How did you find out you had cancer (other than yearly checkup)

My wife was recuperating from breast cancer surgery and discovered it had been a few years since my last physical. I went in the next week and was hit with a 59 PSA. A few years earlier it was normal.

I got a showy urinary tract infection -- chills, dizziness, low blood pressure, high fever -- that turned out to be mostly in my prostate. I went to my primary care physician to tell him I was sick and wound up riding across the street to the hospital in an ambulance. I was hospitalized for three days during which I acquired a urologist. One of the tests he ordered was my first PSA which was high. He told me that once we had cleared up the infection my PSA would probably drop to undetectable. As it turns out it never did and the rest of the story can be inferred from my signature below.

I was randomly invited to diagnostic study of men without prostate cancer aged 50–69 years in Sweden (STHLM3). Unexpectedly they found I was NOT without prostate cancer but the good thing was that I hopefully was diagnosed before it was too late to cure. Like goatts I never visit doctors, have been healthy all my life.

My PCP started testing me at age 50. Around age 55-57 after a very slow rise, it got up to 1.7 (from .7). Thats when he sent me to a urologist who kept a close eye on me. When it got to 2.7 (after about 18 months, he wanted to biopsy, i went for a second opinion, and had it done, elsewhere, as i wanted a Manhattan, big city doctor associated with a teaching hospital. It came back negative, i went to another uruologist who did PSA every three months and a year and a half later, repeat biopsy found it. Thank God my PCP thought to test me at age 50 and every year thereafter...

And here i am, thinking maybe I'm so smart i dont need a PCP any more. Whats wrong with that friggin picture? I must have a screw loose. .... oh, wait.

Hello !

Was in my 40s, and realizing I was getting up in the night too often to go to the bathroom --- COMMON STORY, isn't it, except maybe for my age ?

Over Labor Day weekend, I went into the clinic and asked directly for a PSA test --- they called with the results a few days later ... YIKES ! Over 100 on the PSA test --- subsequent urology appointment and biopsy appointment confirmed advanced prostate cancer --- which led to further scans and tests, which showed that my prostate cancer had already spread to both of my lungs, confirmed by lung biopsy surgery ---

So, in the initial whirlwind of tests, biopsies, and scans, I suddenly had a medical team comprised of a urologist, a lung biopsy surgeon, and then a medical oncologist --- a whole new cast of characters in my life. Lifelines, for sure ! My medical treatments started IMMEDIATELY upon diagnosis ... treatments still ongoing, with a few curveballs thrown in along the way, of course ... but THANKFULLY, with some important successes along the way, for which I am grateful every single day !

Stay strong in the battle each day, my friends,
"Cyclone" From Iowa State

I was 41 years old and no family history of Prostate Cancer. I told my doc that I was starting to wake up once per night to urinate a few days per week. He did a DRE (negative) and a PSA (9.0). Due to the PSA, next was a visit to a Urologist, a biopsy and a diagnosis of Prostate Cancer.

Every Urologist, Brachy doc and Surgeon I spoke to were shocked that my doctor did the PSA test. Totally against standard protocol for a young patient whose only complaint is waking to urinate once in awhile. And all those specialists told me to thank the doctor for doing the "against protocol" PSA test, because otherwise the prostate cancer would have only been found many years later and likely after it had spread.

More about me in the links below.

Gedman

I had 3 annual rises in PSA in a row that led to the urologist and biopsy.

Annual PSA jumped and Uro recommended biopsy. No symptoms of any kind. Three days before Christmas the Uro delivers the gift by phone....the three words no person ever wants to hear.

I was doing my yearly blood work for diabetes and decided to get a PSA with it. PSA came back 4.1 I had the PSA tested 3 months later it came back 4.3. I had a meeting with the VA 4 months later for Agent Orange Compensation for the diabetes and they tested my PSA and it came back 5.9 so I got a biopsy and was found to be a 3+3=6 I am on AS program last PSA 10.5

I had been having pain in my left hip bones. Several doctor visits and even trips to Urgent Care and an orthopedic specialist did not not solve the pain - the best guess was a hernia. Then I went for a run one day and felt good so I went about 5 miles. Went to the bathroom afterward and urinated a long steady stream of blood. Still took a couple weeks to finally give me a PSA. It was the cystoscopy that finally led them to consider a bone scan and then a bone biopsy to get my diagnosis.

I was 49, overweight and noticing frequent urination with always a few extra drops more than I could shake off. I knew nothing about PCa or PSA but had a vague understanding that men of my age should have a DRE and check for prostate problems. My local GP ordered bloodwork and did a DRE which he thought was normal or slightly enlarged. He said my PSA was "a little high" but didn't tell me the number, which wouldn't have meant anything to me at the time anyway. He referred me to a urologist, with the earliest appointment 3 months away.

What was clear from the checkup was that my blood sugar was sky high, with lots of family history of Type II diabetes. With medication (Metformin) and diet it was quickly brought under control and my urinary symptoms disappeared.

I almost skipped the urologist visit - Symptoms gone, I had lost weight and felt physically better than I had in years, plus I was busy, my marriage was in trouble and niggling worries about the referral were easily dismissed with the knowledge that my GP would hand off anything he couldn't write a prescription for.

So I was shocked, no, stunned when the urologist repeated the DRE and stated, "your PSA is 9.5 and there is a hard nodule on your prostate. Its almost certainly cancer and we have to do a biopsy right now!" ("With this medieval torture device," he should have added.) Then ensued a twice delayed and agonizing wait for biopsy results which was now almost certainly a question of "how bad" rather than positive or negative.

And then things really got ugly....

At 47 my new family Doctor got my first psa(1.84) with the rest of my blood work. I did not even pay attention to it, didn't know anything about it and didn't care to know. He might have explained it but I never paid any attention to any ailment that I did not have/ I only went to the Dr. for injuries or bad flus, etc. I know at 50 he wanted me to get blood work with the psa and DRE yearly but I refused. Finally at 53 my girlfriend and Dr. convinced me to get the blood work with the psa(4.22), but I still refused the DRE. He wanted me to go to a Urologist because of the 4.22 being outside of the range but I refused that also. I knew nothing about it and did not want to listen to him trying to educate me. My girlfriend was annoyed with me so I made a deal with her that I would go and get psa again in 6 months and if it was higher I would listen. To her dismay I put that off until 1.5 years later, psa was 5.28. I finally listened to them and the rest is history.
I did tell her when the biopsy was scheduled that this will be the last test for me of any kind when this comes back clean, no more looking for problems and get off of my back. Boy, did I have to eat my words; and now I had cancer to boot.
I recently thanked my family Dr. and my girlfriend(often) for saving my life. There was a lot of cancer in there and it probably would have gotten out had I waited much longer.