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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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%.

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.

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.

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

jeff Marchi | @jeffmarc | Jan 7 8:45pm

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

@tootall10
If you have a large prostate or BPH, it can cause your PSA to be high. Are you having problems peeing? If you had a PSA test, then the doctor you went to should have recommendations for what to do.

An MRI is usually the first thing to do to see if there’s anything in the prostate. You can have a digital rectal exam by an expert to see if they find something and then get an MRI to see if you need a biopsy.

Rezum It’s not a solution for a high PSA.

If you have prostate cancer, it can become quite painful if you just let it go. A PSA of 11 means that it is a little bit aggressive.

tootall10 | @tootall10 | Jan 7 8:09pm

My PSA has slowly been rising (last result 11) and I'm wondering if I can head this off with rezum? Now 80.

chippydoo | @chippydoo | Jan 6 6:57pm

I get a little jiggy a few days before. Other than that I live my life one day at a time and just not going to let fear ruin it.

rlpostrp | @rlpostrp | Jan 1 5:42pm

Thanks so much for your inspirational words, and congratulations on beating your circumstances so long ago. There is nothing better than, nor more important than, "family." God's blessings to you.

vircet | @vircet | Jan 1 4:37pm

In reply to @rlpostrp "I think you share a common, and not often expressed sentiment that we all have. I..." + (show)

@rlpostrp

I think you share a common, and not often expressed sentiment that we all have. I have told close family that I feel like I am living my life this first year post-RP, in three-month increments. I get my PSA drawn every three months since my April radical prostatectomy. So far, so good...the first three were all < 0.01 ng/ml. I also had a consult with a radiation oncologist because my pT3b type of cancer has a recurrence rate of 25%-50% "within" the first five years post-prostatectomy...it just seems to always come back despite the prostate, two seminal vesicles, and two vas deferens being removed. The radiation oncologist ordered an "Ultrasensitive PSA" (my first), and I got that result literally yesterday of < 0.006 ng/ml, so I feel good about that (normal range is 0.000 - 4.000 ng/ml). He wants a second Ultrasensitive PSA three months from now in April so he has two data points on which to decide "if"/"when" we more seriously consider and start radiation therapy. But...
Yes...I feel what you feel. Once I learned the variety and degrees of prostate cancer that exist, I realized that I am carrying it around on my shoulder like a black raven. It's always there, occasionally pecking at me to remind me it is still there, and every 3-months it whispers in my ear: "I'm coming for you." And someday it will whisper: "I'm baaack, and I am going to kill you." As others have and will offer, I/we just have to live our lives with the knowledge that prostate cancer is very slow growing, and that if/when it starts to show it has come back with biochemical recurrence (BCR) as an newly elevated PSA, we just have to take it, and do whatever our next option treatment(s) are.
I highly recommend strengthening or renewing your faith in God...whatever your beliefs. My faith is strong...I know I will have eternal life, whenever God calls me home from this earthly life. I will hate leaving my children and grandchildren behind, but I also know I will see them again in heaven, so whenever my eventual death will be, I am resolved already to accept it, be it 5 years, 10 years or God-willing 15+ years from now (I am 70 years old with great male longevity in my family 96-100 years old on both sides). I will hate that my body gave up on life, but I know where I am going. By the way, that was a quote of Winston Churchill. Before he dropped dead at some later date, in some prior conversation or interview, he is quoted as saying: "It's not so much that I mind dying, as much as that my body is giving up on life." I always liked that. Good luck to you.

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@rlpostrp 39 years ago, I was so near death that I begged to G_d in prayer, to give me seven more years; I just didn't want my young son and daughter to be orphans at the age 2-1/2 years and nine months old, respectively. I am 69 now, and not worried about PC compared to my illness decades ago -- a doctor friend told me he knew of only three persons who had my illness: one died, the second became a vegetable, I walked. I have a 10 year old grandson and 8-1/2 year old grand daughter now. I don't expect nor want to leave this earth soon, but I'm ready as you are. PC treatments are so advanced, we have all the reasons to b e hopeful.