?

Now this won't be in the standard advice, but there was a supermarket next door so I had decided it would be practical to pick up a few things afterwards before going home. They give your behind a wiping off etc, but there is still a lot of lube up there. That was a weird experience at the supermarket walking around feeling quite sloshy inside and paranoid I might have some kind of leaking (I did not). If there is a next time I might skip the supo part of the process though.

Best of luck to anyone going through to the next stages. I had a quick catch up with my specialist who outlined he was no longer interested in seeing me and I was cut from the team, but I'll be having tryouts every 6 months for the rest of my life and if I can score 6 or higher I'm back in the game. I highly recommend keeping tabs, its truly worth it to catch anything early. It's generally a stable cancer so even if it was found I was really feeling positive about the fact that I was going through the best practice method of detecting things early and would be onto the next steps of treating it. The odd day of overthinking it is probably unavoidable, but facing reality is better than not facing it and having regret.

10/10, would recommend.

 

[AmexRuislip]

Great thread. I had the pleasure of learning a lot about this last year, albeit different country, different health system. I TMI'd all my friends much to their amusement / disgust and I will continue to do so for the reasons the OP and others have outlined.

I initially had a PSA of 2.4, 2.7 and then 3.1 which lead to me being referred to a specialist as part of a best practice guidelines for my age (at a young age that's high, at an older age, not so much). Specialists gave me the facts, 20% chance at my age its cancer, get an MRI to check it out, its going to be x long in public and x long in private - but warned me half the health workers were coming down with Covid so if I am electing to go public if I don't get my appointment within x amount of time to seriously consider private. I immediately went private as I preferred not to have 20% chance of cancer hanging over my head and had MRI within 2 weeks. Result was clean. Specialists said great, MRI's are 90% accurate, we can discharge you from care or we can do a biopsy to be safe, what do you want to do? I said dunno, you're the specialist I think you're in the better position to make informed decisions on a diagnostic pathway, so he said fair enough, lets do a biopsy to be safe.

The biopsy was an experience, it can sound daunting but in all honesty I have no negative feelings about it at all. It was just a small period of uncomfortableness and I found the process kind of amusing. A few in the thread said they had a 24? sample biopsy. I'm pretty sure from memory mine was 12. The technician talked me through it, I asked a few questions - I can't even remember what I asked but he gave me a full rundown and talked about the different approaches in different countries and the results of studies leading to NZ doing it this way. He is looking at an ultrasound screen to guide him and they give you a local injection and then lube you up and pop the contraption up your behind. The firing of the needle is loud and a bit physically jolting and the first few I didn't feel a thing painwise, just the general motion of something firing off inside me. The last few I did feel a little bit of a prick but it was really nothing. A dentist is way worse imo if you take away the stigma of this being up your butt.

The give you a little education on what to expect next with a handout. Advice that you are going to find blood in your urine and semen for the next week and that's normal. They give you advice to drink plenty of water so you can start the process of flushing that blood out of your urine. The make no mention of taking action to flushing the blood out of your semen, I only really think of this later - was that just a wink and a nod scenario - you know what you have to do?

Now this won't be in the standard advice, but there was a supermarket next door so I had decided it would be practical to pick up a few things afterwards before going home. They give your behind a wiping off etc, but there is still a lot of lube up there. That was a weird experience at the supermarket walking around feeling quite sloshy inside and paranoid I might have some kind of leaking (I did not). If there is a next time I might skip the supo part of the process though.

Best of luck to anyone going through to the next stages. I had a quick catch up with my specialist who outlined he was no longer interested in seeing me and I was cut from the team, but I'll be having tryouts every 6 months for the rest of my life and if I can score 6 or higher I'm back in the game. I highly recommend keeping tabs, its truly worth it to catch anything early. It's generally a stable cancer so even if it was found I was really feeling positive about the fact that I was going through the best practice method of detecting things early and would be onto the next steps of treating it. The odd day of overthinking it is probably unavoidable, but facing reality is better than not facing it and having regret.

10/10, would recommend.

Great explanation

 

[AmexRuislip]

Check your risk in 30 seconds | Prostate Cancer UK

It's the most common cancer in men, but most men with early prostate cancer don't have symptoms. Find out about your risk now.

prostatecanceruk.org

 

[dstanman]

Was due to have some bloods done and asked if he could include a PSA test as well. He wanted to know why as not displaying any symptoms but finally agreed that given age would be good to get a baseline. He explained test not 100% and the next steps if they came back high and would i be willing to go through them. Just got result in and are normal which is good to know where i start from, and will look to get done at least yearly

 

[knocky1]

PSA Testing Events

pcaso.mypsatests.org.uk

Booked in for a test at Bishop Hannington Church on Neville Avenue, Hove for April 1st. Free but donations welcomed. There are a few other sites in Sussex.

Thanks to the thread I had my PSA done Saturday. 3.8 reading is OK for age. Now on the yearly check.

Haven't been in that Church since the school Christmas Service in 1973!

 

[AmexRuislip]

Was due to have some bloods done and asked if he could include a PSA test as well. He wanted to know why as not displaying any symptoms but finally agreed that given age would be good to get a baseline. He explained test not 100% and the next steps if they came back high and would i be willing to go through them. Just got result in and are normal which is good to know where i start from, and will look to get done at least yearly

Glad to hear this.
There are really no real side effects TBH, according to my consultant.
It's always good to get checked, if you're in that age bracket.

