Well, that went about as I expected.

In a nutshell, we’re punting the ball another three months down the road.

The doctor commented on the continuing rise in my PSA and said after consulting with the doctor who saw me last time, said that he wanted to recheck my PSA in six months and “wait a year” for another PSMA PET scan. I should have asked for clarification on that, but I think he was referring to waiting a year after my last PSMA PET scan in March 2025 and not a year from today.

I wasn’t entirely comfortable with waiting another six months, so we agreed to test PSA again in December (three months after my September test) and go from there.

We also talked about spot radiation if anything pops up on the scan. He seemed a bit reluctant for that to be an option, and went straight to starting hormone therapy. It’s as though he was making the transition from curative options to management options, and, to be perfectly honest, I believe I made that transition in my own mind once the salvage radiation failed. That doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t try zapping a lesion or two if they popped up on the scan depending on location (no more zapping to the pelvis and risking further bowel complications).

We did talk about my experience with hormone therapy during the salvage radiation, and the timing of starting it this time around. In that discussion, he brought up the topic of bringing in a medical oncologist at some point depending on the scan results and my PSA test results.

We talked at length about my urinary frequency and some options for that. He suggested some pelvic floor therapy might be beneficial, so I said I’d be willing to give that a try.

Overall, I’m okay with where we’re at and the planned course of action for now. I’ll go for my PSA test in early December, and if there’s another significant jump, I’ll press for the PSMA PET scan to be done sooner rather than later.

My next scheduled urologist appointment is 30 December 2025.

Be well!

Header image: Sunset, Imperial Beach, California