THERE WAS NO RESPONSE TO AN UPDATE REMINDER IN 2015 SO THERE IS NO UPDATE.

David continues... I have been under a physican's care for ten years and he has never recommend a prostate exam. I had an annual physical done in March of 2000 and I had to ask for a PSA. I was told that it would cost me extra and I said fine. Five days later I found out it came back 17.4. I made an appointment with a Urologist and he examined me and order another PSA. This was about two weeks after finding out. My PSA came back 19.0. In May I went to see him and he gave me Lupron shot which would last three months and some pills that I took for 14 days. I was scheduled for Surgery for the 18th of August.

I went on a scheduled vacation and had my radical prostatectomy. My PSA upon return from my vacation was 1.3. The surgery lasted 4 hours and three pints of blood. The frozen sections all came back negative and the margins were negative. I told him I would be having a PSA every month for the first six months and then every other month. After the first year if things continued to look good I would go quarterly the second year, twice a year during the third year and then annually from that point on.

My PSA came back 0.0 for October and November of 2000. In December the lab changed the assay methodology and said the tests for PSA were much more sensitive. In December it came back 0.02. In January it was 0.02. I got a call that my doctor wanted to see me. I asked if I could get another PSA in three more weeks and he agreed. It came back 0.03. I got a call at work that he wanted to see me that day. Come to find out, he thought my PSA was 0.3 rather than 0.03. He said he was sorry if he got me worried.

I have since had another one which was 0.02 again and last week I had my last one and it was 0.016. I have slight incontinence and I still have not had an erection hard enough for intercourse. I have no idea if the worst is over or not, but I have a positive attitude about the big picture.

Current Age 58. Current PSA 0.018. Initial treatment Radical Prostatectomy. Current Treatment The last PSA was done on August of 2001 and as it continues to be low using the ultra sensitive DPC Immulite assay, I am no longer having a PSA test done every month or two. They will now be quarterly.

In May my PSA was 0.025 then in July it was 0.041 and followed by this 0.018. Next one will be in November. There is no real treatment at this point.

I am taking many vitamins, including 1000 mg Vitamin C, 200 mcg Selenium, Lycopene 66 mg twice a day. Hope all your PSA's are less than 0.1. Contact me anytime if I can be of any help.

My PSA came back detectable for the first time on 22 Sep 03 with a reading of 0.155. Retest 6 Oct 03 was 0.115 and then tested three months later on 8 Jan 04 at 0.113. Will be taking another PSA in April 04.

Last visit with Urologist on 19 November 2004 and had PSA done on 26 October 2004 which came back with my highest reading so far of 0.185.

These were some of the other PSA results.

10-06-03 0.115 - 37 Months
01-08-04 0.113 - 41 Months
04-20-04 0.164 - 44 Months
07-21-04 0.161 - 47 Months
10-15-04 0.160 - 50 Months (Base Hospital)
10-26-04 0.185 - 50 Months
I will be getting another PSA in April 2005.

I have been continually monitoring my PSA and the reading I had in April 2005 was 0.311 followed by my latest test which was in October 2005 which was 0.384.

My Urologist wants to wait until it reached 0.5 before further treatment which might be radiation or hormone therapy.

I will be going to give my youngest daughter away at her wedding on the 29th of April 2006 and then when I return home, will get another PSA.

I had a PSA test done on the 2nd of May 2006 and it came back with a 0.534 ng/ml. I saw my Urologist on the 5th of May and we decided that it was time to get an Oncologist on board. I did another PSA test on the 6th of July and it came back 0.621 ng/ml.

Saw Oncologist on the 10th of July and at this point he says we can continue to monitor the PSA until it get to a certain point and then we can take action of either two years on hormone therapy or Chemo with Taxetere for three to six treatments and then two years on hormone therapy. Leaning toward last option. Will be seeing my Urologist again in August to discuss plan of attack. Later...

