Sorry to hear the news.

Cancer has hit my family hard the last few years as well.
Mom--> pancreatic cancer
Uncle--> malignant metastatic prostate cancer
Father in law--> Lymphoma

They have all passed.

Spend time with your unc., pancreatic is almost impossible to beat.

Quote from: Speedbag on April 18, 2011, 03:20:42 PM


Reminds me of my Dad, retire at 59 to do what you want on a lake and suddenly pass away at 62. I truly hope yours has more luck.

Never saw that comment Speed.  As I just mentioned, my Stepdad is doing well after having prostate removed. He bought a second house on a lake in MI and a few lawn/gardening toys to go with it, ie: tractor, 4 wheeler, etc.  

My biological father just mentioned retirement for the very first time to me about 2 months ago.  This is a kick in the balls.  

Pedro..I wish I could. I'm in TX and he and most of the family are back in MI. At least his kids and brothers and sisters are all there.

My half sister had skin, my mom had breast, my grandma had breast, etc.    

I hope everything works out well for your friend/boss ML

good thing he has been tracking it and was able to address it when the time arrived to 

Guess I could update.

He's doing ok. With no prostate his psa should be about zero but its not. It's slowly rising

Doctors are concerned and are talking more treatment but I don't think he's interested. He guesses a 10 year life span if untreated with 5-8 good quality.

Longer span with treatment but only a few good quality years.

He's the type of guy to decided when enough is enough, stare down death and say bring it on.

CUCK FANCER !!!

there was a comment a while back about a positive PSA test but no cancer detected with biopsy.
that's the essential reason the medical community is turning away from PSA ... it doesn't really
appear to be a statistically useful predictor.  unfortunately, the only non-invasive predictor
is the ol' fickle finger of fate.  as unpleasant as that is, i would highly recommend this at least
once a year for anyone over 50. 

also ... there appears to be two varieties of prostate cancer ... slow growing vs. fast.  its the
fast kind that kills.  most of us will have the slow kind when we go into he dark.

Quote from: abby normal on November 21, 2012, 07:05:34 AM
there was a comment a while back about a positive PSA test but no cancer detected with biopsy.
that's the essential reason the medical community is turning away from PSA ... it doesn't really
appear to be a statistically useful predictor.  unfortunately, the only non-invasive predictor
is the ol' fickle finger of fate.  as unpleasant as that is, i would highly recommend this at least
once a year for anyone over 50. 

also ... there appears to be two varieties of prostate cancer ... slow growing vs. fast.  its the
fast kind that kills.  most of us will have the slow kind when we go into he dark.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This

Quote from: abby normal on November 21, 2012, 07:05:34 AM
there was a comment a while back about a positive PSA test but no cancer detected with biopsy.
that's the essential reason the medical community is turning away from PSA ... it doesn't really
appear to be a statistically useful predictor.  unfortunately, the only non-invasive predictor
is the ol' fickle finger of fate.  as unpleasant as that is, i would highly recommend this at least
once a year for anyone over 50. 

also ... there appears to be two varieties of prostate cancer ... slow growing vs. fast.  its the
fast kind that kills.  most of us will have the slow kind when we go into he dark.

Interesting...my sister's husband has gone through the op/radiotherapy mill, the Docs seem to be stuck on this PSA thing where the reading should be zero but isn't. It's steady at a low level and causing him and his wife no end of anxiety. Time for some more research methinks.

If I recall correctly, the last big study which showed no statistical benefit
Of the PSA test was in England, so maybe the report would be in lancet.
I'll see if I can find it.  Your experience is precisely why it's not being
Recommended ... False positive followed by painful and unnecessary biopsy.

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)61232-X/fulltext#

There's a link to an article discussing current thinking on the PSA test.
Lots of differing opinions right now as the medical community tries to
Sort out the standard of care.

Whatever you decide about PSA, there's no reason to not get the finger.
That's the life saver.

Quote from: zooom on November 21, 2012, 05:40:04 AM
CUCK FANCER !!!

This.

I'll be 44 in March. That means I have six years to convince myself that getting probed might be fun. Then again, my doc is sorta hot....

Definitely not fun.  But is a finger up the a$$ once a year a reasonable
Price for life?  I know lots of guys 50-60 who have never done this
Out of fear or embarrassment.  Just do it.  It's the current standard
Of practice.  Every GP knows how to do it. 

Quote from: abby normal on November 23, 2012, 08:02:25 AM
Definitely not fun.  But is a finger up the a$$ once a year a reasonable
Price for life?  I know lots of guys 50-60 who have never done this
Out of fear or embarrassment.  Just do it.  It's the current standard
Of practice.  Every GP knows how to do it. 

Not according to the USPTF.
Joint decision making, patient and provider, is the way to go.

Joint decision making is fine, but useless without some kind of
Diagnostic tool.  Currently the preferred tool is the finger.
No pun intended.  Get it or not.  The decision is yours.

No it's not.
It's neither sensitive nor specific.
DRE misses half of all cancers.

USPTF states there to be inconclusive data to support the use of DRE.
Hence, the best approach is joint decision making.

Many factors influence going forward with prostate screening.
Medical history
Family history
Age
Etc

Interpretation of meta analysis is left up to expert panels, which is why there's so much conflicting info out there. I for one do not want to add to that confusion, but I find it difficult to say nothing when I see posts making broad statements on recommendations.
Don't mean to "argue" with ya. Again, get that finger all you want. I'm just saying.