Saw my urologist

Anyway, I scheduled appointments with:

1) A well-recommended local radiation oncologist

2) My local urologist

3) A highly recommended medical oncologist (Dr. Hussein at Umich).

I saw #1 last week and it was very helpful. I got a lot of information -- nuts and bolts stuff. I also established myself as his patient so that if the numbers go up I can quickly (in about 1 week) get started with SRT.

I saw # 2 a few days ago. She also agrees feels that SRT is looming and is the next step. I didn't gain any new knowledge. But I was due for a routine appointment. She did mention that Dr. Hussein will probably have me do a PSA when I see her on 11/1. Frankly, I hope not. I get enough anxiety before a PSA. My next regular PSA is scheduled for 12/21 and I may wait until right after the holidays, just before my next regular appointment with the Ford team on 1/6/11. I have a feeling that she will do a PSA and at that point the conclusion might be that it's back. I would really like to wait. My wife and I are thinking about doing a cruise (it would be our first one) during our December break. We will not start to book anything until after our 11/1 meeting. I am still being plagued with tailbone pain and I still worry that it could be PC related. So, I wonder if she is going to order any kind of scans. The radiology guy said the tailbone pain is unlikely to be the PC due to my low PSA (and also it generally doesn't come back as tailbone pain despite the proximity to the prostate).

Mel

But it went from 0.01 to 0.02 to 0.06. I think the handwriting is on the wall. Let's hope I am wrong.

I might add that my situation points out the pros and cons of the ultrasensitive test.

On the con side is PSA anxiety. I think this is overrated as I would have PSA anxiety anyway (my anxiety really starts about 2 weeks before my next PSA test) and I would still wonder if it is increasing.

On the pro side, it does allow me to prepare for a BCR. In my case it spurred me on to do these follow-up appointments and basically should things get worse I will be able to start SRT quickly. The studies I've read show significant advantage in starting SRT quickly (say at or before 0.20 as opposed to 0.50 and 1.0 is even worse).

Mel