I was going to post about something else today, but an event that happened so briefly last week dwelled in my mind quite a bit. It was just a phone call, lasting perhaps just 15 seconds.
In early October I had my two year follow-up check with my radiation oncologist at UT Southwestern. I asked the physician assistant and research coordinator to mail me a copy of the blood test when they get it, but after waiting for a couple of weeks, I never received it. So I sent them an email.
I received a phone call last week, and briefly AP ( initials) said that my PSA came back higher than normal, at 6.83. Until that news, I was on a downward trend from 14.48 to 4.1 ... since my treatment in February 2007. She said I got the phenomenon called PSA bump, and not to worry. This phone call was followed by an email reply explaining why I never got the mailed blood test report. AP's explanation was "I thought TT was going to mail it, and TT thought I was going to mail it ..."Perhaps neither wanted to be the bearer of bad news? I have researched about this phenomenon, but the radiation experts have not been able to explain this happen to some people. Dr. Critz from the Radiation Center of Georgia did a study, and saw this phenomenon in about 30% of his patients. There are no in-depth data to tell whether this is an indication of failure (generally not).
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