I was diagnosed August 2015 at the age of 46. I went to the doctor concerning prostatitis and had my PSA checked over a 6-month time period. The first test resulted in a 11 (ng/ml) but that could have been due to the prostatitis.
So I went back 3 months later and the score was 8 (ng/ml), which was going in the right direction. I had another test done 3 months after that and the score was 14 (ng/ml), which was alarming. I had then had a biopsy performed, which was the worst part of this entire journey, and that resulted with 6 of 10 cores being positive for cancer. My Gleason score was 3/4 – 4/3, total of 7.
Due to my age, quantity of positive core samples, and the Gleason score it was highly recommended that I have a radical prostatectomy. I had the surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore MD (luckily where I reside) on October 15th 2015. My lymph nodes were clean, but had positive margins at the neck of my bladder, so it was recommended that I have follow up radiation treatments as a cautious measure.
I had 7 weeks of daily radiation treatments from February through April of 2016. I have my PSA checked annually and so far everything is good. I still have minor complications from the surgery, e.g., ED and incontinence but it is manageable and I am still here to tell my story!
It was a life changing journey and I remain an advocate for having friends, family, colleagues, and even strangers to get screened ASAP, regardless of their age.
–Greg Hustead