The only thing was when I rang through to the doctors’ surgery saying you know, Has the result come through’, they said, ‘Oh we think so but weve lost it, which seemed to me a little bit slap happy [laughs].

Oh dear.

‘But well get somebody to ring you back by such and such a time. And then when I rang them back again they, this is you know through the day so it could be concerning for somebody who wasn’t too au fait with it. They said, ‘Oh weve got it, we have found it, we didn’t lose it, mislaid I think was what they said, ‘but theres a query about the, one of the measurements in it. Now that shouldn’t have been said.

No

It was just ordinary, one of the office staff I think, anyway eventually the GP rang me back, gave me the details and that was fine.

I think the main thing that, and this will probably come out during my routine check-ups, there hasn’t been a full explanation of what one would expect the PSA reading to be, during the check-up periods, relative to the time after treatment, there seem to be varying opinions on this and in fact if you go on the various websites available on the Internet on PSA readings what they should be before and after, before and after treatment, I feel theres still a bit of a way to go in terms of, it may be because the precise figure on PSA can vary from patient to patient relative to the type of treatment they’ve had and therefore they are hesitant in publishing more accurate figures. But there does seem to be quite a variation.

A lack of clarity?

Yes on what one should expect. Because I, in fact strangely enough when I went for my first check-up I was a little concerned because it had gone up from .4 to .8 which you know in pure mathematical terms is double but I was assured there was nothing to worry about at this stage and it was probably partly due to the hormone treatment wearing off slightly. But I think one of the, looking at it from a logical point of view I think for my age before the treatment and anyone who actually got, or been diagnosed with prostate cancer for my particular age a normal figure is anything from 3 to 4.5 and one assumes that if it’s in this range theres no cancer present. But it has been proven that this is not necessarily the case, that cancer can be there even when the so-called normal range of PSA is shown in your blood test. I find that to be slightly worrying.

The uncertainty?

Yes because one would sort of read into that that whatever your PSA reading you should still have a biopsy but obviously the implications of carrying that out in all cases would be considerable to the Health Service and they could be doing biopsies that weren’t necessary. So I think it is quite a thin dividing line between these readings as to what is normal and what isn’t normal, especially at the lower range of the figures.

There is a website on this from the National Cancer Institute in the USA.

And what did you, what did you find on that website about the PSA test?

Nothing that I didn’t know already.

Would you mind expanding on that a little bit for other people?

Oh the only thing that I wasn’t too sure about were the levels that I’ll describe, the doctor when he rang me up giving me the result of the test said, ‘The finding was 2.3. Now that particular website of course explains more clearly, although rather subjectively what the levels are and that level is defined as low. High comes you know way over 10 and that sort of thing. So it’s a slightly arbitrary scale anyway.

And how long did you have to wait for the result?

Well they would have been available the following tea-time but so it was a Monday I went, had the blood test and then I actually I phoned the surgery on the Wednesday, was given the results over the phone.

What did she say? Did the Doctor speak to you with the results?

No I spoke to the, well I mean initially it was the receptionist when she gave me the result and I obviously wanted to question her to find out a bit more about my score.

Mmm.

Because well I just wanted to [Laughs] have a bit more information, so she put me through to the practice nurse.

Mmm and what did the nurse say?

I spoke to her and she said that was my result was zero point five and that was you know quite normal and nothing to be worried about.

So what was your feeling having got that result?

Well I was pleased I wasn’t expecting to have an untowards or a high count but…

Mmm.

Who knows, I mean my Father didn’t he had no, as far as I know no symptoms of prostate cancer.

Mmm.

And he said hed never felt better so,

Mmm.

You know it’s one of those things that you don’t know, know what you might have really.

Have you had any urinary symptoms at all?

No.

And then did the practice nurse know enough to explain to you?

Yes, yes, well she explained the-the range and the what the range and also the what’s described as normal,

Mmm.

Well the normal range and as my result was right at the bottom of that I was quite happy.

How were the results of the PSA test given to you?

Well they were given to me in a very, how could I say it, informally. I mean it was in a GP consultation but it wasn’t, I never had them in writing if you see what I mean. I might have done if I hadn’t been making an appointment to go in for them.

But you went to see the GP and talked face to face?

Yeah and it was just a quite straightforward piece of information. ‘Oh yes and your result was, you know whatever he told me, 2.1 or something, ‘And that’s very good, that’s fine. He explained a bit about the range that one you know finds in healthy people and that that was kind of smack in the middle of that so that was just fine and that was really the end of it. We didn’t, he didn’t particularly suggest a follow-up, you know I mean presumably hell leave that to me, you know it was my idea in the first place so may be in another five years time hell think, or I’ll think well may be I should have another one.

And then when you went back to the GP for the results of the PSA test how did he present the results, in what way?

I think again in 3 or 4 years it’s a bit foggy but I certainly felt I didn’t come away with any feelings that hed particularly mishandled it or hadn’t you know done it in an unsympathetic way. I mean however he did it he left me certainly with a feeling that there was a problem, he was in some ways ahead, and I didn’t, certainly didn’t come out of the surgery feeling well that had been mishandled you know.

No and did he tell you what the normal range of a PSA test was, did he explain what the figures meant?

Yes and in fact he was very much of the view that this was a pretty low score and I can remember coming away thinking that certainly one of the options very clearly in his mind was to do nothing. But you know he very much saw well this, this has highlighted something but it’s not a big issue.

How long did you have to wait to get the results?

Usually about three or four days.

Oh very quick.

Very quick and he would normally ring me up and tell me ‘I have the result of your PSA, and he would tell me over the phone what the result was except I’ve never recorded it you see only on, only on the last one I had.

So you recorded the last one, that was this year 2005?

That was February this year yes.

And what did you say the result was for that one?

6.9

And did he tell you what that meant at all?

No, no I’ve never questioned him on that because I’ve foolishly not asked what that is or how much higher that goes, how much higher can it go before some action has got to be taken?

Did he say at all what that meant in any way at all, how did the conversation go?

He wasn’t concerned about that figure at all.

Right oh that’s good.

No he reassured me everything was alright and there was no need for any action at that time.

And you say you didn’t really know what the different levels were or what is normal for your age or anything?

No I don’t, I still don’t really, and I don’t really know what the units mean and what a unit is a unit of. So, and I still don’t know. I suppose it’s strange in a way that, I shouldve talked to my brother a bit more, hes a very reticent person but I don’t know what medication hes on, hes on some sort of medication and his levels don’t seem to be increasing at all. Whatever his medication is seems to be working so, but medication has never been discussed in my case.