tell your wife. not telling her is kind of beat.

GL op,

do tell your wife soon, and take her to appointments. While your head is spinning at tests and levels, she could keep her head straight to take in important info and ask questions.
Do get a second opinion on treatment. Prostate treatment sounds pretty variable depending on the doctor.

In before offers to start giant Meth empire with you.

Sorry to hear your news OP, hopefully it's the likely news: not prostate cancer. And even then, one of the best to have.

Was startled when I first started reading your post cos I was swithering about starting a thread about it...my stepdad was over for the weekend, is mid-70s, and this has basically been a big part of his life for the last couple of years. He did go for surgery...even if that does lead to hardon complications, it is often treatable anyway I believe.
As for the testicular...yeah, pretty important to feel yourself up as much as possible and remember that docs have seen it all and you're the third guy they had that day asking for someone to check out their balls. Caught early, very treatable.
gl gl

Some additional comments:

I think you nailed this.

The bolded really bothers me.

Sorry for the confusion about the urinalysis. I was referring to the common test that's frequently done in a doc's office. Specifically, did it show any white or red blood cells or bacteria? (PCA levels are not part of a routine urinalysis.) The reason my urology pal mentioned it was because findings in that simple test that may have suggested an underlying prostate infection- in conjunction with his physical exam and other laboratory tests- could well have explained your symptoms and obviated the need for the biopsy.

Obviously, I have no idea of your "particulars", but my urologist friend was correctly (imo) making the point of saying that there should be a damn good reason to stick a needle up the ass and into the prostate of a 30 year old man.

Not sure what you're referring to when you mention the "color of my urine" and its significance for men's health in general.

Well, your blood pressure, if significantly elevated over time, needs to be treated irrespective of your prostate. I have no idea wtf he means by the associated "inflammation."

I really think your "cause for optimism" should be that prostate cancer in 30 year old men is almost unheard of and, if it's the cause for your hourly trips to pee, it means that you likely would have developed it at age 24 and have remained otherwise asymptomatic since then.

Like Dr. Spaceman said, "I concur."

Sorry for the sweat, HS, hope you just have an incompetent doctor.

Tell the wife. Get a second opinion. The best you can find. Aren't you near the Mayo Clinic? After having gone to MD Anderson for wife and knowing Mayo is right up there with them, I'd expect they can get you a full diagnosis before you even get these test results back.

Just remember, the term is "practicing" medicine.

Good luck.

Good luck man

Tell your wife.

He only said there were abnormalities in my white cell count and bacteria was low. There could be an infection, but he said he wouldn't prescribe antibiotics until after a biopsy? Is this standard?

I did tell my wife. She gave me the standard, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

And I responded with the stupid, yet honest, "I didn't want to worry you because this should be nothing."

She did (as she usually does) a great job of asking how I was feeling about it and I just responded that it's difficult to feel up in the air. I can't really describe the anxiety, even knowing the worst case scenario isn't so bad. (I do have a history of panic attacks, btw, and was feeling near that point on Friday. Probably should've mentioned that in the OP, but wasn't really in the place to be so aware.)

As for Mayo, there are two hospitals, I believe near me with Mayo physicians and partnerships of some sorts with them. But I wouldn't go that far to even think about that yet.

How much peeing are we talking here? I'm in my early 30s and have always peed quite a lot, but I assumed it was only because I drink a ton of water/soda/tea, certainly more than my friends. But your post has opened my eyes, and maybe that isn't normal. I'll ask my doctor about it at my next physical. Never got to the point of peeing in plastic bottles (I keep a bathroom handy).

If say I stop drinking anything at 6pm, go to bed at 10pm, I can never get through a night without getting up to pee, I'd say I get up after 5-6 hours each night. That seem terribly abnormal?

Thanks for posting this, even if everything is fine I should at least run it by my doc (who is an attractive lady, and I'll feel sort of bad making her check my prostate). Oh, and best of luck.

I hear ya, but as someone with crippling levels of anxiety who knows what types of effects it can have; compare that effort to the mental gymnastics you'll go through otherwise for being 'up in the air'.

Wife sounds cool--good for you.

If you are thirsty a lot and pee a lot it's an indicator for diabetes and you should get checked for this.

In general you're way better with a female doctor checking your prostate simply because their fingers tend to be smaller and more slender. This is a good thing, believe me.

I'm currently on what they call "active surveillance" after having my right testicle removed this summer due to cancer (I was given a choice between surveillance and 6 weeks of chemotherapy, snap call surveillance imo.) As has been said in the thread, doctors take any chance of cancer very seriously. In fact when I went to the ER for a testicular issue I was surprised how serious everyone became. I think I was admitted in about 10 minutes.

