Posted 10/14/2010 4:51 PM (GMT 0)
I've had the misfortune of going through this process this year. Before you buy the book, (and Strum's book - A Primer on Prostate Cancer an Empowered Patient's Guide) you need to see the Urologist. He should put on an antibiotic and test you 30 days later. It's more likely than not that you have some sort of infection that's causing the PSA elevation or, in the alternative, the DRE before the blood test caused the spike. Until you know, don't bother researching anything further. It will make you frantic. There's way too much information out there, and the "what ifs" will cause needless concern.
If, after the antibiotics, your PSA is still elevated, you'll have to make a decision on whether you want to wait six months (most PC is slow growing and delaying treatment won't affect your outcome) and have another PSA or whether you want to have a biopsy. That's when you should start reading - a little - and then only about the biopsy. My advice is to only read the books and come to the boards once you have a diagnosis of PC. Then, and only then, do you need to think about treatments.
I realize this is difficult. I too started to go crazy and assume the worst when my PSA came in a little bit high. I'm healthy and in extremely good physical condition, how could I have PC? I even put off the biopsy for six month to ensure that the PSA would remain elevated. It did. And, finally after going to two different Urologists I succumbed to the biopsy. When I was diagnosed with PC, I devoured the information that's on the Internet. But, not until then.
Don't sweat it unless they find something. The odds against you having PC are in your favor.
Cheers,
Trevor