The path I'm taking

And how about yourself ?  I have re-read your initial post and once again wonder what the purpose of it was ?  Can you tell us your motives please ?

Regards,

Dudley

I don't deny that fear may well be a part of my decision-making process but a biopsy is far from painless and carries a real risk of infection - see Alfred5 above for just one example.

I have carefully read all posts on this thread and am truly grateful for all opinions. As I have stated, I do intend to carefully monitor my PSA and I will decide on a course of action should it go much higher so I am not ignoring the problem. I hope this answers your question.

Regards

Regards

Yes,  I could see you were not getting any affirmations but were still ploughing on regardless in what seemed  ( and please forgive me for this ) a somewhat self-justified way;   [even telling others they were 'wrong' and sending them off to do more research].  And so not unnaturally,  I was beginning to wonder.

Our hearts go out to Alfred 5 don't they ?   What a difficult position they are in,  with a working Farm and a young Family.  For a great many of us,  the initial decision making process IS the hardest part,  of having Prostate Cancer.

No matter what decision we make,  whether to treat and in what manner,  or to not treat,  our lives and those of our Family members are changed irreversibly by the diagnosis.  

The human spirit though is a remarkable thing and whereas initially Fatalism might put in an appearance,  it is in the majority of cases quickly dispelled by Hope. 

Given their relatively small percentage of incidence,  the absolute lottery of investigative procedure side-effects reflects I now believe not so much a valid medical reason for procrastination,  but rather the underlying

unpreparedness of ourselves for adversity in our lives.  

This was certainly so in my case.  I felt I had too many things ( travel ambitions, lover, secular life-style etc ) to lose, by just one missed-step.  I felt I was looking at invalidism (I'm not ).   So I slammed the door on it and turned away.

Also,  we ask of ourselves the inevitable question :  ' why me ? ',  ' I've always tried to live healthily ! '.   But ... that is life.  So,  ' why not you ? '

Denial was my way of dealing with it all and I let 5yrs drift by.

And now my situation is undoubtedly worse because of that.  And no,  I haven't  lost those things that I value.  Nor apparently, would I have.

I don't know if this will influence you,  but here's something I was told by my Medical Team that you don't seem to see mentioned anywhere :  In having Prostate Cancer,  your general health is impaired.  There will be a lower threshold for fatigue.  This is because your body  ( as with anything else invasive ) is trying unaided,  to fight the disease itself.

I wish you good luck as you walk down your chosen path David .

Regards

Dudley

I have followed the arguements with interest and sympathy. It does seem that once Prostate Cancer is in the frame every row before us is a hard row to hoe. And that includes the row of doing nothing. The comfortable row we had been hoeing no longer exists; it must now be identified as doing nothing. It is the shortest row, almost certainly, and will probably include the worst features. Active surveillance is not doing nothing but does carry the risk of the disease getting ahead making a cure most unlikely. This initial decision is so difficult and the stakes so high. 

I am not a gambling man but I was acutely aware that when I made my initial decision I was taking a huge gamble. It was quite outside my normal behaviour. Once made, subsequent decisions are much less fraught. I hope you have gathered the information you need to make your choice and it turns out to lead to a good outcome for you.

I originally thought that I could make a decision to monitor the situation and carry on with life as normal. It appears that this isn't the case - I seem to spend every waking hour either searching the internet or thinking about it. Maybe I am in denial but I fear treatment - as George says, the prostate is the sexual powerhouse - and I also fear a biopsy - just look what happened to Alfred and I fear that side effects from biopsies are greatly underreported. Against that I argue that my Father had an RP about 12 years ago and is still alive and well into his mid-eighties. I am now going to carefully re-read the posts and to reassess the situation. I thank you all for your advice.

I felt I should explain ( to you at least ) my ' secular lifestyle' remark. 

All I meant was:

Whereas I have never known life as a non- believer,  I have for long periods of time not attended Church on Sundays.  This is because of dissatisfaction with the shall we say ' management ' over diluting the Gospel.  I go instead to Chapel and Morning Prayer.

You have never given me a moments unease. I am alwys mindful of the context in which we write our posts and also the higher and wider context in which our reality is found.

Unlike you, I was for over 30 years an unbelieving church goer. Now some 40 years later I have grave concerns with all the forms of church I have experienced. To me 'ekklesia' means something rather different from 'church'. I understand it to meam 'called out'  and that in Bible context to mean ' a gathering of those called out from the world to the Lord Jesus Christ'. I do not think you will have any difficulty in understanding me. The implication is that I do not consider attendance at meetings in church, chappel, hall, or home is essential. Gathering with people of like mind is essntial but difficult to achieve. 

(1) who is paying? if a special interest body or charity is paying, then who are the major subscribers.

(2( watch out for 'weasle' words. Here there are 'rising risks' Does the writer mean that over a substantial interval measurable risks are showing a rising trend and if so what is the slope and what prcicely is at risk and why should there be a trend in risk perception. Alternatively is this just tossed into the report to add a semblance of weight in support of a biased or unsupported conclusion or even to destroy confidence in an unwelcome conclusion. 

That said, let us hope that this will prove to be a well found report and that its conclusions will be useful to you.