Dads treatment

Hi Lesley

I finished RT in 2017 and I had the first PSA 6 months later which is fairly normal I think.

The lower the better in terms of PSA figure , mine was about 1.33 which wasn't particularly low but it did continue a downward trend over the years .

There can be what's called a  PSA bounce at some point after the RT is over which would be a rise on one occasion but as long as no upward trend then hopefully the RT worked.

So as regards your father probably a bit early for a PSA test although u could check with the cancer centre to see when they do the first one, could be 3 or 6 months.

hope all goes well

Best wishes

Steve

Hi Lesley,

you won't know it has "worked" for some considerable time. You will just be looking to see the PSA figures dropping at each test. 

Testing frequency will vary from hospital to hospital.

My test figures may give you a rough idea of times & values.

May 24        PSA 19

July 24        Start HT

Oct 24         Start RT.  PSA 0.9

Nov 24        End RT (X20)

Jan 25        PSA 0.06

Apr 25        PSA 0.05

Sept 25      PSA 0.02

Looking pretty good so far.....................

All you do now is sit back and watch the numbers !

Hello Lesley (Lesleymak77) 

Radiotherapy does't kill the damaged cancer cells right away, it continues to work for up to a year and it takes time for the DNA damage to kill the cancer cells (it kills good cells too!).

The body's immune system then removes the damaged cells and they are replaced by new good cells.

Dad's nadir (Lowest) PSA reading should be about 18 months after radiotherapy was completed.

Best wishes - Brian.

Thank you so much I’m glad yours is going in the right direction x

Hi Steve 

thank you for the reply I will tell my dad 

best wishes to you x