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After 23 Months I Took a Long Deep Breath [1]

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Date: 2023-05-03

In June of ’21 I hac my annual physical. This included a blood panel and a Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test that monitors the health of your prostate. Elevated PSA levels (over 4 or 5 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml)) indicates that something is amiss. Not every elevated PSA means prostate cancer, but every case of prostate cancer causes elevated PSAs.

My ’20 PSA was 4, but in ’21 it had jumped up to 20. This led to a biopsy, and my cells were indeed malignant, and also of an aggressive clone. A CAT scan and a radioactive tracer scan confirmed that the cancer was limited to my prostate, with no evidence of any metastasized growths.

After consultation with my urologist and oncologist, I elected for surgery and had a radical prostatectomy done in December of ’21. The surgery was done with no complications, and my recovery was relatively normal.

After the surgery my PSA was originally as low as 0.05 ng/ml, but by late ’21 it had creeped up to 0.2. This indicated that a few cancer cells had been missed from the scalpel, and if untreated could grow and migrate into other organs. After a consult with the radiology team, I signed up for a course of Modulated Intensity Radiological Treatment (MIRT).

My MIRT program involved 35 sessions (7 weeks, 5 days a week) where I had to lie still in a large x-ray machine while the source rotated around me, irradiating target areas in the locus of my former prostate. Side effects included nausea, fatigue and lower plumbing irregularities.

MIRT Machine

I finished the MIRT 6 weeks ago, and yesterday I had a follow-up with my urologist.

My PSA was non-detect: less than 0.02 ng/ml. The cancer is gone.

For the first time in 23 months I took a full, long breath.

Guys over 40, get the damn PSA test every year. It saved my life.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/3/2167375/-After-23-Months-I-Took-a-Long-Deep-Breath

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