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PSA testing in current climate

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User
Posted 03 Apr 2020 at 13:49

I'm due my first appointment with the oncologist following my SABR treatment which ended on 6th March (I am also on Hormone Therapy - bicalutamide - until Jan 2022) on 15th April. I'd be surprised if this goes ahead in the current climate and suspect it will be a phone chat instead.

At about that time I would expect to have my PSA tested to see how the treatment is going thus far.

Is PSA testing still being done? I normally go to Warrington General Hospital for these but that would seem unnecessarily risky in the current climate both to me but especially to the staff.

User
Posted 04 Apr 2020 at 09:49

Thanks for the info. I guess I'll just wait and see. In the great scheme of things it's unlikely that my ongoing treatment would change regardless of the PSA score given it's only a month since the SABR treatment ended. I have been going, exclusively, to the drop in centre for blood tests at my local hospital thus far.

User
Posted 24 Apr 2020 at 21:07

Hi All, 

Just letting you know I had a psa test at GP surgery today. I booked it on Monday they said they were keeping tests to a minimum so screening tests would be out of the question, but monitoring existing cancer patients met the criteria. Hand gel and mask on for me in the waiting room, I was the only person there. Nurse was in mask gown and gloves, she said it's a bit harder finding a vein with gloves on. Anyway all done in about five minutes. Results due next week. 

Dave

User
Posted 25 Apr 2020 at 06:48
I have had a persistent productive cough for about eight weeks, so it’s not the plague!

After a telephone consultation on Thursday with my GP just up the road (I said it’s a shame your stethoscope hasn’t got a longer tube 😂), he referred me for a blood test and a chest X-ray.

I booked a phlebotomy appointment at my local chemist’s at 07.40 yesterday, and I should have the results on my iPad later this morning. The radiology department at the hospital said ‘We are not accepting walk-ins now, only fractures, so we will have to send you an appointment’.

‘How long will that take?’

‘Should be within the next six weeks’

So some parts of the NHS are working fine, others not so much. Anyone see the unoccupied A & E’s, empty wards, deserted Nightingale Hospitals, and operating theatres used for bed storage? My father-in-law, in agony with a hip problem, had his orthopaedic appointment last week cancelled indefinitely. ‘Some days the pain is so bad I wish I was dead’ he told me.

I wonder if too much has been sacrificed on the altar of Covid 19, when the government admit in the absence of a vaccine, up to 80% of us will contract it eventually!

Cheers, John.

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User
Posted 04 Apr 2020 at 04:39
I went for a blood PSA test at my local chemist last week and had the excellent result the next day.

I took my father-in-law to his doctor’s this week for a blood test, so the answer to your question is yes.

In this area, once we have a blood test form, there are dozens of places to get one done, from chemist’s, to some surgeries, to the drop-in centre and the hospital itself.

Cheers, John.

User
Posted 04 Apr 2020 at 07:49

Great to know as mine is due first week of May. Have a good weekend TG

User
Posted 04 Apr 2020 at 09:49

Thanks for the info. I guess I'll just wait and see. In the great scheme of things it's unlikely that my ongoing treatment would change regardless of the PSA score given it's only a month since the SABR treatment ended. I have been going, exclusively, to the drop in centre for blood tests at my local hospital thus far.

User
Posted 04 Apr 2020 at 10:56
I also have my oncology appointments at Warrington General Hospital, Pete, at the clinic Clatterbridge holds there on a Wednesday morning. My next appointment is 13th May and thus far at least I've not been asked not to come. I always get my PSA tests done at my GP's surgery, not the hospital.

Best wishes,

Chris

User
Posted 04 Apr 2020 at 15:16

Pete my partner was due his first PSA six weeks after starting Bicalutamide, first the GP receptionist said they weren't doing any bloods etc but then when he explained what it was and why she went away and asked and they rang to say go in on Thursday for it we got the results back yesterday so maybe give your GP a ring :) 

Some days you just have to create your own sunshine...... 

User
Posted 09 Apr 2020 at 18:50

Hi I had my first psa test last week my gp did it as it was not a routine test

User
Posted 09 Apr 2020 at 21:18

I had my PSA test this morning at my GP’s and got the results back this evening! I’ve been advised that the consultation with my oncologist will be on the phone.

Chris

User
Posted 16 Apr 2020 at 13:32

Had my telephone consultation with the oncologist yesterday. I was able to tell her that the side effects from the SABR treatment were almost nil. On the bicalutamide, the main side effect is weariness. I am having fewer hot flushed than my previous experience.

So - PSA test - I am not having one until August.

User
Posted 16 Apr 2020 at 17:40

I need a test before my 3 monthly routine phone call with my Oncologist due in May. I'm thinking of using Let's Get Checked: https://www.letsgetchecked.com/gb/en/  to avoid going into the surgery. Any thoughts? It's £69 but there's a 25% discount available for the first one. 

