I am replying to this 'cause I think it's really important, not wanting to wear
the group down with my problems :-)

I too had prostate cancer, it will be 5 years in March. I told my wife I was
tired of her getting all the attention. I had the radical prostectomy and all
the joys that go with it. It was a small price to pay though and has had minimal
effect on my life in the long run. I too have had psa numbers that are for all
practical purposes 0. I was thinking of not going for the test as often, but
after reading your post I believe I will continue. I do know from my wifes case
and also from mine that early detection is the biggest chance anyone has for a
cure and putting one's head in the sand because of a fear of bad news or "they
can't do anything anyway" is a bad thing. Catch it before it can spread to a
secondary site and you can be cancer free!.

Brian, I wish you all the best and hope that your numbers are good ones!

Rick Dorgan



----- Original Message -----
From: Brian Dalrymple
To: bsa@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2009 7:48 AM
Subject: BSA Best friends go two ways





I am another of the "fairly" silent few on the site, but my heart truly goes
out to those of us that have lost their wives to cancer. But remember for us
guys who are still fortunate enough to be together with our best friend that we
also have a duty to try and ensure that we do not become a lost best friend for
them.

I discovered something recently that at least to me was pretty scary and would
like to pass it on to all the members hoping that it may help some of you. I had
prostate cancer 6 years ago, and my prostate was removed (I was 66 then). I was
lucky (as I never believed in going to the Doctor's for check ups) until my Doc
and wife ganged up on me to go. For those of you that may not know 4.5 is the
PSA reading that docs' apparently like to see you below, I was about 5 and
shortly after 9 and by the time I had biopsies 11.

For about 4 years after my prostate was removed my readings were at 0.02 which
is next to nothing then the reading jumped to 0.06 which is still very very
small. My doc and the surgeon who removed my prostate said, nothing to worry
about even when it went to 0.08. But my engineering background which includes
trend analysis did not like this and I complained until I got an appointment
with the Cancer Clinic. By the time I had the appointment with the Cancer Dr who
carried out another PSA test, the reading was 0.1, which I thought in the big
scheme of things (4.5 being the criteria) was still way off being a problem.

But here is the scary part, the cancer doc told me that the 4.5 reading is
only if you have never had cancer before. I am to have PSA checks every 3 months
now starting in about 3 weeks and if it rises to 0.2, I will have to spend 6
weeks at the cancer clinic having daily radiation treatment as the doc said at
that point (0.2) I have the best chance of killing the cancer. They have to
determine first of all whether the cancer is at the base of where the prostate
was removed or has spread somewhere else. Hopefully the readings will stabilize
and it will not be necessary, we will find out.

But the point of this message is, that had I just accepted the opinions of my
doc and the surgeon and not pushed for a cancer specialist opinion (and let's
face it, what do I really know about medical problems and cancer) next year on
my annual PSA check up I may have been well past the point at which the cancer
doc said I should have treatment to have the best chance of beating it.

I hope this may assist some of you and my best to you all, particularly the
guys who regrettably have lost their "best friend"

Brian D.

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