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Cancer

Find advice & support if you or someone you know has been diagnosed with cancer

Husband awaiting prostrate diagnosis, any advice welcome.

17 replies

loveasunnyday · 08/04/2026 22:26

NC for this.
My husband has several health issues but a few weeks ago he had a call from his GP following a routine blood test (he has regular tests for a medication he has to take). The GP asked him to visit the surgery that evening. This frightened him (and me). Apparently his prostrate levels were really high (TSH?) over 11 and doctor said they should be around 4.
Sent for a scan which was inconclusive so he had a biopsy on 13/3. He has been on tenterhooks ever since, convinced that he will die. He received a text message today to say that the consultant will call him tomorrow afternoon.

He does get anxious about his health but he’s so stressed I’m at a loss of how to support him. I’ve said that we will face whatever comes together, especially as if it is cancer they have caught it very early. But I feel really pathetic and don’t know what I should do/say. He lost a close relative 6 months ago from cancer (not prostrate) so is really, really scared.

Any advice? Also what are the treatment options if indeed it is cancer?

Sorry for long and rambling post. Thank you

OP posts:
charliehungerford · 08/04/2026 22:36

I’m in a similar situation. Husband has a psa of 25 discovered incidentally during a blood test. Localised advanced cancer, asymptomatic. Waiting on results from various tests. I suggest taking a look at the prostate cancer section of the MacMillan website. It’s very informative and full of people who know what they are talking about. Don’t panic, it’s very treatable, your husband’s psa isn’t that high.

lizzyBennet08 · 08/04/2026 22:45

What age is your husband op. It can rise with age as well?

user1471550643 · 08/04/2026 23:00

My partner had prostate cancer, the treatment will depend on if it’s spread outside the prostate. thankfully in his cause it was caught early .. he had his prostate removed robotically and thankfully needed no further treatment, other than monitoring.

Another option he was offered has a hormonal suppressant treatment and monitoring .

The consultant will explain everything to you and I echo the prostate cancer website as a good source of information.

I went to the consultant appointment with him and from my point of view it was easier to have a discussion and be supportive once we knew what we were dealing with.

I hope things go as well as possible for your parter.

loveasunnyday · 08/04/2026 23:05

Thanks for the suggestion of the MacMillan website. I’ll suggest that we look at it tomorrow.
He is 62

OP posts:
sellthebigissue · 09/04/2026 00:34

Hope all goes well, OP x

tinyspiny · 09/04/2026 00:44

I wouldn’t worry too soon , my husband was in this position 2 yrs ago , when he was 64 , really high PSA , on the 2 week pathway and it panned out that he just has an enormous prostate , so 🤞🏻your husband may be the same .

Fabler · 09/04/2026 00:53

Prostate cancer is one of the cancers with the highest rates of recovery. Because it is slow growing most men with prostate cancer die of something else before prostate cancer gets serious. There are lots of effective treatments. The PSA test is notoriously unreliable. Try not to worry.

Pashazade · 09/04/2026 07:56

My Dad had this, surgery to remove physical tumours and then radiotherapy. He’s fine now, was 75 when it all happened.

LIZS · 09/04/2026 08:58

There are several options were to to be prostate cancer. It is very treatable and research is developing them all the time. Surgical, radiotherapy, brachiotherapy(sp?), “wait and see” depending on stage and age. It runs in my family, three diagnosed and have each had different treatment options. All still here many years later.

Palegreenstars · 09/04/2026 09:04

Prostate Cancer UK have a helpline run by prostate cancer nurses - they are amazing. It’s very common and great he was tested. When found early it’s incredibly treatable.

Moveyourbleedingarse · 09/04/2026 09:07

My dad had bladder cancer and prostate cancer diagnosed at the same time. The bladder cancer was removed and he had a month of radiotherapy.

He was given hormone treatment for the prostate cancer which he stopped quickly because he didn't like the side effects.

This was when he was 68. He's now 80 and absolutely fine. He was told he would die WITH prostate cancer, not OF it.

loveasunnyday · 09/04/2026 09:53

Thank you all so much for your kind words and reassurance. I hope you receive good results from the tests @charliehungerford.

