Author Topic: Prostate Cancer - My Experience (Read 28389 times)

barnett468 · « **Reply #25 on:** September 07, 2018, 09:33:13 am »

Quote from: v8ford70 on September 06, 2018, 11:49:38 pm

Thanks for all the well wishes,my prayers are with the ones that are going through what I have been thru & the ones waiting on results. PSA readings are used as a marker, a good guide,& if on the increase advising us to pursue it further.Its great to see advancement on testing for Prostate Cancer (eg. DNA) to help us enjoy many more years with our families,friends & our Stangs .I will be interested to find out more about the DNA testing when I meet with my Urologist next, & would be very interested if anyone else has had any discussions with their Urologist re DNA Testing.Barnett I'm interested to find out which DNA testing you have had & your experience.
Its great to see that this topic has had so many views & hopefully everyone is doing something about checking their Prostate health .All the best wishes to all Regards Phil.

The dna testing is new and was not available when i had my testing done which was with the ever so pleasant "digital" exam and biopsies. My psa was moderately high so they did around a 6 core test which showed nothing, but then again, they could have been false negatives. My psa rose quickly again over the next 6 months so i went to a different doctor that took around 12 or so core samples, and one of them showed positive so i had them yank it out with the davinci machine. After doing more biopsies on it after it was removed, they found 2 more areas that were cancerous that BOTH core sample tests missed. This means that it is possible to have a total of around 20 samples taken and they can still turn out negative, (or false negative) and you can still have cancer. This is why they developed the dna test
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v8ford70 · « **Reply #26 on:** September 15, 2018, 12:27:59 am »

Barnett thank God that you followed up again when your PSA reading had increased & changed Doctor .Thanks for sharing your experience.Not knowing how long since you had it removed I pray that all is well with you now.I am looking forward to finding out more about the DNA Testing when I have my appointment with my Urologist beginning October.All the Best Phil

barnett468 · « **Reply #27 on:** September 15, 2018, 12:42:48 pm »

Quote from: v8ford70 on September 15, 2018, 12:27:59 am

Barnett thank God that you followed up again when your PSA reading had increased & changed Doctor .Thanks for sharing your experience.Not knowing how long since you had it removed I pray that all is well with you now.I am looking forward to finding out more about the DNA Testing when I have my appointment with my Urologist beginning October.All the Best Phil

Thanks for the thoughts. I had it done around 10 years ago. Haven't been back to the doctor since my last follow up visit which was around 3 months after the operation.

There is a major problem having it done with the davinci machine which is that you will likely feel very little pain afterwards, and that will quickly go away, so it is stupidly easy to forget about the operation soon afterwards and lift something light like 20 lbs or casually throw something and fk yourself up big time. I know because I did exactly this and the pain was instantly nearly excruciating and hurt for a few weeks afterward, so DO NOT DO THIS, lol. Pretend you are the biggest pussy in the world for at least 1 MONTH or you may seriously to regret it.

v8ford70 · « **Reply #28 on:** September 21, 2018, 11:48:37 pm »

Quote from: barnett468 on September 15, 2018, 12:42:48 pm

Thanks for the thoughts. I had it done around 10 years ago. Haven't been back to the doctor since my last follow up visit which was around 3 months after the operation.

There is a major problem having it done with the davinci machine which is that you will likely feel very little pain afterwards, and that will quickly go away, so it is stupidly easy to forget about the operation soon afterwards and lift something light like 20 lbs or casually throw something and fk yourself up big time. I know because I did exactly this and the pain was instantly nearly excruciating and hurt for a few weeks afterward, so DO NOT DO THIS, lol. Pretend you are the biggest pussy in the world for at least 1 MONTH or you may seriously to regret it.

Thanks for the advice, will take note,Great to see everything went well for you since then.Cheers Phil

barnett468 · « **Reply #29 on:** September 22, 2018, 08:18:14 am »

Quote from: v8ford70 on September 21, 2018, 11:48:37 pm

Thanks for the advice, will take note,Great to see everything went well for you since then.Cheers Phil

Thanks, and I had a friend that had it done the old school way around 6 months before I did and he showed up around a week later and could barely walk. He didn't feel 90% better for at least 2 months.

Macka · « **Reply #30 on:** September 27, 2018, 12:14:32 am »

How are things going Phil?

v8ford70 · « **Reply #31 on:** September 27, 2018, 11:33:12 pm »

Quote from: Macka on September 27, 2018, 12:14:32 am

How are things going Phil?

Macka, still trying to control my bladder leakage,doing my pelvic floor exercises but still having problems,a friend of mine took 7 months before he regained control,some are fortunate to regain control sooner & some a lot longer.Its been 6 weeks since my operation so just need to stay positive. I have an appointment with my Urologist on 2nd October for my post operative check up & to set up a monitoring plan.Cheers Phil

Macka · « **Reply #32 on:** September 28, 2018, 03:30:20 pm »

Good to hear that you are making headway with it however far the journey. The bigger the message that gets out there the more informed blokes will be. I've been in for my checks now and waiting for the reply. Everyone else in here should also have a go at their Dr's.....

