Radiation finished as you all know diabetic nurse done blood test 2 weeks later confused??

Hi Tango

Possibly you are reading it incorrectly.

I presume before treatment PSA 12.00 and 14.00, 

Now it's.       .10 so a lot lower unless I'm reading the first 2 figures incorrectly.

Steve 

Hi steve yes you can see why im confused as 0.1 to .0.9 is then a step up to .10 being 1.0 sadly my nurse could not really clarify so i might call a cancer nurse monday however i do have more blood done on the 12th of august so im all confused

graham

I hope that my maths is up to this.

You note that your PSA level was 12 to 14 at the beginning..

You said the nurses mentioned a level of 0.10.

I think this is good because  it is about 0.83% of 12.

Is is the same as 0.1.

I am slightly concerned because I think that might be better than good.

Thankyou i think a call is deffo on the cards or i might wait until my blood tests next monday i always thought they do not do them until 6 weekks

cheers gra

Hi Tango.

My understanding is that your current PSA is < (which means less than) 0.1 When the

< sign is used then this usually indicates that the value is below the recordable limit of the machine or the tolerance that is being used, so very good news. The 0 - 3.5 in my opinion should be ignored as I think it refers to the range of PSA expected for a man of your age if he had NO treatment. Following radiotherapy the range should be 0 - 2 in your case. The PSA will be expected to bounce around a little bit, particularly between 12 and 18 months after radiotherapy when a 'bounce' may be seen, and more often in younger men. Provided the PSA drops again and doesn't continue to rise then all is good. There may also be a slight rise in men after they come off HT. If a rise is observed for 3 successive readings, or the PSA rises to 2 over the nadir (lowest point) then this is the time for further investigation.

Thankyou always hope very goid reply to which i understand thank you its really hard when you want answers to not do Dr Google

thankyou again

Hi Tango2pints , I think Alwayshope has got it spot on. <0.1 is fantastic.  Great result.  David

Hi Tango2pints , that's great news about your PSA. As others have said <0.1 means that it is undetectable on the test that your GP practice uses. Some tests have a finer scale and can detect lower levels but mine have always been on the coarser scale.

It's interesting that you were seen by a diabetic nurse and have been told you are still pre-diabetic. That means your HbA1c is <48. If you see or hear from her again you should ask if she is aware that Zoladex can push up your HbA1c levels into the diabetic range. After three years of HT mine went up to 54 and the GP practice went into overdrive with various diabetic tests on my feet, eyes and other parts of my anatomy. I kept telling them is wasn't Type 2 Diabetes but three years of HT but nobody bothered to listen. For the last two years, since coming off HT in June 2021, my HbA1c has dropped back to 42.

Thankyou for yoour reply i did indeed bring this up with the nurse in the same way as i said i was told first blood test was due 6 weeks after my last zapping as told by the RT Team .

however she was quite happy ambling along tickling my feet etc , as she was a friendly happy nurse i just went along with it.

so hows things two years after fininshing HT are your psa levels all good as one thing i have found even at the big c meetings, its very hard to find people who have had RT and been free of the nasty little critters for many years.

have a great day buddy

My PSA was <0.1 all through HT. It rose slightly after HT finished and has been stable at 0.2 for over two years. I had a conversation with the Urology nurse who said "As you still have the remnants of a Prostate we would expect some PSA to be present.", so I'm happy with that.

I'll be 77 in a couple of weeks and am walking at least 30 miles every week, swim a mile twice a week and go rowing at least once a week (wind and tide depending).

I found the Prostate support group at our local Maggie's centre was a great help but haven't been back recently as it's only been online since COVID.