Concerned

[Carpetmanjay]

I'm 44 My PSA test was normal .04 but white blood count was 16.9 Had DRE test yesterday and was told my prostate was very large and hard with several lumps on it. It also spread infection to my testicals. They hurt and a little swollen. Set up for biopsy on June 1st. My symptoms were intense lower back pain, loss of hair and dribbling. I'm very concerned that I may have cancer any how I will support my family if so. I have all ready missed 3wks of work because of first DRE test on April 26th because infection spread also. But I was told it's very curable. I believe I'm awfully young for this with no family history of it. Any advise would help.

[ffiore]

Could very well have Prostatitis. Mine started in my early 30s and had bouts of it even up to now at 69. It's chronic but antibiotics can cure the outbreak. There can be many reasons for lumps in your prostate. You did not say what your PSA was. Get the test. That's your first line of defense against prostate cancer. In the past, most experts viewed PSA levels less than 4 ng/mL is normal. You could also be suffering from BPH - enlarged prostate which I also had. There are drugs for that too. Check with your urologist. You should have a PSA test every year to create a baseline to monitor what is happening in your prostate.

[Dr_WHO]

There are other causes outside of PCa that are causing your symptoms that people have already discussed. That said, there are some rare types of PCa that do not raise your PSA nor can be easily picked up by digital exams. It was having a biopsy that found my cancer. My PSA was 4.7, up from 3.2 a year earlier which triggered a biopsy. A biopsy showed a Gleason of 8. After surgery pathology after surgery indicated stage 4 D1, T3N1 ductal prostate cancer. The doctors think I had this cancer for a lot of years, even when my PSA was under 3. I am undergoing additional tests to see how far the cancer has spread past the pelvic area. The good news for you is that this type of cancer is very rare (~0.4%). While rare, people do get it. I am 58 and at the same time I was diagnosed the son of a neighbor (48) was diagnosed with a similar low PSA cancer. (We both had surgery on the same day.) Once your infection is gone, you may want to consider having a biopsy if the doctors recommend it.