HATE PC

Hi all,I just received a call from my DR.My PSA is 0.001 after ten years.
I do not want to be disrespectful to any one.I know many of you has seen your PSA GO UP few months or years after your surgery.
My problem is that after my eight of being undetectable, I am getting very nervous every time I go for
the PSA test.Last year, I did not go for my test.
My point, is that it never get ease no matter how many years you are in the zero club.

I suppose it's no different for other cancer survivors. My dad has survived six cancers, and I'm sure he gets nervous going back now at 82 for all the scans he has. It is what it is.

I had a client who survived breast cancer and said two weeks ago she had to pay up like $3,000 for her MRI, but luckily it turned up nothing.

Congrats on the numbers though.

Looking at those numbers and your initial diagnosis, I gotta believe you're going to pull those zeroes the rest of your life. Congrats!

I here you Gold Horse. I have the same problem. From what I've read on this forum, there are others who also have PSA anxiety, even though they have been pulling down a long string of zeros.

It is kind of funny, because one of the reasons I did not push hard for AS was that I did not think I could put up with the constant anxiety of testing. I really did not realize that I would go through similar anxiety with my annual post op testing.

Purg is correct, I should be jumping for joy after each test. Instead I feel relief, like a heavy burden has been lifted. Not rational, but I am what I am.

Congratulations on your recent results, and best wishes as you move forward.

Maybe I can give a different perspective. I had my RALP in April of 2012. As you can see from my signature, I had a G8, pt3a pathology result. For the first 2 years after, I saw my uro every 3 months for a PSA test. I was always anxious the two weeks before, and certain it would be detectable. Every time, he would shake my hand and say it was still zero, and he would see me in 3 months. Finally, after my 2nd anniversary, and still zeroes; he said I could switch to every 4 months. I was ecstatic! But I still got anxious the 2 weeks before my next visit.

That went on for the last year. Then came this last checkup, in January. For the first time, I was not anxious. I had made it to 3 years (almost)! If it hadn't showed back up, it wasn't going to. I almost forgot to get my blood work done, because I wasn't even thinking about it. I knew I would walk in there and he would shake my hand and tell me he would see me again in 4 months. Well; that did not happen. Instead, my PSA was detectable. It was "only" 0.08; but that is still not zero. I was shocked! For once, I had not been anxious, and was not expecting it to be non-zero. And it hit me like a ton of bricks. Now I see him again in 3 weeks for another blood test, to see if it is still 0.08; or maybe higher. Now, I realize that this could just be a fluke, and perhaps a bad measurement at the lab; but because I was not expecting it, it really threw me for a loop!

So, maybe there is something to be said for being a little anxious. I have to think I would have handled it better if I had gone in there with my previous attitude. At least I was prepared for bad news all those other times. I also know that we cannot live our lives in constant fear. But I know, for myself, I was able to get along fine for 3 months and 2 weeks before. It was just those 2 weeks leading up to the appointment that I was anxious. Was it better to have had those extra 2 weeks of no anxiety this time? I don't know. It was almost as big of a shock to me this time, as the original diagnosis; mostly, I think, because I was not prepared for bad news.

Regardless, I do understand where Gold Horse is coming from. And I can't say that I consider it a terribly bad thing that he still gets anxious. This beast seems to be relentless. We all know that men have gone 15 and 20 years of zeroes, and then it strikes again. So, perhaps some anxiety is alright, even after 10 years.

-Bob

A little anxiety is GOOD!

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