PSA Undetectable at Nine Years

Just had a PSA at the nine year mark post radical and it came out zero. Not under 0.01 but zero. Doc said they used a finer test to come up with exactly zero. I usually have an annual PSA but just before Christmas I had a badly infected gallbladder. Pre Op work up revealed a mild aortic aneurysm and so I had another scan a month ago to see if it was changing. Did that on a Friday am and the nurse called me around 1PM and asked how I was feeling. I said she would probably know better than I would. She replied my aneurysm was unchanged but they thought they saw clots in my lung and I should return to hospital for another scan asap. Turns out I had a clot in the leg and three in the right lung. That landed me in hospital on heparin for a day. Hematologist ordered a bunch of tests to look for causes for clotting including the PSA with a happy result. The pulmonary embolism was unprovoked and asymptomatic. Docs are clueless why it happened. I felt fine throughout it all. So that has been my 2020 so far... omitting the story of a guy crossing the line and hitting me head on at 50mph. Honda makes an excellent car and while airbags save your life they can crack your sternum.

Congratulations on a successful 9 years, Bill. Posting this gives a lot of new guys hope for a good outcome down the road.

Congratulations!

Hello, Bill In Chicago ~

Tremendous news! The best!

Call your favorite bakery and order a specialty cake, with the number "9" frosted on top, to celebrate!

Better yet --- light up the neighborhood with some celebratory fireworks or Roman candles tonight !

Here's to future horizons! Get ready for that ten-year milestone in 365 days!

We'll help you start the countdown!

Time to celebrate!
CYCLONE ~ # Iowa State University

I'm back. So a quick update in case anyone interested. Haven't had a psa in some time but I'll try and get some updated scores. Had open heart surgery at University of Chicago on March 21 this year to repair the ascending aortic aneurysm. Four day stay, only pain meds I needed were Tylenol. Can't speak highly enough of U of C's heart program. Last week I had a stroke. No TIA but a real stroke confirmed by MRI. about ten minutes of jumbled speech but wife dropped everything and drove me to ER. Another four day inpatient stay to rule out any causes, but the result was Docs said the Xarelto failed (it does that sometime) and I shouldn't have had the stroke if it was working right. Started me on coumadin and just had my first visit with the coumadin clinic today. I inject myself with lovenox to bridge over to this new med. Lesson I'll share is if I hadn't have had open heart surgery I probably would have dismissed the stroke symptoms since they passed quickly. Don't do that! Note the time of symptom onset and head for an ER. Glad I'm alive and without deficits from the stroke. A WW1 English soldier wrote his family "that one moment your here, and the next moment you're explaining yourself to God". I think about that soldier's words every day now.

Both Cubs and Sox but admit it depends on how they're playing so I might favor one over the other. In summer on a nice afternoon either team is very good regardless