# So I have prostate cancer **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 9, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-have-prostate-cancer/804035 "2017-12-09T19:11:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 129
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2022, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-have-prostate-cancer/804035/129 "2022-09-24T00:04:02Z")
OK, I talked with the NP at the urology/oncology group. Takeaways: - Waiting for .2ng/ml is basically their protocol for if this is a number to be taken seriously or not. There _is_ the possibility this was a bad test result. There may also be a great deal of jitter in the numbers as I retest. What they most want to look for is **velocity** - are the numbers increasing slowly or quickly or not at all? If, say, I retested at .15ng/ml in 3 months, that would be a startling result and indicate high velocity, but again there may be a lot of jitter in the numbers (but that would be a big jitter). - If I were referred to the radiation department, they’d do both imaging (PET scan) and a physical examination to look for changes since my 2018 surgery. - The overwhelming case in a recurrence is that there’s some regrowing tissue (and this is important) _in the original area of the pelvis_ that is still localized. If that’s the case 🤞 then they’d treat me with radiation and kill that tissue. She reassured me that treatment isn’t arduous. I’m going to retest in December. @nearwildheaven, thank you for the links. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-have-prostate-cancer/804035)._