Thanks Rick, yes from my experience it is too early to stop yet. For those
of you that still have a prostate the doc's digit check that accompanies the
PSA check showed nothing to indicate the start of cancer, no irregularities,
no roughness, no increase in size etc. so it was the PSA results that
probably saved me, as my biopsies showed the cancer to be aggressive, which
means it was fast moving.

Cheers,
Brian D.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick Dorgan" <nagrod@...>
To: <bsa@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2009 9:07 AM
Subject: Re: BSA Best friends go two ways


>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.
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
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