.012 is basically undetectable. Anything less than .02 is beyond the sensitivity of the test. Noise. You’re in good shape.
And yes, the Kegels do help a lot. They’re boring as hell, so I’d do sets of I think 30. Squeeze and count to 5 (1 mississippi, 2 mississippi…), release and count to five. That’s one. 29 more. Do that 2-4 times a day. After a week or two you should see improvement I’d hope. I did them lying down; someone had told me you could do them sitting a desk but I never found that effective.
It did take me a long time to not need a pad in my undies, so be patient and don’t give up. And don’t throw away the pads in case you’re in an unusual situation. Example: I caught a cold and had sneezing fits and of course dribbled.
After having had an ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy I can say a fist post-op PSA doesn’t scare me.
Latest on me: PSA remains almost undetectable 6 months after finishing radiation, at 0.02. Repeat MRI of the weird sternal lesion is unchanged 6 months later, consistent with it NOT being a metastasis. So far it seems I’ve just got a moderately aggressive tumor that’s limited to the prostate only, and it has responded to rad/hormone rx. Repeat PSA and MRI in 6 months, continuing on those damned androgen blockers. I’m almost completely over the radiation side effects now, my bladder behaves mostly reasonably now.
But damn, lack of androgens leaves me with hot flashes, fatigue, and absolutely no ambition/drive. I might stop after only 12 total months of androgen blocker therapy, despite recommendations for 18 to 36 months. I’ve discussed that with my urologist, my radiation oncologist, my heme/oncology guy, plus two close friends who are also experts on prostate cancer and so far they all feel that they can support that decision if my PSA number remains low and scans remain unchanged.
For my particular prostate cancer type and my age/co-morbidities, radiation is still considered the most effective modality, even when compared to radical prostatectomy.
Now it’s time for another nap.
Lets all hang in there, guys. (Of course I’ve been told in the past that hanging is too good for me. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ ).
LOL! For the want of an “r”, the wa was lost. Or something. I’m with QtM on this one That ultra sound biopsy was no fun at all. The needle part wasn’t too bad but that wand? Very unpleasant. I’ve been doing the Kegels in the car on my way to and from work - about a 20 minute drive but not consistently and I understand lying down is the way to go (or not go, to be more precise). I have a spare pad with me all the time. I’m getting used to the whole thing but its very annoying. Sometimes, I’ll go and then 10-15 minutes later have to go again but not much comes out I’m always mindful of where I can find a restroom.
Congratulations to everyone on the good prostate news! QtM, I hear you on the androgen blockers. Mr. Legend tells me he is no more accustomed to the effects now than he was when he started on them two years ago. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you’ll be able to discontinue them sooner.
Latest update on my prostate cancer: I developed horrible low back pain, got an MRI which showed odd masses in the sacrum which had fractured. Radiologist said they were consistent with metastases. Had another PET PSMA scan, which didn’t show mets, but rather showed that my prostate no longer lit up with tumor, nor was there significant evidence of tumor elsewhere.
So: I’ve got sacral insufficiency fractures caused not by metastatic cancer but by the radiation I had (which did certainly shrink the prostate tumor). Still hurts like hell, though. After the Mrs. recovers from knee replacement surgery I’ll be seeing a guy about getting bone glue injected into the fractures to help reduce pain.
So overall, I’m pretty happy with the result thus far. By all indications, the tumor has been beaten back enough to be undetectable. But it’s still a pain in the ass.
Man, if the cancer doesn’t get you, the treatment does! I hope they can get that stabilized for you. I’m glad to hear it wasn’t bone mets - I got a cold chill when I read the beginning of your post.
Hang in there, QtM. You’re right, the ADT has all sorts of surprising side effects, even when you’ve read up on them, and some are time-delayed, or at least have been in my case. The hot flashes alone are annoying enough, and I get no sympathy from my partner, who went through menopause some years ago.
For damn sure. The Mrs. had hot flashes for over 20 years and I get from her the same level of support and sympathy that I gave her during that time. Which means I get not as much as I want, but enough to keep me going.
It took about 10 days to get the PET scan and I was not happy during that time even though my oncologist and neurosurgeon reassured me mets weren’t all that likely.
That must have been hard. I don’t even like my quarterly PSA/TT check-ins because all the “what’s ifs?” are hard to stifle. Hang in there, like I said!
Hanging’s too good for me! But thanks. These years are all gravy anyway, I never expected to live this long. So there’s a certain contentment in knowing each day I exceed expectations. Not that I’m looking to shuffle off this mortal coil yet! I want to finish off the completed “A Song of Ice and Fire” and “Kingkiller Chronicles” before I go.
Glad the hear no mets, QtM. Hope the bone glue provides some quick relief for the pain.
I got my 6-month PSA last month and was undetectable at <0.05. @MikeF, I’ll echo @squeegee about not worrying about your levels. That’s getting into the noise range and in my opinion (and my doctor’s), it’s counterproductive to use such low thresholds in the test.
I haven’t been using pads at all for a few months. I have to go a little more often than before, but I don’t have problems with leakage. I feel bad saying it to the rest of you, but I wasn’t the best at keeping up with kegles. I just got lucky.
Not so much luck with the ED, though. My doc prescribed a low daily dose of tadalifil (Cialis), and when that did nothing, gave me a bigger on-demand dose. Still no real effect. I take solace that squeegee said it took a couple years for him.
