Hi Elon78. Welcome to the forum. I missed your post earlier so apologies for not answering earlier. 

I'm not a doctor, but I am a survivor of prostate cancer, and I'm involved with our local prostate support group. I had surgery back in 2010 when I was 56. 

There is some information missing from your post, which would be useful to know. Of course, I understand that you might not know yourself and it might be awkward to ask. However, it would be helpful to know the following: your dad's age; his latest PSA; the Gleeson grade of his cancer (two numbers, eg. 3+4, 5+4, or similar); the cancer's stage (eg T1, T2, etc, possible followed by more letters and numbers).  

I'm also mystified by the term of "cancer deposits". I've no idea what this means.

I'm not qualified to give advice, but I can talk in broad terms.  Early stage (T1, T2) cancer is usually curable either by surgery or radiotherapy, or some less conventional treatments such as HIFU or brachytherapy.  For a cancer which has spread locally (T3), a cure is possible, but less certain. For a more advanced cancer (T4), long term control over many years is usually possible, but a cure is far less likely.

The "aggressiveness" of a prostate cancer is usually indicated by its Gleeson score.  A 3+3 is the lowest agressive form. A 4+x is mid-way aggressive. A 5+x is very aggressive.  A 3+3 may not require treatment at all, whereas a man with a higher grade will usually be recommended treatment in some form.

That's probably an overwhelming amount of information so I'll stop there. 

Hello the psa  is 46 and the Gleeson grade is 3+4 and 3+3, so I think it's early stage and we gotta see how it goes???

He said he has small 3 or 4 cancers

Hi Elon78.

I must emphasise that I'm not a doctor, so you should bear that in mind with all my comments. The advice of your dad's own medical team should always take priority. 

In my own case, my PSA was 5.6 and I had Gleeson 3+4.  My prostate appeared normal and intact on the MRI scan - but the more modern multi-parametric scans weren't available back in 2010. I was also 56 at the time. The advice of my team was that surgery should be done, but there was no immediate hurry for it. My own GP thought that I could safely delay for 12-24 months without significant extra risk. I actually had the surgery within months.  My own surgery appears to be successful, since I'm still here, I've had no further treatment, and my PSA test last month showed a level too small for the machine to measure (< 0.1).

Age is a factor when it comes to prostate cancer. In particular, surgery isn't normally offered to men over 70 (although there are always exceptions), but also prostate cancer in older men is often unaggressive.  This puts a man in his late 60s in an awkward position when making a decision, particulary when there are areas of the slightly more aggressive 3+4. Does he have the surgery before that option closes, or wait and hope that the cancer doesn't become more active? 

In your own father's case, has he received an official staging, or been told that it definitely is early stage cancer?  It may also be worth him (or both of you) discussing the situation with his GP.  The GP may well be receiving updates about his results as tests are carried out, and might help to put things in perspective.  In the end, of course, it's his decision, but no one can make an informed decision without knowing all the facts. 

High have a look at billygoat in prostate cancer and living with cancer it may relax you a bit.

Billy 

Thank you

Hope it helped, I think the numbers scare a lot of people I didn't know what to think when they told me mine but things turned out fine, best of luck for your dad 

Billy