Tony
B Lives in Sydney, Australia. He was 72 in February, 2008 when he was told his
PSA was 30.0 ng/ml. He is undecided as to if and when he should have a biopsy.
Here is his story:
Okay. I have been checking out your stories and I'm
really unsure at this stage.
I look at my age now (I'm 73 at the end of
the year) and my probable life expectancy - maybe six or seven years, 10 at the
most - and I have no real desire to end up in an old folks home staring at television
day and night and perhaps losing my marbles in the process. Does this sound a
bit too pessimistic? Maybe. But I really feel okay right now - I had successful
colon cancer surgery twelve years ago, I have three stents in place, I have a
good and fulfilling life- after a career in advertising, I now design and maintain
websites and I'm also a travel writer for newspapers and magazines. Life is good
and trouble-free. So I'm not sure I want to go down the misery road.
Not
yet.
I also know from this website and from the experience of friends with
prostate cancer (who have had various forms of surgery and therapy) that life
after treatment can be a pain in the butt. Do I want to live with all these horrid
side effects? Wouldn't it be better to add life to my remaining years, rather
than stressful years to my life?
So, really, I'm not sure right now what
I'm going to do.
After my GP gave me my PSA reading of 30 (three years
earlier the reading was 3) I gave him of my gut reaction, described above. But
a week later, I asked him for a reference to a specialist. The specialist said
"Biopsy" and I said, "Hold it right there."
The upshot, much to the specialist's
surprise, is that I put that painful biopsy on hold...and I'm waiting to see what
another PSA check - in about three months - will tell me. If the reading shoots
higher, as I suspect it will, I'll make a decision then. Is a biopsy necessary?
Won't a higher reading tell me all that I need to know?
I'd be interested
in reactions from guys my own age.
And I'll keep you posted.
In
the meantime, no painful biopsy, no incontinence and the rest of the miserable
stuff that comes with prostate invasion. I'm pretty philosophical about it all.
Time will tell.
I send best wishes to you all.
Tony's e-mail address
is: vygrtony@internode.on.net
