My numbers were not unlike yours, and my first 3 or 4 docs said they'd wait
a month or two but not three to act. Even the surgeon who ultimately gutted
me said (and he gets paid by the year, not the operation), "If it were my
prostate, I'd get it out yesterday, but a month or two won't hurt you. It's
been growing in there for well over a decade."

But I still stayed in the driver's seat, coordinating tests and results and
appointments and research (my reading) and schedules and doctors and
hospitals to keep the wheels spinning as fast as I could keep up. I'd e-mail
a doctor here, phone one there, call an imaging department, hand-carry
stuff, ask for referrals by name, schedule follow-ups before a CT was even
performed (postponed appts give docs breathing room anyway), etc. About the
time the research and tests converged on a no-brainer initial treatment for
me, the two surgeons (two cancers) and an OR slot all came together on one
date just a week later.

I don't wait for physicians to phone me for appts unless I'm not ready yet
(e.g., research, more tests). I call the people who actually RUN their
practices -- their receptionists -- and schedule follow-ups (even initial
appts in a couple of cases) about when I expect to be ready. If my ducks are
slow in lining up, I'll call a couple of days in advance and postpone. Not
only have I gotten zero complaints about this approach, I've gotten praise
from MANY staff and physicians alike for it.

My admission ticket was universally accepted: "I've got Gleason 8 PC".
Whether it was sympathy or dollar signs in their eyes I didn't care, as long
as it worked. (Primarily, it tells them this is not a casual inquiry, and
it's my opinion that it was empathy, not bills, that garnered respect and
urgency.)

The result was completing a huge array of tests, discovering a whole 'nuther
cancer, consulting 7-8-9 doctors at 3-4-5 hospitals, getting both cancers
the hell out of my body, and feeling almost normal after surgery -- all
before my first post-biopsy doctor visit had originally been scheduled. The
process from biopsy to surgery took about 8-10 weeks (partly because the
second, unrelated, cancer discovery complicated things significantly), but
only because my involvement cut through the bureaucracy.

That was MY experience. I highly recommend it for several reasons.

I.P.

Most surgeons will want to wait at least month to six weeks after the
biopsy before surgery so that the rectal wall can heal.  You case seems
similar to mine except that my PSA was quite a bit lower, 4.5.  My
doctor said that he would be willing to wait several months if there
were a really strong reason, but there wasn't and I had my surgery about
six weeks after the biopsy.   Prostate cancers are slow growing and
usually there is no rush.  But you really need to discuss these things
with a medical authority.  The higher PSA might indicate that waiting
many months could be a mistake.

Mmmmmmm.  When I was diagnosed with PCa 8+ years ago, the first thing
I asked when my wife and I spoke to the doc was, "What's my Gleason?"
My PSA had been in the mid 3s (3.4/3.5 for the past two years).  We
had pretty much made up our mind as to what treatment to do depending
on the Gleason.  We he said it was 9, we immediately scheduled surgery
and I was put on hormones/drugs to shrink the tumor.  (The tumor was
termed lethal and aggresive and probably would have spread before my
next scheduled physical.  As it was, the cancer was contained within
the organ.)  I gave a unit of blood every week for three weeks, and
surgery was on the fourth week after diagnosis.  He used the nerve
saving technique (yeah, way back then!) and everything is well today.

I think that you should probably be making a decision very soon as to
what you are going to do and get moving on it.  Your Gleason is
relatively high, as is your PSA.  I think you should act now.

Dave