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Norman Shapiro and Jody live in New York, USA. He was 53 when he was diagnosed on September 9, 2009. His initial PSA was 4.6 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 9 and he was staged T1c. He is undecided as to his choice of treatment. Here is his story.

THERE WAS NO RESPONSE TO AN UPDATE REMINDER IN 2011 SO THERE IS NO UPDATE.

Hello! My 53 year old husband was recently diagnosed with early prostate cancer with a Gleason 9 and PSA 4.6. We are in the process of deciding whether to have surgery and radiation or hormone therapy and radiation seeds and radiation.

We have been to three surgeons at Mt Sinai, New York Cornell, and Sloan Kettering and they are all on the fence about my husband's case. We also went to three Radiation Oncologists. My husband is leaning towards the Hormone/Radiation Seed/ Radiation since it sounds like there is no proven data out there that says the surgery will get better results. He would rather avoid the surgery since he is worried about quality of life.

Has anyone out there been a Gleason 9 and what treatment did you opt for and how was your outcome? [I suggested to Jody that she went to the Gleason Index to check this out] We need to make a decision yesterday! Anything you all can share would be most appreciated.

Thanks for sharing all your stories, I know it's not easy!

Jody

 

UPDATED

January 2010

 

 

After seeing six doctors, my husband decided to do three modalities of treatment. They are hormone shots, which my husband started a couple of months ago - so far the only side effects he is experiencing is major hot flashes and tiredness. He will start radiation the end of February and then after that he will do the radiation seeds.

We decided on this treatment because there didn't seem to be enough data out there that proved the surgery to get significantly better results and my husband felt it was a quality of life issue.

Re: PSA now, we have not had it tested again as the doctor felt that we should wait. His initial PSA was 4.6 with a Gleason score of 9 and 12 out of 12 positive biopsies.

Anyway, he really does feel fine, working every day and trying to remain optimistic. Thanks for maintaining this website, it's a great support system!

Best always, Jody .