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PSA = 0.02 on second post-op test
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: 4 hours ago | Replies (10)Comment receiving replies
Much ado about nothing. Your PSA would have to rise 10 times before you would even be considered for treatment. PSA tends to rise and fall for many people, I was on Zytiga for 2 1/2 years, In that time, my PSA was undetectable only one month. The rest of the time it was between .2 and .7, Each month would be different And some months I would go from .7 down to .2, not a time to panic.
Your doctors going to just have to explain how this rise is insignificant.
Over at the advanced prostate cancer weekly Ancan.org meetings We have people come in sometimes with similar results of their PSA, test panicking about a rise that is essentially meaningless. Your PSA can go up and down while on the drugs. You may find that next time you get tested that it’s less than .02.
I intentionally don’t get the ultra sensitive test because of exactly what you are going through. I’ve had prostate cancer for 15 years. I’ve had four reoccurrences right now I’ve been Considered undetectable at < .1 for 19 months. If I had the ultra sensitive test, I might see my PSA going up and down every month, But there is no benefit to having that, I just need to know if my PSA rises to .1 or above.
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I think the OP's point is that after a prostatectomy or radiation, as long as your result is "undetectable," you can cling to at least a faint hope that the cancer is gone forever.
As soon as you have *any* detectable PSA result — even an ultra-low one like 0.02 — you have to admit to yourself that the cancer is still there, even if it's not doing much right now (and may not for many, many years, if ever).
It's not about the clinical result, but about grieving and acceptance. My brain knows that I'll probably get a "detectable" result again some day (I'm at almost 4 years, which is a long run for castrate-sensitivity), but my heart still hopes my PSA will stay undetectable forever, even though I know there are lots of excellent treatment options once it starts rising again.