Every November and May since 2011 I've been for my PSA test, so why not this month?
Well, one of my friends Simon went on to annual blood testing 3 years after surgery, because as he said, "I won't allow cancer to dominate my life". I admired that but didn't have the courage to follow him.
So what's changed?
I asked my doctor in the UK to send through my PSA results from before surgery.
As you can see near the bottom of the table, March 2008: 1.8 followed by May 2010: 4.2, an overall rise of 2.4 in 26 months. In prostate cancer terms that's not bad. It means my PSA doubling rate was well over a year, and that's a good indication of what it would be should I have a recurrence. I have my 65th birthday coming up, then there's a trip of a lifetime to India, and Christmas, so why risk the 8% chance of feeling bad before all that, when it can wait until January.
In January I will go for my PSA test, but this time it will be different. From then on, I will go once every year, every January, after Christmas. I won't allow cancer to dominate my life.
One day I might have to meet that old friend again, but not yet, not yet.
Well, one of my friends Simon went on to annual blood testing 3 years after surgery, because as he said, "I won't allow cancer to dominate my life". I admired that but didn't have the courage to follow him.
So what's changed?
I asked my doctor in the UK to send through my PSA results from before surgery.
As you can see near the bottom of the table, March 2008: 1.8 followed by May 2010: 4.2, an overall rise of 2.4 in 26 months. In prostate cancer terms that's not bad. It means my PSA doubling rate was well over a year, and that's a good indication of what it would be should I have a recurrence. I have my 65th birthday coming up, then there's a trip of a lifetime to India, and Christmas, so why risk the 8% chance of feeling bad before all that, when it can wait until January.
In January I will go for my PSA test, but this time it will be different. From then on, I will go once every year, every January, after Christmas. I won't allow cancer to dominate my life.
One day I might have to meet that old friend again, but not yet, not yet.
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