NDR - Prostate cancer

John Klingenstein

John Klingenstein

Well-known member
This is my NDR public service announcement post for this month.

I have had two very close and dear friends diagnosed with prostate cancer in the last week. The good news is that both were diagnosed early and the prognosis is good.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, and the second leading cause of cancer deaths among men in the U.S. Every year about 185,000 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the United States. About one in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, but only one in 35 will die of it.

Prostate cancer is a malignant tumor that usually begins in the outer part of the prostate. In most men, the cancer grows very slowly. In fact, many men with the disease will never know they had the condition. Early prostate cancer is confined to the prostate gland itself, and the majority of patients with this type of cancer can live for many years with no problems.

Early detection is key. Please make a PSA test and Prostate exam a regular part of your yearly physical if you are over 50 or younger if you have a family history of cancer. Do not put it off.

We all need to take our health more seriously.....before it's too late
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John, I second your announcement. I will have my free exam this week along with my 21st annual PSA. Don't think I have missed one since I turned 40. Not something to take lightly but at the same time so very easy to have checked.
 
Having been through the high test, I might add, don't panic if you have a high PSA result. Many things can cause a high test other than cancer. But, of course, have add'l testing and probably the biopsies to be sure.

Rich
 
Yep, happened to me about 12 years ago. At my annual check-up my PSA, that had been running about 1.5, suddenly shot up to 6.5 - scared the crap out of me (no pun intended). My Doc said we would retest in 2-3 months because there are a lot of factors including unusually long sitting, sitting on hard surfaces, more frequent sexual activity, etc, etc. Well I had just gotten home from a long hunting trip to Colorado and all three of the causes he mentioned had been in play either during or after I got back. Anyway, 3 months later we retested and my PSA was back to 1.5 again. The biggest thing is to know your own body and be aware of your baseline number. Everyone is different but as long as you know where your number is, you can monitor any changes yourself.
 
Important post John.

PSA (prostate specific antegen) tests saved my life. I went from 1.? to 3.75 progressively over several years. The threshold is 4.0 for the necessity of biopsy. My Doc believed that I should not wait for the inevitable 4.0 because of the upward trend. So I had the biopsy and the results were that I had Prostate Cancer.

Two years ago next month, my prostate was removed using robotics. Only 3 small holes in the belly and out it came.

Today, my PSA is 0.2 or less. It appears that I was one of the lucky ones but they won't say that until 5 years are up.

Now you may wonder why take a PSA if you don't have a prostate gland. Surprisingly, If the prostate cancer spreads to anywhere else in your body, your PSA will reflect it since the cancer is still prostate cancer that resides elsewhere in your body. Interesting fact that you mostly learn if you get prostate cancer

So I second your alert - It is very survivable if you monitor your PSA annually despite the sometimes false positive results.

Bill
 
I thought I would bring this thread back up. My PSA almost doubled in the past 15 months. It has been steadily increasing ever since I started monitoring it. I am having a biopsy next month. Odds are 3 in 4 it will be negative!

So, if you are of age, keep track of your PSA!

Tom
 
Hey John, I hope all is well with you . I had my prostate removed 8 yrs. ago have only minor issues since. Like you said get blood work done and keep after it. Early treatment can save your life. Cheers, Fritz.
 
John, thank you for taking the time to write what you did. It is important and you, sir, made a difference by doing what you did.
Al
 
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