Last week, I completed my 63rd trip around the sun and had my appointment with my doctor. I tried arranging a tele-appointment, but that didn’t happen, so I had to go into the office for the visit.
I was brought back to the exam room by a staff member, and was told that they were running a bit behind schedule after a post-holiday surge. “No problem,” I said and pulled out my phone to do some mindless Internet surfing as I waited for the doctor to come in. About ten minutes later, the doctor rounded the corner and came through the door, and I’m thankful I was wearing a mask to help hide some of my reaction. (I’m sure my eyes and eyebrows betrayed me to a degree.)
It was Doogie Howser. (Photo from the hospital’s website.)
“Damn, I’m old,” I thought. Well, that, and he was really young. Both can be true. But, as the old adage says, you can’t judge a book by its cover.
Once we began talking, it was clear he was knowledgeable and had a great bedside manner. As predicted, we agreed that the wisest course of action right now, given my PSA level and my PSA doubling time is to continue to monitor. We’ll do this again with a PSA test in June and a follow-up appointment in early July. He was pretty emphatically against radiation. “If you were my brother or uncle, I’d tell you not to do it.” I chuckled at the concept of being his brother.
We also chatted about the PSMA imaging available at UCLA, and he was in the loop on that. He agreed that my PSA is too low for us to get a reliable result right now and also cautioned about false positive results. Right now, that imaging isn’t approved by the VA, so I would have to pay for it on my own if I had it (about $3,000 USD).
I have to admit that’s one thing that I like about having a younger doctor—they seem to be more current on the advances in the field than some of their older counterparts. I asked an older doctor about the PSMA imaging a year or two ago, and he barely had any idea of what I was talking about.
The appointment went just about as expected, so we’ll wait another 6 months and do it all over again.
Here’s hoping for a better 2021 for all of us!
P.S. Along those lines of a better 2021, because my office is in a hospital, I was able to get the first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine last week. There were minimal side effects: a mildly sore injection site for about 36 hours and a bit of a headache later in the evening. Nothing bad at all. I go back to get the second dose at the end of January.
Dan's Journey through Prostate Cancer 
Congratulations on another reprieve Dan. May you have many more “let’s monitor” visits ahead of you. And congrats on getting the first Pfizer shot. It’s a good feeling to know there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I got my first Moderna shot on Saturday. Same thing, zero side effects other than a sore arm.
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Thanks, Ken! Glad to hear that you got your vaccine, too. Stay well!
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That’s great. Now you can relax and figure out how to extend your graph. 😉
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Do you drink green tea? I’m wondering if you do, and perhaps that this is “keeping the lid” on your uPSAs.
I’ve decided to do some research on this. Skimming the search results, I see that this (green tea & anti-[prostate] cancer) was a big thing around 2009-2012, and now fairly recently, 2019-2020.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=green+tea+anticancer&t=h_&ia=web
I’ve had spells where I drank daily green tea, but not recently, and I’m wondering if my recent rises in uPSA have something to do with my not drinking it any longer.
I just can’t drink so much liquid during the day; I’m up a couple of times during the night to pee as it is. I’ve also had macha, powdered green tea. I’ll have to look into this and see if this form may serve as a concentrated (less volume) way of obtaining similar anti-cancer benefits…. A lot of references, however, remind readers that’s there’s no real, hard evidence of the anti-cancer benefit.
Well, it can’t hurt to start taking this in one way or another. I’ll probably get on board.
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Hi Orv,
No, I’ve never really been a hot beverage drinker—no coffee or tea for me. I do, however, have a glass of pomegranate juice every day, and that’s also high in antioxidants which may help with cancers. Whether it’s having a real impact on my PSA or not, who knows?
Good luck in your research and stay well!
Dan
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FOLLOW UP: I checked with my main supplier of supplements to see if there were capsules that I could take. Here’s their selection:
https://www.pipingrock.com/egcg?keywords=egcg&qid=1611938324
I’m going to get the first item shown — on sale for another day and a half. The liquid/drops seemed like a good idea, however, there is absolutely no mention of therapeutic components. Like all supplements, of course, you probably won’t know if they were of any benefit….
PS – I am not trying to highjack your thread/site, and turn it into a free-for-all debate forum. I keep looking at your graph… you’re doing OK. I’m only seeking to ensure some “OK-ness” for myself, whatever that is.
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I feel ethically compelled to add a cautionary note after my recent purchase of green tea extract, in case a visitor to this site/page buys and tries this stuff. I received the Piping Rock product (link above, and again on sale for a few days) and realized that their daily dosage recommendation (two caps, twice a day) dosage exceeds nearly all independent cautionary recommendations. The primary caution has to do with the daily intake of the primary cancer-inhibiting component EGCG (the catechin epigallocatechin gallate). References state a maximum daily intake of this of 750-800 mg/day. Liver damage is the main risk of over-dosage. I’m taking only two caps a day; one cap would be safer, but I’m striving for a safe yet therapeutic dose. Here’s a decent/typical overview for those interested:
http://www.green-tea-guide.com/green-tea-pill.html
The anti-cancer attributes of green tea (and macha, and green tea extract) can easily be found on the ‘net. It is the EGCG that is the main cancer fighter. So, too much of a good thing can be bad.
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