Anyone get PSA Test Angst days before that post-treatment PSA test?

Posted by survivor5280 @survivor5280, Dec 22, 2025

Anyone else get this the days or week before that post-treatment PSA test? When I had my kidney cancer, I spent a year waiting for "the other shoe to drop" and while not as severe this time (likely desensitized from the very bleak 12 months after my last cancer), I sort of feel the same. Just short of a year past RARP and each PSA test feels like I'm in Vegas rolling dice and I'm a bit on pins and needles until I get it over with and they tell me "undetectable".

I'm sure I'm not alone. Again, I have to remind myself about who continues to come to these forums, so when I read the regular accounts from guys who had my same Gleason and got RARP two to five years ago who are back because the PSA jumped it just causes my heart to miss a beat - even though I realize there are probably 100X as many guys out there who will never see it rear its ugly head again.

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heavyphil | @heavyphil | Jan 8 6:55am

In reply to @tootall10 "My PSA has slowly been rising (last result 11) and I'm wondering if I can head..." + (show)

@tootall10 hey there, what is your history? BPH? Biopsy? PSA of 11 could be caused by many things.
Phil

capatov | @capatov | Jan 8 11:26am

I just had blood drawn for my six month post IRMT + HDR + ADT treatment program. Two month post PSA was 0.04 (down from 7.1) but likely influenced by the tail end of my ADT regime. I go in next week to discuss results with my RO and PA...I understand the angst you may be feeling.

Prayers for all of us as we do this recurring PSA check in.

surftohealth88 | @surftohealth88 | Jan 8 2:03pm

I have much bigger angst than my husband (we are doing tests every month) and after couple of wrong "introductions" about results lol I told him that he will give me a heart attack if he "starts" his announcement that way or in the wrong moment lol so the agreement is that he will not tell me when he has a test and when results come if they are good that he will start singing from afar "I am neeeegatiiiveee, Iiiiii am uuundeteeeectaaaable " la la laaaaaa lol lol XP and it works perfectly so far (mind you he makes the whole musical production now to tease me ). He has very minor butterflies before opening the page with results, I wish I have his nervous system *sigh.

jeff Marchi | @jeffmarc | Jan 8 3:42pm

An interesting thing happened to me when I went looking for the results of my test on Monday.

I had no anxiety at all about waiting a day for the test result, but when I was about to click the button to look at the result I felt a little bit of anxiety. I guess it never goes away 100%.

brianjarvis | @brianjarvis | Jan 8 6:45pm

In reply to @surftohealth88 "I have much bigger angst than my husband (we are doing tests every month) and after..." + (show)

@surftohealth88 My wife doesn’t go with me for my PSA tests. (Actually, I don’t think she even thinks about it anymore.) But as soon as I get the test results on my cellphone, I take a snapshot of it and send it to her.

tootall10 | @tootall10 | Jan 9 4:27am

In reply to @heavyphil "@tootall10 hey there, what is your history? BPH? Biopsy? PSA of 11 could be caused by..." + (show)

@heavyphil
PSA has slowly been rising. Urologist said it's not out of the ordinary for someone my age.

tootall10 | @tootall10 | Jan 9 4:40am

I do have a large prostate (supposed to be shrinking with Dutasteride) But I am worried that PC is down the road and think Rezum would shrink the prostate and lessen the chance of future PC.

heavyphil | @heavyphil | Jan 9 6:51am

In reply to @tootall10 "I do have a large prostate (supposed to be shrinking with Dutasteride) But I am worried..." + (show)

@tootall10 Shrinking the prostate does not shrink cancer - these cells are not hyperplastic; they are anaplastic - cancerous.
Your urologist’s claim that higher PSA’s occur in men your age can certainly be true if you have BPH…and also true if you have cancer.
A PSE test is very predictive for the presence of cancer - like 95% - and much more definitive than PSA. Not sure your urologist would even bother since he’s already made his diagnosis.
Phil