What? What did you say? The doctor asked if I had any questions and those were the only two I could come up with at that moment.
For years I’ve been having an annual physical and one of the tests the doctor did was for Prostate Specific Antigen. This is the test that tells the doctor if you have a problem with your prostate such as cancer or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). My PSA has been 2.5 for years and according to my doctor that was a fine number for a man in his fifties. That’s not to say I didn’t have some problems with my prostate. Heck, most men do as they get older but I was told it was just a slight enlargement problem. Nothing to really worry about.
Once again it was time for my annual physical. I turned 61 this year but I was sure I wasn’t going to hear any bad news. When the doctor called he said all my numbers looked good. I thought the call was over, short and sweet, but then he said you might have a problem with your prostate. I asked what he meant and he told me that after being 2.5 for years my PSA was now 4.8. He then said that 4.8 for a 61-year-old man isn’t too high, but the jump from 2.5 to 4.8 in one year was cause for concern. He suggested I see a urologist just to be safe.