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Check in after surgery

User
Posted 22 Jun 2022 at 13:00

Hello


Some of you may recall that I had surgery on 11 March at the Marsden. All pretty textbook and steady recovery. After six weeks, I had a PSA bloodtest and got debriefed on the histology. Negative margins, confirmation of 3+4 and 5% agressive tumours etc. Only issue was a PSA score of 0.01, with an invitation to have another bloodtest in six weeks. I underwent another test on Monday and received feedback this morning. PSA remains at 0.01, so the message from the doctor was nothing to worry about. There might be some benign prostate material, but we would not know if it amounted to anything more significant until the next test on the normal 3-month cycle. Iwas hoping for undetectable, but need to hope that 0.01 is as close to relevant to that.


I will go to the Jools Holland Raise the Roof event tonight safe in the knowledge that things are decent, not perfect.


 

User
Posted 22 Jun 2022 at 15:14

There might be a less than sign in front of those numbers but the person reading them on the phone doesn't know what it means.


Either way 0.01 and steady is perfect.


Enjoy the concert.

Dave

User
Posted 23 Jun 2022 at 09:32

It was a wonderful occasion with some really big names from Jules Holland's extensive coterie of friends. I finally managed to get some lapel badges too!


I've been running every morning since 6-weeks post-op and am gradually getting back into shape. I have to watch what I eat in any case because I am a type-2 diabetic, but am also convinced that the fitter you can get, the more likely you are to make a steady recovery from major surgery. For someone who had never spent a night in hospital before this diagnosis, the past six months have been an eye-opener. All in all a positive trajectory since the operation, though I would really like to top it off with going below 0.01 and have PSA as undetectable. Otherwise a nagging doubt will persist. Perhaps that is the most pernicious effect of cancer, in the end.


Good luck with your next steps, Eric59. It sounds like you have access to the infomation you need and have had time to consider your strategy. I have tried at all stages to focus on what it in front of me and that has helped me cope with a seismic change to my life.

User
Posted 23 Jun 2022 at 21:32

I would really like to top it off with going below 0.01 and have PSA as undetectable. Otherwise a nagging doubt will persist.


Have you contacted whoever it was to ask them whether there was a funny little sideways hat next to the 0.01? As stated above, if the result is given to you by someone who doesn't know what < means, they will not realise the significance. We have also seen a situation on here where the lab reported readings with the < symbol but the person transferring results to medical records wasn't bothering to include it.


 

Edited by member 23 Jun 2022 at 21:33  | Reason: Not specified

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard
User
Posted 23 Jun 2022 at 22:03
I have spoken to the same doctor twice since the operation, and I have seen correspondence from him to my GP. It is definitely not <0.01, I'm afraid.
 
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