Prostate cancer

[endofthelinefinally]

I am so sad about poor Bill Turnbull.
AIBU to push dh to have a blood test done?
He has never visited his GP in the last 30 years.

I would. My brother has mild learning difficulties and his prostate cancer was only diagnosed when he went for an annual check up at the GPs. Luckily it was caught early and he has responded very well to treatment. He was 50 when diagnosed so considered quite young to get it.

It's a really tricky one - the blood test is far from perfect and can cause people who would otherwise not have had a problem to have significant treatment.

There is some useful information here patient.info/health/prostate-and-urethra-problems/prostate-specific-antigen-test-psa

Very sad, especially just after Stephen Fry

My heart went out to him at the end of GBBO. Poor man

Both my Father and my FIL died as a result of this. I nag DH to go for regular checks and have made my four Ds's very aware that this has occured on both sides of their family.

DH has family history of this. Last time he was in GP's he asked about it and GP said there was no point in testing for it as you likely to be medicalised for no reason as test gives false positives as often as not.

I’m very sad for him, and his family too. My dad has just been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, a different type, but he only went to the GP with his (admittedly reasonably mild) symptoms because my mum told him she’d leave him if he didn’t. She was being dramatic, quite glad of it now.

He just put the symptoms down to getting older, and now he’s got about a year to live if treatment goes well, it’s so fucking unfair. He wouldn’t trouble a doctor for less than a severed limb and now here we are. I’m pregnant with his first grandchild and there’s a possibility that he won’t ever get to meet him or her.

Tell DH to go OP. Regular health MOTs are not a bad idea as we get older.

This has hit the press a lot in the last year and the profile of PS has been raised considerably.

Of course a lot of work still needs to be done re diagnosis and treatment.

I think the key message is,, dont die of ignorance.

It is possible to buy home test kits which react to a baseline level of PSA of around 3ng/ml PSA in blood.

I have no symptoms.

In fact ive used one only today. I'm not recommending their general use but i choose to use one every year or so.

Very sad at the end of Bake Off. Touching.

The screening has to be worthwhile. Even though it only identifies those who need further tests. It is appalling that this disease has such a high death rate because caught early it is very treatable.

Home test kits?
How does that work?

My dad has been living with this for many years, his brother died of it not long after diagnosis. All because he was too embarrassed to get checked. Get him tested. My dad got to walk his daughter down the aisle and see the birth of 4 grandchildren, his brother didn’t.

It is very sad of course, and everyone says Bill is lovely. But even with his diagnosis he has a very good chance of living for years. And let's not forget George Alagiah whose bowel cancer has returned.

The home test kit consists of a cassette type test, a bit like a preg test kit. You use a lancet to prick finger, collect some blood in a small pippette, put a couple of drops into the sample well of the cassette, add a drop of buffer solution and time it . There are three potential indicator points on the cassette where lines may appear. One appears to show the test is valid..i.e you have almost certainly done it right, the other two lines are indicators of whether the test has reached the threshold i.e typically 3ng/ml or above.

You should take the test at least 48 hours after any sexual activity.

Clearly there is scope for operator error but im not sqeamish as have been a blood donor for years so have had bigger pricks (ooohh matron..!)

Obviously PSA level in blood tests are just one facet of prostate health assessment and there are other signs and symptoms to be mindful of.

PS sorry,that sounds like you have to have sex then wait 48 hours !

What i meant was, that if you have got lucky,, you need to leave a gap of at least 48 hours before testing..

It was sad watching gbbo, I just hope it encourages men to go & get checked

My very best friend in the whole world died from prostate cancer. He wasn't even 40.

Thanks for the home test info RaspberryCheese, will get DH to look at that.

"It is very sad of course, and everyone says Bill is lovely. But even with his diagnosis he has a very good chance of living for years."

Did you see a fuller news report?

"The 62-year-old said it was found in November and cancer has spread to his legs, hips, pelvis and ribs"

Stage 4 prostate cancer has a 5 year survival rate of around 30%.

Dh has a family history of the aggressive type of prostate cancer, but won’t go to the doctors for checks. He’s in his 50s. I’m very worried and feel as though I’m basically just waiting for him to show symptoms.

How do I get him to the doctors? My first husband died of cancer 20 years ago, so obviously I’m not happy about the situation.

Look up ovarian cancer Rose.

It is very sad - but I read one report which said his consultant was saying 12 -18 years - but obviously I don't know if this is a) accurate in reporting or b) accurate in assessment.

It’s very sad. I though he looked awful. Understandable I guess but I was shocked.
I also know several people recently receiving treatment for prostate cancer. None of them have been given anything like 18 years survival chances so it doesn’t all add up somehow and I wonder if there’s a bit of miss reporting.

All men should have the test after 50, my partner has just been diagnosed with it, and has to have Hormone therapy and Radiotherapy, it has taken 9 months for them to find out where it was, after several tests, 2 biopsies, MRI scan , prostate shave and nuclear medicine scan, sometimes its not easy to find,even though tests say it is there somewhere,
I think that Dr who refused the test is disgusting and i would change Drs asap

My dad died of it. Horrible disease and he was refused a test at first with dr saying it was old age. A year later and another GP fortunately did the tests. My dad had it for eight years.

My DH had prostate problems, he retained 2 litres of urine, was catheterised for a month, has had laser treatment. Could have knackered his kidneys. His brother was treated for early stage prostate cancer. He has his PSA tested every 6 months. They were both in their early 60s

Get your husband tested, it can't do any harm but may save his life.

Well my Dad has prostate cancer and the past 18 months has been very tough. I live close to NYC so fly home every 3-4 weeks for doctor visits because the doctors are all so dismissive. My dad refuses to get treatment here where survival rates are significantly better because they take action to figure out if you have a problem.

Here in the US you are tested from 45 annually for PSA levels when having your medical. This gives them a good baseline. If PSA levels are elevated you switch to testing every month and after three months of still elevated they send you for an MRI. You get the results the next day and are booked in the following week if you need a template biopsy. They don't do single needle biopsies here but this is still standard in most parts of the U.K. Single needle biopsy is idiotic when it comes to the prostate.

My fathers treatment has been disgraceful with failure after failure. It looks like his cancer is terminal. It didn't need to be this way.