The Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) Test
I talked about biochemical recurrence in my November 2024 post. These past several months has been quite a roller coaster ride. My PSA tests have caused me some havoc. PSA stands for Prostate-Specific Antigen. As you get older this test helps determine if you may be getting prostate cancer. Either by the levels itself or how fast your levels are increasing (as was the case for me). This blood test in men can vary if you still have a prostate. More about this test and it’s levels can be found here. If you still have a prostate this value will be greater than 1 ng/mL. If you don’t have a prostate you don’t want a value at all.
9/23/2025 – I’m OK. No I’m not.
My Birthday was last Thursday. So, I wanted to take my blood test prior to my birthday. I set an appointment for Monday since the test sometimes takes 2 to 3 days to get a result. I wanted to celebrate with some great news on my birthday. But as things happened, I don’t know how I feel about it. I’m sort of in a funk.
My lab appointment was for 1:40 pm. I worked from home and was in and out of the lab for my blood draw in no time. I took the rest of the day in stride. My wife worked the night. So in the evening I settled into bed and browsed through my emails one last time before closing my eyes. To my surprise my Quest results were in!
I checked the results with bated breath. It’s 0.04… Awesome! That’s the same as my last result… Wait, no it’s not. It was <0.04 last time. Now it’s just 0.04. Hmm, that doesn’t sound good. That means it’s going up. Still, 0.04 that can’t be bad. I’m OK. No, I’m not. This is not good. Brave face. Tell my wife.
I call her at work to tell her what’s going on. She’s a trooper. She tries to calm me. I’m not upset. I’m OK. I’m fine… No I’m not. She encourages me to make an appointment in the morning with my urologist. Everything will be OK she says. Go get some sleep. I take some sleeping pills. I try to sleep. I’m OK… No I’m not. I hardly sleep.
It can’t be 9 am soon enough. Calling the urologist’s office at 8:59, I get the answering machine. I wait until 9:05 and try again. They tell me I can make an appointment today but I can’t speak to the urologist. I can speak with the Physician’s Assistant. I’ll take it. My appointment is at 11:45 am. OK, I can’t work. Too much anxiety and not enough sleep. My life feels like it’s in the balance. I can’t work. I send a message to my team. I’m not coming in today. I’m not feeling well. I’ll try to come in in the afternoon. I’m kind of a mess. I tool around the house until my appointment.
So, I go to the urologist office after getting the standard vitals check. My wife stayed home since she was exhausted from her shift. When it was time to go in to see the PA, I was already on the phone with my wife. I asked the PA if it was OK if she stayed on the phone and listened to our conversation. As the PA was going through my chart, I told her my concerns. She understood my plight and realized my worry. Looking at the test she said the likely explanation was that the type of test I took. It was the standard PSA test not the ultrasensitive PSA test. The PA said, “When the lab provides results for the standard tests, they are not worried so much about accuracy. the lab results likely were recorded without the less than sign by mistake.“
She provided me another order for the PSA but this time the ultrasensitive test. She said to take it next week. The results you are expecting will be there and you should feel better once the results come back. She called my Doctor who was 2 doors down and told him what was going on. I could hear him over the speaker and 2 doors down as he responded. “Tell him to stop worrying. His margins were fine. Everything is fine. He doesn’t have a concern at all and he should come back in 6 months.” The PA tells me just take the ultrasensitive test for my own sanity. She also writes me another order for my 6 month blood test as well. All of this conversation reassures me and I was very grateful for the discussion and it’s outcome.
10/16/2025 – Not Yet
I haven’t taken my PSA yet. I’m waiting for the right time to take it. I’m not ready for bad news right now. Whatever is going on is going on. I’m going to Sicily in a couple of weeks. If I get bad news the weight of the world will be on me. I’ll tell myself everything will be OK, but it won’t be. So I’m waiting until after. Then of course it’s the holidays but I don’t want to wait too long if there is something happening. So for now I’ll wait and enjoy my getaway.
11/17/2025 – I’m OK
I took my PSA right after I got back from Sicily. This time I took the ultrasensitive PSA test. I resigned myself to accepting whatever the results are. A day later I got the results. Taking a deep breath I read the results. <0.02. Oh my god! Awesome! My urologist was right! All is well! I’m OK! I called my urologist and shared the good news. I’m so looking forward to the holidays with family and friends.
01/26/2026 – Happy New Year
Here I am 2 months later after navigating the holidays. They went by so fast. We went to my sister’s for Thanksgiving in Tampa. The kids came home for Christmas. I only got to spend time with them together collectively for a week. But all the time spent with family and friends was amazing and cherished.
Now the new year is chugging along on all cylinders. Work is in full swing and so is life. When I saw my urologist in June he had stated I can get tested every six months instead of three. I didn’t listen to him. I took the test 2 months early, unable to wait. Now I will. I won’t look at getting it done until April. Or should I wait until my daughter’s wedding in May? I’ll discuss with my wife and decide what’s best.
Happy New Year! May the year ahead be beautiful and bright, filled with health, love, and happiness.
