Unexpectedly bad PSA

Thanks Lyn, it’s reassuring to get someone else’s take on this. I try really hard to stay calm and not overreact but sometimes I want to scream!

We felt this sudden psa rise wasn’t what would be expected at this stage, but that realisation only began to dawn as we walked to the car park! That’s partly what I’m so shocked about, getting what looks on the face of it as unexpected and bad news without any conversation or support.
As it happens we had to go to GP surgery this morning to arrange next Prostap injection (they are three monthly, so not overdue yet, tho thanks for thinking of that possibility ) so we took the opportunity to ask if they had the run of PSA results and could we see them. Answer was a clear No. The hospital apparently don’t report back to the GP ...which mildly surprised us. I asked if the surgery could ask for a report for us but the receptionist declined to do that.
We are due back at the hospital tomorrow for second chemo cycle so will see whether anyone can confirm the PSA results from his notes. 
When we started all this with a urologist at Bridgend Hospital we were put in touch with a specialist prostate nurse who we could ring for support or clarification. Now we have been transferred to Velindre Cancer hospital in Cardiff we don’t seem to have an equivalent, so there’s no clear communication channel. I’m feeling distinctly out on a limb at the moment, but trying desperately not to fuss!

Thanks. We too had begun to wonder whether the Prostap administered was the one month rather than three month dose. My guess is that, whatever it actually was, it will be recorded as the larger one because that’s definitely what she intended to give. It went in his arm. We thought we would press on with trying to get the authoritative PSA results before we started querying the competence of the practice nurse. But we will follow that up if necessary.

Yesterday he had his second chemo cycle, dose reduced by 20% because the first lot wiped out all his neutrophils. We got confirmation that Monday’s blood test showed neutrophils were back up to a healthy 7.5 but the nursing staff said they couldn’t access his PSA results on their computer system.

So it looks like we have to ring the consultant’s secretary and try to get the information from her. With a bit of luck she will have Monday’s result back as well as the 4 Nov one that we are so concerned about. OH has agreed to do that tomorrow if I promise to not mention it again for at least 24 hours! 

One bit of good news, I just got checked over by ENT specialist and I don’t have throat cancer (which is what my GP had clearly suspected). I don’t think I could have coped with two of us being ill at the same time.

I so wish we had a nominated key worker/specialist nurse that I could talk to. But you guys are helping loads.