Just a quick update…
The urologist agreed with the radiation oncologist’s recommendation for another PSA test just before my 14 December 2023 appointment, and put the order in the system for me to have the test. I’ll probably try to have the blood drawn on 8 December or so.
I met with my primary care physician today. He had seen my most recent PSA test, and thought the 0.21 ng/mL reading was pretty good post-radiation. But it was clear to me that he didn’t compare that to the previous test and, when I told him it nearly doubled, he agreed that it was a concern.
Regarding my cardiac mystery, he ordered an echocardiogram and a cardiac stress test, and the cardiac department schedulers should call me next week to set that up.
I had worn a Zio patch heart rhythm monitor for two weeks ending this past Monday, 6 November. I shipped the device to the facility that analyzes it that same afternoon, and they just received it this morning according to the shipping tracking number. The doctor said it can take a week to ten days for the data to be downloaded, analyzed by cardiologists, and a report generated.
I’m still having occasional and usually brief episodes (< 10 minutes) of what I would call minor palpitations or fluttering, so I’ll have to keep an eye on that while all of this is going on.
So, we’re back in the test and wait phase for now. Stay tuned for more.
Dan's Journey through Prostate Cancer 
So sorry you’re having to deal with this, Dan. Your posts, though, are so very helpful to other guys (and their loved ones) dealing with prostate cancer. We all owe you a debt of gratitude. Good luck with the re-test.
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Thanks, Jim! It’s definitely not what I was expecting, and one data point does not make a trend. Still, it was pretty unnerving to get that result. Back into the wait and test and wait mode. 🙂
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First of all, I wish you the best of luck and good health!
I came across your blog while looking for typical PSA graph patterns – I must say I find your work here thorough and really helpful.
Today my father sent me nearly two years of PSA values and I plotted his graph… creeping along higher and higher to the 0.1 mark. He’s 73, had robotic radical prostatectomy early last year for a peripheral zone Gleason 7 (4+3) cancer, after incidentally finding his PSA slightly above 5.
And the radiologist who diagnosed his tumor… is me. I can’t describe what it feels to read a CT or MRI study of a loved one… I was staring at the images, running the perfusion curve again and again and muttering “that’s a tumor, he really has a tumor”.
I work at a private cancer center, was used to do study after study on my patients, but diagnosing my father changed my view on this disease.
What I’m certain of, whether you will require further treatment or not, you will live a full life and you should enjoy it too – more money is going into cancer research nowadays than has gone to put a man on the moon.
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