My primary physician called and, well, contrary to my anxiety on Friday, as expected, no cancer.

"That's the good news," he said. "But it is a good thing we took precautions because you should be aware---"

And inside, I went all:



"That you have prostatic inasjdkahlsjdhks nepasjkdfhklasd one--what we call, a low grade."

And I was like:



He repeated that it was "prostatic inkljwuekfhwef neoplasdasknjaksjdf," which is an "slight abnormality of epithajsdfakjdnf cells". He added that the risk of it getting worse is very low, but it should be monitored, and said, "Look, [horrorshow83, guy with that Upton cat Daddy avatar], you need to stop smoking, eat better, and exercise regularly for me to help you best. Vitamins are good to start at your age, too."

Ugh.

Anyway, I asked him to spell that thing for me and it's "prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia", abbreviated to "PIN" . I have to look it up and I am meeting with him and other specialists to go over some visuals, details, and talk about a prescription for my blood pressure on Friday when I have time.

After a quick search, there is really only a lot of interwebs material on high-grade PIN (HGPIN) and apparently there are three grades (1, 2, and 3) and my PIN1 is "the good one". From the little I've gathered, it's only of those "all squares are rectangles, but rectangles are not squares" things where HGPIN is found frequently in those diagnosed with prostate cancer, but HGPIN is not an instant jump to prostate cancer. The PIN1 relevant to me has a low correlation factor, let alone causation.



That said, I really need to quit smoking and get my heart right. Sweatin' this **** out is not fun--and, to be honest--I just got married and want to have a family; all this stuff hurts my sexytime and creates the conditions for me sweat stuff like this way too early in life.

Sure, I'm a 30-year-old who was irrationally fearing prostate cancer, but I don't want to be a 50-year-old rationally fearing congestive heart failure or one of those 55-year-olds who get the "you got two months" talk because of lung cancer.

I'm gonna need a lot of help from my wife to hold me accountable because three things I love, love, LOVE are whiskey, cigarettes, and dairy products.

Thanks for all the kind words of support, guys. I greatly appreciate it.

Yeah, I think I'll keep her.

TBH, reading your updates in the FACK have had me more appreciate of her and I really thank you for that.

I do have diabetes in my family--my paternal grandfather and my maternal grandmother. Again, I'm in great physical shape on the outside, but I don't take care of myself. Behavioral elements leading to the beetus is something of which I need to grow and start getting aware.

So sorry to hear. Best wishes moving forward.

I do wonder how much "cover my ass" was involved in me getting the biopsy, especially reading someone like you post of an actual emergency that makes me feel like whiny bitch. I don't really have a negative judgment as to what the full motives were, as it is better to be safe than sorry, but I can't help but wonder.

20% of people with Type 2 are not overweight. Reading through when you mentioned peeing a lot diabeetus jumped out. A good starting point is this thread:

Ask me about Type 2 Diabetes

It's generally extremely controllable if you just stop eating like an idiot. Essentially, you treat it like a peanut allergy. Except you're allergic to carbs.

Congrats, HS

Glad your boner is OK.

OP, I'm glad to hear the test went well and I wish you the best.

With the caveat that almost everything I know about PSA comes from diagnostics presentations by people looking to replace PSA tests (i.e., have direct financial incentives to overhype the liabilities), my understanding is that the test is mediocre to terrible. PSA levels can be quantitated easily, but the numbers don't mean much.

PSA levels vary normally, and with age. Aggressive tumors may put out different markers than benign ones. Current tests overdetect benign tumors and underdetect aggressive ones.

And of course there's the false security it gives, causing doctors to basically ignore common sense and stick needles into an otherwise healthy 30 year old man because the test results told them to. (Or the insurance company forces doctors to do it as a CYA thing.)

There's at least enough interest to replacing standard PSA tests to fund multiple diagnostic startups here in the SF Bay Area.

Your PIN number is 1? I wouldn't feel so secure if I were you.

All your fears could have been alleviated much earlier had your wife engaged in regular ass play. She could have told you what was up.

Good to hear.

And be thankful you've only got one pin up your butt.

If caught early and treated. Prostate cancer is very fixable (if thats a medical term). It's as close to no big deal as cancer can be. Every male in my family over the age of 60 has had it and is no longer positive. Its a non invasive radiation treatment. The biopsy is the worst part of the whole process.

Glad to hear yer OK. Quit smoking and this little scare will be the best thing that ever happened to your health.