This is a complete and total overshare for me. But I'm hoping that it will spark a conversation about prostate cancer and all of the unknowns that come along with it. Also, it is self serving because I have to get out of my head.
Firstly, if you are a 50 year old male and have not had it yet, get the PSA test done. It is a blood test, that's it. From there they can get a good idea if there is activity in the prostate (no, not that kind). Early detection is a good thing. Waiting until there are symptoms is not. Not talking about it is worse.
Back story it that I am a 51 year old male and this is the year of blood tests and benchmarks. I have family history of diabetes and high cholesterol, so those are the tests I keep an eye on. What I was not prepared for was the PSA test (prostate-specific antigen) coming back "elevated".
The PSA test has a "normal" range of 0-4, anything above that is considered "elevated". An elevated PSA can be caused by other things like inflammation elsewhere in the body. So as a double check, they run another test to see how much of the antigen is attached to proteins. If the antigen is attached to proteins, there is potentially cancer in the prostate. My tests came back at 5.4 and 5.9. Off the the Urologist.
After a conversation about peeing and hard-ons, there was a lot of "nothing to be too concerned about" and "you are on the younger side to be in the office". The Dr was re-assuring me that this is all early stage stuff. Then there was the manual check. And an immediate "small node" comment and a "let's get you scheduled for an MRI".
From here, in order to determine what is going on and to what extent, they can either do a biopsy or an MRI. The biopsy is the gold standard (12 core samples) but can be overkill in the early stages. The MRI is less invasive but can still identify lesions or anomalies (bumps) that would indicate cancer or not.
And that is where I am. Could be something, could be nothing. The MRI has not been scheduled yet but hoping to have it in the next couple of weeks.
I'm hoping that others will chime in with their experience and knowledge.
Firstly, if you are a 50 year old male and have not had it yet, get the PSA test done. It is a blood test, that's it. From there they can get a good idea if there is activity in the prostate (no, not that kind). Early detection is a good thing. Waiting until there are symptoms is not. Not talking about it is worse.
Back story it that I am a 51 year old male and this is the year of blood tests and benchmarks. I have family history of diabetes and high cholesterol, so those are the tests I keep an eye on. What I was not prepared for was the PSA test (prostate-specific antigen) coming back "elevated".
The PSA test has a "normal" range of 0-4, anything above that is considered "elevated". An elevated PSA can be caused by other things like inflammation elsewhere in the body. So as a double check, they run another test to see how much of the antigen is attached to proteins. If the antigen is attached to proteins, there is potentially cancer in the prostate. My tests came back at 5.4 and 5.9. Off the the Urologist.
After a conversation about peeing and hard-ons, there was a lot of "nothing to be too concerned about" and "you are on the younger side to be in the office". The Dr was re-assuring me that this is all early stage stuff. Then there was the manual check. And an immediate "small node" comment and a "let's get you scheduled for an MRI".
From here, in order to determine what is going on and to what extent, they can either do a biopsy or an MRI. The biopsy is the gold standard (12 core samples) but can be overkill in the early stages. The MRI is less invasive but can still identify lesions or anomalies (bumps) that would indicate cancer or not.
And that is where I am. Could be something, could be nothing. The MRI has not been scheduled yet but hoping to have it in the next couple of weeks.
I'm hoping that others will chime in with their experience and knowledge.
arty