Macka · « **Reply #33 on:** September 30, 2018, 12:30:40 am »

I've just put a death notice up for Bob Jane, he had suffered from it and lost the fight. Get checked.

v8ford70 · « **Reply #34 on:** October 05, 2018, 07:26:23 pm »

I had my appointment with my Urologist this week & he said that I was doing as well as expected at this stage after 6 weeks from operation.Have my next appointment with him at end of October to check on Blood & Urine tests that will be taken the week before.I asked him with regards to DNA testing & his reply was that it was available in Australia & it was an indicator in whether you were carrying a mutated gene & the risk of developing prostate cancer - aggressive prostate cancer.
It doesn't tell you that you have got prostrate cancer just whether you are at risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer.If you Google NCBI & also www.cancer.net there is a lot of info.Its great to see how research is developing into finding out more about this cancer & ways to detect it .My thoughts for now are keep monitoring your PSA levels as I did & check with your Doctor or Urologist re having DNA testing & what is best for your situation.Most importantly is to do something & don't sit back and think "she'll be right mate" & find out one day you were wrong.Regards Phil

Reborn67 · « **Reply #35 on:** October 05, 2018, 07:46:57 pm »

When my father was being treated, in his final 6 months ( at the Peter Mac clinic Melb) he was part of a trial and also underwent quite a few DNA tests, one of which could also identify if it was hereditary or not, fortunately for me in his case it was not, that does not mean however l get a "get out of jail card" l still have to get my tests done just like everybody else, And l could not speak highly enough about all the doctors and staff at the Peter Mac Hospital.

v8ford70 · « **Reply #36 on:** October 05, 2018, 11:15:16 pm »

Andrew (Reborn67) it's good to see that you're following up with getting tested & also the others on this site that have said that they are doing it as well, well done.With my job I travel quite long distances & speak to a lot of men & I was amazed that when I was diagnosed with Prostate cancer & I started talking about it I couldn't believe that 90% of the men around my age & younger hadn't done any testing at all. That's why I started this topic hoping that sharing my experience may motivate others to act. The more men that share their good or not so good experiences here ,or even to say that they are just doing something about it the better,& hopefully others will take note & follow.Cheers Phil

Reborn67 · « **Reply #37 on:** October 06, 2018, 07:35:07 am »

It is unfortunate in this day and age men's health,and especially prostate health is treated as a taboo subject, it is not something you can think is ok, you have to 'Know' its ok, and it is a subject that we all have in common,
To Phil, good to hear you are on the right side of things and hope they continue to improve..,

BLINDMAN · « **Reply #38 on:** October 06, 2018, 06:34:37 pm »

Hey Guy's
I'm going in for a prostate removal (cut & shut) on Monday & my nerves are shot.

Reborn67 · « **Reply #39 on:** October 06, 2018, 07:00:41 pm »

Good luck and hope all goes well for you..,

mcarnage59 · « **Reply #40 on:** October 06, 2018, 07:32:36 pm »

Quote from: BLINDMAN on October 06, 2018, 06:34:37 pm

Hey Guy's
I'm going in for a prostate removal (cut & shut) on Monday & my nerves are shot.

Good luck! We are all here supporting you.

v8ford70 · « **Reply #41 on:** October 06, 2018, 08:01:05 pm »

Andy (Blindman) if you would like to talk about anything at all to do with whats ahead please PM me for my phone number, I'm here for support & to help if I can.Regards Phil

Dwayne · « **Reply #42 on:** October 07, 2018, 08:57:07 am »

Best of luck Andy.

barnett468 · « **Reply #43 on:** October 07, 2018, 11:55:23 am »

Quote from: BLINDMAN on October 06, 2018, 06:34:37 pm

Hey Guy's
I'm going in for a prostate removal (cut & shut) on Monday & my nerves are shot.

Are they using the robot?

BLINDMAN · « **Reply #44 on:** October 07, 2018, 06:27:11 pm »

Yes, it is robotic surgery. Very expensive but I recently discovered DVA is covering all my cost.

barnett468 · « **Reply #45 on:** October 08, 2018, 02:29:27 am »

Quote from: BLINDMAN on October 07, 2018, 06:27:11 pm

Yes, it is robotic surgery. Very expensive but I recently discovered DVA is covering all my cost.

I was up all night the night before my operation looking at different options on the internet so I could avoid the surgery, and I even told them at the hospital in the morning when they were ready to wheel me into the operating room that I still wasn't sure I wanted to go thru with it, so I delayed the operation by around 30 minutes.

Now several years later, I have zero doubt that having the operation was by far the best thing for me to do because I was pretty young and not ready to kick the bucket any time soon.

As far as botched/failed prostate operations go, they are virtually unheard of when the robot is used, so there is nothing to worry about there.

The drugs they use these days to put people to sleep are incredible. I had 2 operations a few years apart and, both times I woke up just feeling a little tired but not dizzy at all and not sick to my stomach, and the tiredness from the drugs wore off after a couple hours.

They even had me get up and walk down the hall a few hours after the operation. I only had a mild, dull pain that was easily tolerable, and it was so mild that I never took any pain medication. It was easy to walk right away, but I suggest that you take SMALL steps. As I mentioned earlier, you will feel much better right away than you really are, so it is easy to forget you just had a substantial operation, so just keep reminding yourself that you should not even think about lifting a gallon of milk or moving quickly etc for probably at least 30 days. Believe me, I know, and if you do over strain yourself, you will greatly regret it. Just look at it like a brief vacation where you get to have others do your bidding for a while.

Let us know how you feel when you are up to it.

PS - Also, if you get bored during your recovery and have a computer, there are a bazillion free movies you can watch on youtube.