G'day,
I don't wander in here often either, after initially telling my story, but I do have a look from time to time. Anyways...I guess I'm technically still a patient, I underwent a radical prostatectomy seven years ago at age 52. It wasn't entirely successful and my PSA never fell to anywhere near zero. I then underwent salvage radiotherapy, I think it was 34 sessions, in early 2016. PSA then fell enough to allow my follow-ups from 2017 to be spaced out to annually. My PSA nadir was 0.04 in mid 2018. It has been rising since, I am now on 3-monthly blood tests and follow ups and officially have what is called a biochemical recurrence. I have undergone two PET scans since early 2021 which showed nothing, and my latest PSA reading is 0.43, which is still a small number but is a 10-fold increase in 4 years. The last two results have actually shown that the reading is plateauing, but it is still rising. I am now facing the prospect of starting hormone therapy in 3 or 6 months time, depending on my next reading and possibly another scan, although I can insist on starting it anytime I wish. I am symptom free, but live with the common side effects of the surgery and the radiation.
