I know just what you mean.  Between my first diagnosis and
the stats just before radiation treatment, my Gleason was
re-evaluated from 3+3 to 3+4 to 4+3, and my PSA was reported
up 25%.  You begin to think "this cancer is eating me alive!"

However, although I don't really know yet for sure and may
never know for really, really sure unless and until I'm ready
to die of something else, it looks like my treatment may have
worked.

Other people here with worse stats have had successful
treatment, including Gleason 8 and 9 - which is apparently
significantly more aggressive than Gleason 7.  Your odds
aren't as good as you hoped, but they're still probably
good.

While you're waiting for all this to play out, you might
do what you can with nutritional supplements.  I've gone
from being completely skeptical about them to being
cautiously optimistic.  Psychologically too, I like the
idea that we can each do something, no matter how small
that something is, to help ourselves.  Drinking tomato
juice and green tea is certainly no big deal to do and,
who knows, maybe it really does push your percentage odds
a few points in the right direction.

Finally, of course, if your treatment does fail, you're
not dead yet.  There are lots of guys who have been posting
in this newsgroup for years after failed treatment and
quite a few have some grounds for hoping that they'll make
it to the promised land of new treatments that will save
them.

Keep your spirits up Peter.  We all hope to be hearing
from you 10 or 20 years from now.

   Alan

Biopsy pathology "guesses" don't mean squat compared to post-op pathology.
If you've already chosen a treatment, why bother with pre-surg estimates?

I.P.

"Peter Headland" <PHeadland@excite.com> wrote >

Hello Peter,
   Hang in there.  I hope the visit to Stanford puts some wind in your
sails.......
The bone scan and coming clear is great news!
Do you have an appointment with Dr. James D Brooks @ Stanford?
John Loomis.  RP @ Stanford 1999

I know you are sweating everything right now  -:)

But I would not worry about this part. This minor guessing/variance has
no bearing on what treatment you should choose. As IP mentions, if you
do choose surgery, you will know much more definitvely what the real
gleason score is.

Certainly 3+3 would be better than 3+4, but your prospects are still
pretty good.  I was 3+4 all along, and I'm now doing fine 5 years after
surgery.   So be optimistic.  You have the odds on your side, and there
is nothing to be gained by trying to prepare yourself for the "worst".

In the silver lining category,  you won't have to worry much about
whether or not your cancer really needs to be treated.  It is known that
a certain percentage of the cases that are currently treated would never
bother the patient during his lifetime, even for relatively  young men.
 The problem is that no one knows just what that percentage is or how
to determine which cases could safely avoid treatment.  But whatever the
case, the likelihood of unnecessary treatment is considerably higher for
Gleason 6 than for Gleason 7 cases.