I can have a bit of a Pollyanna attitude to bad news so I’m trying to be positive but not dismiss his anxiety.

Thank you all again for the information. I’ll let you know what happens. ❤️

OP posts:
Mumofteenandtween · 09/04/2026 10:04

My dad was diagnosed with Prostate cancer about 18 months ago. His PSA was 52.

He has had hormone therapy, chemotherapy and radio therapy and is now clear of the cancer. He has been told that they don’t expect it to come back but even if it is he has a minimum of 10 years until it will kill him which means that it is incredibly unlikely he will die of it. (He is 77.)

It has been a rough year for my parents and it has aged my dad. (But only in a “reasonable” way in that pre cancer he was a 76 year old who probably lived the life of and had the health of a newly retired 60 year old. And now he is a 77 year old who seems in his mid 70s.) But it is now gone.

As I say - that is with a PSA of 52 - we were told that 50 is a bit of a line here - under 50 and things are not too bad. Over 50 and things get nasty. We chose to see dad as “49 and a bit”.

charliehungerford · 09/04/2026 13:08

loveasunnyday · 09/04/2026 09:53

Thank you all so much for your kind words and reassurance. I hope you receive good results from the tests @charliehungerford.

I can have a bit of a Pollyanna attitude to bad news so I’m trying to be positive but not dismiss his anxiety.

Thank you all again for the information. I’ll let you know what happens. ❤️

Edited

Thank you. It’s a very worrying time. We’ve known about the issue since early January so have time to adjust to the new normal, even though we don’t know the full picture yet, we have a fairly good idea of what will probably happen next re treatment. The advice I would have given myself back in January…..

Don’t google, much of the information is out of date and incorrect. ChatGPT is fine if you want to ‘translate’ medical terminology in to English, such as blood results and numbers, staging, but don’t rely on it. The lovely people on either MacMillan or ProstateCancerUk are much better sources of information as they have been there and have the t-shirt.

Try not to catastrophise, easier said than done, but it’s easy to automatically go to the worse case scenario, I still do sometimes, be realistic but optimistic.

One wise person on one of the sites said “don’t waste today worrying about tomorrow “, very true, none of us know what might happen tomorrow.

live and enjoy today, the usual simple pleasures of time in the garden or an evening with friends is a great distraction.

Depending on your partners feelings, don’t be afraid to tell people, it’s not something that needs to be hidden away.

Send off for the Prostate Cancer Uk ‘toolkit’, it’s a free resource that explains how it’s diagnosed and different treatment options etc in really clear understandable language. You’ll find it in the shop area of the website.

Finally, remember that although there are no good cancers, prostate cancer is a very treatable one, even men with locally advanced disease such as my husband, with treatment usually have a good chance of being here in five or ten years time, it may not be curable (this depends on the stage of the cancer and how they react to treatments) but it’s very treatable and manageable for many many years.

Come back here any time for a chat.

loveasunnyday · 09/04/2026 15:26

So I have an update. Consultant called and said it’s all clear-no cancer! 🙏
He said they would do 6 monthly checks on his level and look for any rapid increase. He asked why his PSH was higher than expected and they said it could be down to inflammation.

So that’s a relief! To say he is relieved would be an understatement.

Thank you all so much for holding my hand, MN can be such a great place. I wish all of those who shared their experiences all the best. Thank you ❤️

OP posts:
charliehungerford · 09/04/2026 18:12

loveasunnyday · 09/04/2026 15:26

So I have an update. Consultant called and said it’s all clear-no cancer! 🙏
He said they would do 6 monthly checks on his level and look for any rapid increase. He asked why his PSH was higher than expected and they said it could be down to inflammation.

So that’s a relief! To say he is relieved would be an understatement.

Thank you all so much for holding my hand, MN can be such a great place. I wish all of those who shared their experiences all the best. Thank you ❤️

That’s excellent news. Make sure you
keep on top of the regular Psa tests going forward.

user1471550643 · 09/04/2026 18:45

That’s fantastic news. I’m so pleased for you both.

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