I finally decided to go with salvage radiation which began on the 21st of September 2006. I will have 37 treatments and as of today I have 8 treatments left. No real problems so far with the treatments. My last PSA was done on the August 3, 2006 with a reading of 0.735. My last radiation treatment should be on Monday, 13 November 2006. I think I will have to wait at least 2 more months before taking another PSA test to see if this has been a success or not. I believe I am getting 6616 total Gys. Good luck to all of you out there.

I had my initial follow up PSA after 37 radiation treatments. It was 0.735 back in August prior to the treatments and on 19 January 2007 it came back at 0.009. Will see Urologist on the 29th of January but the results are already in and now I have more breathing room. Best to all.

15 August 2007 had a follow up PSA which came back with a 0.007. It has now been seven years since my initial RRP and 9 months since my salvage radiation treatments. I will be seeing my urologist on the 29th of August which I assume will be a routine visit. So far so good. Best to all of you.

I saw my urologist in August 2007 for a six month check up and all was fine with a PSA; test came back at < 0.0. So far so good. It has now been 8 years since my initial surgery. Next visit is scheduled for March 2009.

I also had my second colonoscopy performed in September 2008 and all was fine in that department.

Thank you.

I went into see my urologist Mar 2009 and had another PSA and that one came back again, < 0.0 and digital was negative and he will see me again in six more months.

On 4 Sep 09, saw urologist and everything continues to be alright.

I had my latest PSA reading at the hospital and they have changed their assay again and this reading came back < 0.064. They told me that was the lowest reading that the test would show. Didn't make much sense to me nor my uro. My uro asked me to get another test done with the lab he uses which uses the third generation and doesn't keep changing every couple of years.

I retested on 8 September and the results came back with 0.009. Will follow up again in 6 more months. Best luck to all.

My latest checkup was 23 Feb 2010 and all is going well at 9 and half years post surgery and 3 years and 3 months post salvage radiation. Best to all out there.

7 September 2010 PSA < 0.006 Appointment with Urologist and everything was O.K. Tried to talk doctor into seeing him once a year instead of every six months and he said that it was up to me but it is recommended every six months. I will see him again in six months, in March 2011.

22 February 2011 PSA 0.02 Had PSA drawn and it looks like here we go again. I consider this now to be advanced prostate cancer. I see my urologist on the 9th of March.

My big question for him will be at what point will hormone shots be tried, when PSA hits a certain number or when there are outward symptoms.

Another year is here and I will be getting another 6 months check up on the 29th of February.

My latest update was done on 16 August 2011 and that PSA came back at < 0.02 and the best the urologist and I can find out is that is the lowest reading that they have, so that is good news.

It is closing in on 12 years since initial radical and will be 6 years since salvage radiation in November 2012.

All systems go at this time. Hope everyone can get good news.

2012 is now upon us and my most recent visit on 29 Feb 2012 with my Urologist was uneventful and I was given a good checkup. The only thing that was different was that I got biinquinal hernias but the doc didn't think I needed to do anything at this time. I am pretty sure the hernia is because the surgery had weakend the abdominal muscles, but unless it causes pain, just to let it be. Next appointment will be in August of this year. He still wants to see me every six months. Hope all is well with all of you.

Had my six month follow up on 29 August 2012 and my PSA; came back <0.02 again and all systems were go. I will get my next check up in March 2013. Hope everyone dealing with this disease has a great outcome. I am now 12 years post radical and 6 years post salvage radiation treatment.

Well 2014 is upon us and I had two visits with my urologist in 2013. He does like his patients to follow up every six months. I saw him on the 15th of March and the 18th of September. Both times my PSA was <0.02. No changes and all continues to look good. I do hope all of you who are dealing with prostate cancer do well with whatever treatment you chose. Best to all in 2014.

David's e-mail address is: davidmlynch AT yahoo.com (replace "AT" with "@")

NOTE: David has not updated his story for more than 15 months, so you may not receive any response from him.