PSA Update x2

The day before Thanksgiving, I noticed that my urine was a cloudy-brownish tint for a couple of trips to the bathroom, after which it cleared up. To be safe, I scheduled an appointment with my regular urologist on 12/8. He tested my urine, which was normal, but also drew blood for PSA (after performing a DRE). The PSA results came back the next day at 0.05, which while still technically undetectable, did show a rise from my previous tests in 2022. I spoke to him further and was told not to worry about it.

Because this didn't satisfy me, I pushed up my regularly scheduled January visit with my medical oncologist in order to get a retest now. He took my blood yesterday and the results came back today as <0.01.

Not sure if the DRE caused a slight spike in the reading since I no longer have a prostate, but in any event, it pays to sometimes get a second test since there can be anomalies or lab errors in posting results.

Now, I can relax until the next test.

Always pays to be vigilant. Have a Blessed Christmas.

DRE when there is no prostate. Why?

mattam said...
...

My MO did DREs for several visits while my PSA was increasing to check for growth from remaining prostate tissue. At least that's why he said he was doing it. 😁

It does sometimes happen that a small part of the prostate is left behind after surgery. If this is all healthy tissue, the PSA, while detectable, should be stable. A continually rising PSA is indicative of malignant tissue left behind in the prostate bed, in local/distant nodes, and/or metastasized.

Djin

Thanks, Cyclone. And yes, it does feel like an early Christmas present.

Best of luck in the New Year to you as well.

A little behind on this thread and the talk about DREs, but I just had my yearly appointment with my RO. Everything was great, but after a discussion on what was next, he started to put on the glove. I still have my prostate, so I imagine a check is warranted every year. However, after he got that finger up inside and really started moving it around, he started asking me small talk questions. Questions like, how is your wife? He had treated her for breast cancer. My response was, ughh, she is, ughh, doing, ughh……fine. Second question was are you planning any vacations? Ughh…………we ughh, might, ughh……..at that time I lost my train of thought and just said, no. As you can tell answering questions during a DRE is not my cup of tea. 👆😳
My best to all, Jack

Post Edited (Jack64) : 1/13/2023 12:48:25 PM (GMT-8)