Prostate Cancer Support Group

hD PROSTATE SURGERY IN APRIL 07. AT MY REGULAR 3 MONTH PSA FOLLOW-UP i WAS TOLD THAT THE CANCER IS NOT TOTALY GONE. mY DOCTOR SUGGESTED RADIATION. ANYBODY IN THIS GROUP HAVE A SINILAR SITUATON. i AM VERY CONCRENED [img] [img]

MY BOYFRIEND HAD HIS SURGERY DONE ON MARCH 7TH. AFTER THE 3 MONTH CHECK UP HIS PSA CAME BACK AT A .02. THE DOCTOR SUGGESTED RADIATION SAYING THAT THE CANCER COULD OR COULD NOT HAVE SPREAD. BUT TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE TO DO THE RADIATION.

WE DID TALK TO A RADIOLOGIST---BUT DECIDED TO WAIT ANOTHER MONTH FOR PSA RESULTS. WELL IT CAME BACK AS A .01. WE ARE DECIDING TO WAIT AGAIN TO SEE IF HIS PSA GOES DOWN ANY FURTHER. HAS ANOTHER CHECK UP IN OCTOBER.

WHAT WAS YOUR PSA LEVEL WHEN YOU WENT BACK?????

HAVE YOU TALKED TO A RADIOLOGIST????

KAREN

MY psa was.06 and in 6 weeks in went .3 we have met with radioloigist and will be starting treatment 5 days a week for 7 weeks. thn we will have psa tet done again.

good luck on your radiation. will say a prayer for you

Please, for my own information, tell me how they knew the cancer was not gone? Just because of the rise in the PSA or were there other indicators? My PSA started going up six months after surgery but my doctors will not consider radiation yet. They want to wait. I don't know why. I am trying to learn more. Thanks. family man

Familyman,

Your physician may be correct in holding off on radiation therapy, but I would urge you to seek a second opinion from a board-certified urology oncologist, preferrably one associated with a university hospital. A post-surgery PSA level of 0.3 or above is cause for concern. If you are Medicare-covered, a second opinion will be covered. I would not delay, for your own peace of mind.

Good luck,

Jim Michie

thank you Jim... my psa is not that high yet. it has gone from 0.01 to 0.02 to 0.04 to 0.07 Still, i am worried as the trend is in the wrong direction. And i am not getting good answers. I will try to find a doctor who fits the criteria you describe. Thank you.

Your PSA level is very low. I am a clinical trial patient at National Institutes of Health Cancer Center here in Bethesda, Maryland, where my PSA is measured every 90 days post-surgery. Prior to June of this year, my PSA read at less than 0.2 every 90 days since my surgery in May 2005. Never was there ever any talk of the possibility of undergoing radiation therapy until it was detected at 0.2 this past June, and remained at 0.2 in August, and again in October. My urologist assured me that there still was no indication for radiation therapy, but I was sent over to radiology for a briefing on radiation therapy so that I would be prepared if ever tne need arose. That decision would be made, if and when my PSA rose to 0.3 and continued to climb. So it would seem that your physician is following standard practice post-surgery. Even so, there is nothing wrong in your deciding to seek a second opinion. Find that board-certified urology oncologist at a teaching hospital, share your PSA lab results post-surgery in a consult, and she/he may very well provide you with an answer that will cost you nothing and put your mind at ease.

In the meantime, enjoy your Holiday Season.

Jim Michie

Hi Jim,

Your message is reassuring but I do not understand the reasons for waiting. But, I must add that when my PSA was high before surgery I wanted to remove my prostate even before they found cancer, as a preemptive measure. They wouldn't do it and when they finally found cancer after five biopsies I was already a Gleason 6 and the pathology was Gleason 7. I guess I'm not the most patient person (no pun intended). Thanks.

Family Man

PSA levels fluctuate. I just had a PSA reading at a lab other than NIH and it read 0.12 and was labeled "normal". Just two months prior, it had read 0.2 at the NIH lab. Your PSA is low, but if it should begin to climb, from .017 on up to a 0.3 (a big jump), you then might have reason for concern. Remember, there is nothing exact about PSA because it normally fluctuate, regardless of whether you have cancer or not. So stop worrying and enjoy your Holidays.