PSA

PSA is short for Prostate Specific Antigen.  Not to be confused with the PGA, the Professional Golf Association, or the PSATs that you take in  high school in hopes of getting into a good collage.  Or any college.

The PSA is a test to see if you have prostate cancer.  I know a lot about prostates - so if you see me at a party and want to discuss prostates, feel free.  Not yours, especially, but in general.

And, in general, I don't believe in getting screening PSAs.  They're wildly controversial and wildly unpredictable.  They were originally used only for men who already had prostate cancer to check its progress.  Then they became wildly popular as a diagnostic tool for detecting prostate cancer.

But they tend to cause more harm than good.  They lead to unnecessary biopsies and so on.  Here are some reasons I don't like PSAs.

• A high PSA doesn't necessarily mean you have cancer. 
• A low PSA doesn't necessarily mean you don't have cancer.  
• Most men over 80 have prostate cancer.
• When you're old, having prostate cancer doesn't mean you're going to die or even that you're going to have any symptoms.   
• Many times, the treatment for prostate cancer is worse than the cancer.
• A good PSA score is 4 or less.  
• A PSA score of 10 may mean something or it may mean nothing. 

For the past several months Dave has had a climbing PSA score.  Then, this time, when we went for the results, it had dropped back down.  

So he's not going to do anything crazy.  Well, today we did book a two week cruise and a mystery hotel in Montreal!

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