 

[Pickles]

I had my prostate whipped out last night and am currently in hospital until home time this afternoon.
It feels like I've been in a decent game of rugby and tackled a few times, but no pain.
I really would beg you guys to get a psa test done just to check, you really have nothing to lose and possibly everything to gain.
My mate urged me to have a psa test when I went to pee many times when we were down the pub. He has hopefully added years to my life that I may well have lost.
I'll now enjoy my beers and friends, along with my Lambretta with more alacrity than ever, along with The Albion winning the cup.....hopefully.
Please get your psa checked with your doctor, it's just a simple blood test.....
UTA.

 

[sydney]

"whipped out" wait till they "whip" the catheter out .......that really is an odd feeling.......all the best with it , do your exercises and don't hit the lash for a couple of months , you'll be fine.

 

[shingle]

Thanks to the thread I had my PSA done Saturday. 3.8 reading is OK for age. Now on the yearly check.

Haven't been in that Church since the school Christmas Service in 1973!

I was there on the 1st of April too. Im 63 and when i went four years ago my reading was 1.32. this time its 2.10 up 59%, but still green, so now, because of the increase they recommend that I have a two year follow up. I would like to say a big thank you to the chap on here who told people about the PCSO and their free testing back in 2019.

 

[knocky1]

I was there on the 1st of April too. Im 63 and when i went four years ago my reading was 1.32. this time its 2.10 up 59%, but still green, so now, because of the increase they recommend that I have a two year follow up. I would like to say a big thank you to the chap on here who told people about the PCSO and their free testing back in 2019.

Yours looks good. That increase is over 4 years and the figure does rise with age. We are the same age and I'm much higher than you at 3.8 but within guidelines. So a test next year for me.
Good to know we're being monitored! As you said, Thanks NSC.

 

[Roadrunner]

By pure coincidence, this thread started just as my dad was going through his diagnosis. In fact, we found out he had 'advanced' prostate cancer on the day I turned 50 (Happy Birthday, me!). He's 79 now, and his prognosis is 5-7 years as long as the injections and tablets work their magic. His PSA has gone down from a 'high' of 31, right down to <1 at the moment, which is a promising sign. In the knowledge that I am at an elevated risk (good old genetics) and despite the inherent unreliability of the test, this thread encouraged me to insist upon getting PSA reading for myself which came back at 1.7. This sounded quite high for my age, but my GP said she's not concerned and my plan is to ask for a repeat test in a year or so just to keep an eye on things. I've been reading up on the liquid biopsy stuff, which sounds like it could be a big step forward forward from prostate biopsies. I was actually looking for a charity to fundraise for as I won a ballot place in Sunday's London Marathon, so Prostate Cancer UK is where my sponsorship money is going.

 

[AmexRuislip]

I had my prostate whipped out last night and am currently in hospital until home time this afternoon.
It feels like I've been in a decent game of rugby and tackled a few times, but no pain.
I really would beg you guys to get a psa test done just to check, you really have nothing to lose and possibly everything to gain.
My mate urged me to have a psa test when I went to pee many times when we were down the pub. He has hopefully added years to my life that I may well have lost.
I'll now enjoy my beers and friends, along with my Lambretta with more alacrity than ever, along with The Albion winning the cup.....hopefully.
Please get your psa checked with your doctor, it's just a simple blood test.....
UTA.

Pleased you have had this done, it's a big step in the right direction.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to PM me

 

[AmexRuislip]

So I've had me second PSA reading come back today as cancer undetectable.
A great relief for the both of us.
Being positive is the key and never let the bugger get you down.
So hope all of you who have taken the decisions in getting tested also have good news, if not, there is always hope.

 

[macbeth]

So I've had me second PSA reading come back today as cancer undetectable.
A great relief for the both of us.
Being positive is the key and never let the bugger get you down.
So hope all of you who have taken the decisions in getting tested also have good news, if not, there is always hope.

excellent news!

 

[nicko31]

Check your risk in 30 seconds | Prostate Cancer UK

It's the most common cancer in men, but most men with early prostate cancer don't have symptoms. Find out about your risk now.

prostatecanceruk.org

Higher risk. Docs wouldn't give me an appointment for a test, only a promise a telephone call in 2 weeks + to discuss if I needed it at all.

Family history, plus age risk, FFS what else do they need?

 

[AmexRuislip]

Higher risk. Docs wouldn't give me an appointment for a test, only a promise a telephone call in 2 weeks + to discuss if I needed it at all.

Family history, plus age risk, FFS what else do they need?

You need to push for an appt, it is your right.
Don't take any crap, insist on it.

 

[nicko31]

You need to push for an appt, it is your right.
Don't take any crap, insist on it.

Feels like anything deemed non urgent is being pushed into the long grass or better still find a private clinic

 

[AmexRuislip]

Feels like anything deemed non urgent is being pushed into the long grass or better still find a private clinic

If you have a family history, then that is the catalyst you need to get seen and have a blood test for to check yr PSA.
Tell them your getting stressed and anxious.
No need to go private.