Doctor's Visit This Week...

So this week I went into my surgeon/oncologists office to talk about my test results from the PSA test. I talked about this some before in my last blog posting but I'll recap here. My first test after surgery I had a PSA of 0.00 and the following was 0.01. I wasn't concerned about that because that was so minimal that it could have been a calibration error and it was still reading as undetectable. Now granted, I'm not a doctor nor am I a lab tech running these tests so I freaked out when I saw it go up even that tiny amount. Well I am reassured that this is nothing and so last week I had my latest PSA results given to me and it was less than 0.05. In my head, I started to panic because the PSA level was rising and I knew that cancer was back. With everything else going on in my life, that was the last thing that I wanted to hear. So I sat with a week of panicking even though the nurse at the doctor's office assured me that this was not bad and that it was still reading as undetectable. I just couldn't understand why it was a higher reading than the last time.

I make my way to the doctor's office this week to discuss this with the doc and he says it is the way that the machine was calibrated and that it wasn't detecting anything below 0.05. I asked why one time it is calibrated for one level of sensitivity and one time it is another. He assured me that I am not be concerned as I am still reading as undetectable which is good. I'm going to go with this and be happy. Having a focal positive margin always keeps me on my toes and I'm less than a year out from my surgery. In fact my surgery was on May 12, 2008 so I'm only 8 months out so far. I can't wait until I hit my 1 year cancerversary! That's all for today.

The Results are In...

Well I got my results back on Friday and as always, I'm confused. I got a call from the nurse and she gave me the news that my PSA test came back with a less than 0.05 which is undetectable but I'm confused as to why it has gone from 0.00 to 0.01 and now to less than 0.05. She couldn't give me the exact number that it was but just that it was under that. I'm wondering if that it had to do with the machine's sensitivity and calibration that day or what. I will see my doctor on Tuesday for the old finger up the butt test (DRE for you medical buffs) I believe as well as a three month consultation. The only thing is that with life being the way that it has with the market etc. it is actually a 4 month check up. I lost track of time and ended up having my PSA a month late. Good thing everything is looking okay. Well that's all for today. Time to get back to editing a new 'survivor' video for "Voices of Survivors".

Ah The Vampires Were Out Today!

So today was another wonderful day at the doctor this morning. Anytime a person can get up and have their blood drawn before 9 a.m. is living the high life. Okay, I kid. That sucks! I was lucky though that I had a great nurse who was able to hit the vein with no problem. As always, I didn't sleep the night before dealing with nerves etc. I'm feeling 90% sure that everything is going to be okay. My last PSA was 0.01 and the one before was 0.00 so that small increase could have been just a calibration error or nothing at all. I'm praying that this one comes in at the same or back to 0.00. The only thing that ever worries me is the fact that I had a focal positive margin so there is a 15% chance or so that it returns. Every three months having to relive this is truly a nightmare but at least I'm above ground to relive this nightmare.

From a sexually functioning standpoint, I'm on top of the world! My surgery was on May 12, 2008 and everything is going swimmingly...well..no swimmers but you know what I mean...the boy is fully functional! I still take the Cialis at 10 mg one time every three days but honestly don't feel that I need it at all. I had an amazing surgeon who spared every possible nerve and as you may have read before, I woke up the day after surgery with an erection and it has been perfect every since!

So last time I wrote, I had blogged about my project: "Voices of Survivors". Well the project is fully off of the ground and it is going great. The response that I am having is phenomenal. I spent the holidays in San Francisco and shot seven more 'survivors' whilst I was there and their stories were amazing. This weekend I will be shooting another person and will have that uploaded on the site as well.

That's about all that is going on in my life right. I'm not sure if I get my results back tomorrow or on Monday but fingers are crossed! I'll blog about it when I get them and try to be much more diligent about my blogging about my cancer.