I jumped the gun and got my PSA test done about a week earlier than I planned. I had a appointment scheduled on Monday to follow-up on my thumb surgery back in February , and I thought I would kill two birds with one stone and get the blood drawn after my appointment.
About 9:00 a.m., the doctor that I had my 1:30 p.m. appointment with called to check in and see how I was doing and if I really needed to come in. “How’s your thumb?” “Still attached and working,” I replied. After a brief discussion in more detail, we mutually agreed that there was no need for me to come into the office.
That kind of put a damper on my getting two birds with one stone, but I decided that I would go to the lab anyway, as I had already planned the afternoon off. It just made sense.
I wish I hadn’t.
My PSA took a considerable jump up to 0.16 ng/ml. I wasn’t expecting that.
The trend function on my spiffy spreadsheet thought it would come in around 0.137 ng/ml so that’s kind of where I had prepared myself to be mentally.
I used the Memorial Sloan Kettering PSA Doubling Time calculator to recalculate my PSA doubling time (it uses values of only 0.10 ng/ml and above), and my PSADT dropped from 155.6 months to 43.1 months. Still a respectable number, but definitely moving in the wrong direction.
Needless to say, this sucks.
My appointment with the urologist is on 22 October and we’ll definitely talk about imaging possibilities and ask for another referral back to a radiation oncologist to discuss salvage radiation therapy.
Crap.
Dan's Journey through Prostate Cancer 
Not the news we were all hoping fo hear. Passing along a virtual (((Hug))).
Call if you feel like talking.
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Not what you wanted. Hopefully the radiation will knock it out.
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Ugh, sorry to hear. We are here for you.
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Sorry to read your news Dan. I appreciate what you are saying about the doubling rate, but you also had a decent dip prior to your latest test. Hopefully it isn’t as bad as it seems. Wishing you all the best
Luigi
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Hey Dan, sorry to hear about the rising PSA. You are a well informed man and I’m sure you will make the choice that’s right for you. Best wishes.
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Hey, Dan. Sorry the results weren’t what you—or any of us—were hoping for. I’m sure you’ll take all the right steps going forward. A lot of us are taking notes from your blog on how to deal with PCa from an informed perspective. So thank you for sharing all you’re learning. Fingers crossed on next steps!
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Hang in there Dan! There is a guy that I work with that had surgery about four years ago (they took his prostate and left a nerve bundle). His PSA post surgery never dropped to 0, so he ended up doing salvage radiation–he went every day before work for many weeks. The good news was he was able to continue to work–and he is a plumber. Now, his PSA’s are 0 and he was just told that he will only have to be checked once a year! He said the radiation wasn’t bad for him and he is still continent (didn’t ask him about ED–I felt like that was too personal being as I am a woman). We have been discussing this since before my husband (Dan) had his RP surgery, Rick (the guy) has been very inspirational in giving us hope–one day at a time!
My husband (Dan) is currently on a 6 mo. PSA check and for the most part continent (12/2018: had a Robotic RP, took abdo. lymph nodes and both nerve bundles), PSA currently at 0. However, his post surgery pathology results were not good: no cancer in the lymph nodes, but cancer in the margins, gleason score: 8, stage 3B, but If his PSA rises in the future, we will go for the SR. There is always hope, and we are not giving in to this thing–just another step forward in the journey! Always keeping you in prayer.
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I had RP 40 months ago just crossed .1 psa threshold.
My uroglogist recommended considering srt but I am reluctant due to G6 with a low risk decipher score. I did have positive margins.
My dad passed away from complications of bladder cancer caused by salvage radiation. He did live 21 years after the radiation so it did prolong his life.
Wishing the best for you Dan.
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Hi Randy, Thanks for your comment and your insights. They actually caused me to read a little more about secondary cancers (bladder, rectal) developing as a result of SRT. Not a big chance from what I’ve read (1%-3%), but it sucks if you’re in that pool. It’s one of the reasons I’ve continued to monitor my PSA without action for the last four years.
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Dan, sorry to hear about the unexpected jump. FWIW, I’m sure you realize that 43 month doubling time isn’t too shoddy, it’s favorable factor.
Also I had SRT + ADT at a PSA of .08, and finished SRT about a year ago. The radiation was a non event, it was long, boring, but no adverse effects. The ADT was, and still us,ba bit annoying , but manageable. I’m not a medical professional but in my humble opinion at this point if I were you I would just get on with it get it over with the trend is clear. I just had my PSA taken and it came back undetectable.
My surgical pathology was almost exactly the same as yours.
Good luck.
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Hi Ken,
Glad to know that there are cases where SRT goes as planned and has the desired results. I’m pretty sure that I’m coming to the same conclusion that you offered up. We’ll see what the doctors say over the next few weeks and then go from there.
Appreciate your continued support.
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