Men Stuff
There are few things in life that cause stress like going to the doctor and having them find something. In my case, a routine exam two years ago showed my PSA results being higher than some limit that doctors work from. My doctor, who I've been going to for close to thirty years said to wait three months and take the test again (ha not really take a test, just go give blood). Ok, can do, by the way what do these results even mean? Good question, and one that has no good answer.
Any man who has had a high PSA result can tell you they don't really understand it. Even the man who invented the PSA test says it doesn't really do what they are using it for, which is a cancer detection test. So they, in my opinion, have set an arbitrary number (Five) as the upper limit, anything over this and you are instantly scared into believing that you may have prostate cancer.
Onward, March comes and my results are slightly higher still, my doctor asks me what I want to do. Do I want to wait six months and test again or go see a urologist and possibly have a biopsy? I choose to wait, my PSA score is only 5.8 which means nothing and even googling it doesn't tell me whether that is really bad or not. I go back in September of 2017 and my score is now up to 6.3 or something. Doc recommends seeing the urologist at this point and my wife who is now officially worried agrees.
I go see the urologist and they give me the same two choices, retest or biopsy. I choose the biopsy (not much of a choice, my wife insisted) and schedule it between Thanksgiving and Christmas, because why not add more stress to the always stressful holidays. The day comes and I go in (after not eating and some other stuff I don't really need to share) and lay there with a technician, the urologist, his assistant and someone else all standing there while he takes 12 samples from my prostate. Not a comfortable procedure, but I've been through worse.
A week or so goes by and said urologist calls and says all clear, not even a hint of cancer, we don't need to see you again for a year. All is forgotten, except for the after affects of the procedure which I won't bore you with. Now we come to November of 2018, time to go see the urologist, but first a blood draw. The day comes, I go see him and he tells me that my PSA number is now up to 9.8ish. Again I search to see exactly what that means, is it high, or low, does it mean I am in real trouble here? Nothing, the doctor says that number is not too high, but we need to follow up on it. Ok, what is next then, another biopsy? No, I go in to get an MRI. You see the MRI can more clearly see if there are any lesions on my prostate which might, maybe, indicate that another biopsy should happen and where they can target the samples to be removed from.
So this week I went in and had my MRI which sucks because my wife who is already worried is now more worried.When will you get the results? I don't know, but pretty sure after Thanksgiving. Why didn't you ask? Asking a technician seemed silly, he won't really know. Now we wait and see what the results say, I am hoping they are conclusive one way or the other, having a proverbial Sword of Damocles hanging over your head is no fun. What will the results tell them? What if like the biopsy, nothing is there, do I get another pass for another year? Do I have to keep doing this dance for the rest of my life?
I have no answers other than currently I don't have prostate cancer. That can change at any time, but I can't let myself think that way, I need to live the life I have as best I can.
Any man who has had a high PSA result can tell you they don't really understand it. Even the man who invented the PSA test says it doesn't really do what they are using it for, which is a cancer detection test. So they, in my opinion, have set an arbitrary number (Five) as the upper limit, anything over this and you are instantly scared into believing that you may have prostate cancer.
Onward, March comes and my results are slightly higher still, my doctor asks me what I want to do. Do I want to wait six months and test again or go see a urologist and possibly have a biopsy? I choose to wait, my PSA score is only 5.8 which means nothing and even googling it doesn't tell me whether that is really bad or not. I go back in September of 2017 and my score is now up to 6.3 or something. Doc recommends seeing the urologist at this point and my wife who is now officially worried agrees.
I go see the urologist and they give me the same two choices, retest or biopsy. I choose the biopsy (not much of a choice, my wife insisted) and schedule it between Thanksgiving and Christmas, because why not add more stress to the always stressful holidays. The day comes and I go in (after not eating and some other stuff I don't really need to share) and lay there with a technician, the urologist, his assistant and someone else all standing there while he takes 12 samples from my prostate. Not a comfortable procedure, but I've been through worse.
A week or so goes by and said urologist calls and says all clear, not even a hint of cancer, we don't need to see you again for a year. All is forgotten, except for the after affects of the procedure which I won't bore you with. Now we come to November of 2018, time to go see the urologist, but first a blood draw. The day comes, I go see him and he tells me that my PSA number is now up to 9.8ish. Again I search to see exactly what that means, is it high, or low, does it mean I am in real trouble here? Nothing, the doctor says that number is not too high, but we need to follow up on it. Ok, what is next then, another biopsy? No, I go in to get an MRI. You see the MRI can more clearly see if there are any lesions on my prostate which might, maybe, indicate that another biopsy should happen and where they can target the samples to be removed from.
So this week I went in and had my MRI which sucks because my wife who is already worried is now more worried.When will you get the results? I don't know, but pretty sure after Thanksgiving. Why didn't you ask? Asking a technician seemed silly, he won't really know. Now we wait and see what the results say, I am hoping they are conclusive one way or the other, having a proverbial Sword of Damocles hanging over your head is no fun. What will the results tell them? What if like the biopsy, nothing is there, do I get another pass for another year? Do I have to keep doing this dance for the rest of my life?
I have no answers other than currently I don't have prostate cancer. That can change at any time, but I can't let myself think that way, I need to live the life I have as best I can.
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