Grim news

There have been many scary moments during my cancer journey but the highlight is probably the day I got my pathology report back from the surgeon: 

• Gleason 9
• Extraprostatic extensions (the cancer had grown outside the prostate walls)
• 3 positive margins (the surgeon did not get all of the cancer)
• T3a (stage 3 cancer)

Gratefully there was no cancer found in the seminal vesicles or the pelvic lymph nodes.

I will always remember these words in the surgeon's records: aggressive cancer.

I had read dozens and dozens of articles and research studies on prostate cancer outcomes with various scores.  This was a very black day.

My one hope was a calculator the surgical resident shared with me during our meeting shortly after getting the news.  The calculator suggested I still had a good chance of surviving another 15 years!

A few weeks later more bad news arrived: my first PSA test after surgery.  The hope is that the PSA measured after the surgery is "undetectable" (less than .1).  Mine was .11.  Uh oh....more treatment needed.