User
Posted 16 Apr 2020 at 21:13
The problem with going to an external provider is that you won't be able to make a direct comparison with your previous PSA tests so it would be 3 or 6 months before you had a reliable trend again.

Have you spoken to the surgery? I am not sure what your main concern is but John is having his PSA bloods taken tomorrow morning and has been told to turn up at his appointment time but remain in the car park and the nurse will come out to him. She will be wearing PPE. Others here have mentioned that their PSA bloods will be taken at home by a district nurse. When John attended the GP practice a couple of weeks ago, they had a 'one patient in the waiting room at a time' system in place.

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User
Posted 17 Apr 2020 at 03:14

When I took my Father-in-law for his blood test about two weeks ago, he did not have the convenience of nipping to the local chemist like me (at an appointed time - 07.30, as soon as they opened), but went to his surgery instead. We waited outside, then were admitted by someone in full PPE, had our temperatures checked, and told to wash our hands before seeing the nurse.

He is still waiting for his result. I asked his GP how many of his patients had caught the plague, bearing in mind a thirteen-year old had contracted it in his catchment area and was big news in the local press. The GP said he had no idea, as he had had no feedback at all.

Which was a bit like when I asked my mate, an Immigration Appeals Tribunal Judge whether he knew when failed asylum seekers whose appeal he had denied were actually deported. “They never tell us”, he said.

Cheers, John.

Edited by member 17 Apr 2020 at 06:46  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 17 Apr 2020 at 12:45
Why on Earth is it taking so long to get the result, John? Mine always comes back in 24h or less!

Best wishes,

Chris

User
Posted 17 Apr 2020 at 15:08
Perhaps that particular path lab is also doing all COVID testing for the region?
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User
Posted 18 Apr 2020 at 03:04

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member
Why on Earth is it taking so long to get the result, John? Mine always comes back in 24h or less!

Best wishes,

Chris

The lab is the same one used for my blood tests and I get the results next day, so I’m sure his Doctor has them, but the Doc is probably waiting for the results of a sh1t-on-a-stick stool test before he rings Dad-in-law to tell him what’s what.

Incidentally, Dad is 87 with an enlarged prostate and nocturia (7 times a night without tablets, reduced to 3-4 times with Tamulosin and now Finasteride as well [at my suggestion]), so I asked his GP what his PSA was. Eleven - not off the scale for a man of his age. So I then asked what his previous PSA readings were, and the GP seemed almost embarrassed when he said that that was the ONLY test he’s ever had, from February this year! I suggested a referral to Urology and Doctor concurred. How do these old folk cope if they go on their own?

Cheers, John.

User
Posted 18 Apr 2020 at 03:57

In some areas, GP's refuse diagnostic PSA tests to anyone over 70. (This is pre-coronavirus.) The only way they could get one was via a free Lions PSA testing event, but most of those will only go up to age 80. In most cases, 80+ year olds with newly discovered prostate cancer won't die from it even if untreated, but really that should be determined from state of health and expected longevity, not absolute age.

Note that Finasteride halves PSA levels, so if he'd been on that when the PSA test was done, you have to double the result for diagnostic purposes.

Edited by member 18 Apr 2020 at 04:00  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 18 Apr 2020 at 11:04
TBH Bollinge, at 87 I think he is better off not having any further assessment / diagnostics. Stan would have been much better not being diagnosed at 79 as it took the shine off his last few years.
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User
Posted 18 Apr 2020 at 14:36

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member
TBH Bollinge, at 87 I think he is better off not having any further assessment / diagnostics. Stan would have been much better not being diagnosed at 79 as it took the shine off his last few years.

I wonder if John has BPH rather than PCa and might benefit from a Green Laser TURP procedure (overnight stay in hospital) such as a friend of ours aged 70 has just had. He says he’s now ‘pissing like a horse’ and his erections are as good as they were........he just doesn’t say when that was! 😂😂😂

At least if he eventually gets a urology appointment he will have an idea of what his options are, rather than relying on the GP.

User
Posted 19 Apr 2020 at 10:35

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member
The problem with going to an external provider is that you won't be able to make a direct comparison with your previous PSA tests so it would be 3 or 6 months before you had a reliable trend again.

Have you spoken to the surgery? I am not sure what your main concern is but John is having his PSA bloods taken tomorrow morning and has been told to turn up at his appointment time but remain in the car park and the nurse will come out to him. She will be wearing PPE. Others here have mentioned that their PSA bloods will be taken at home by a district nurse. When John attended the GP practice a couple of weeks ago, they had a 'one patient in the waiting room at a time' system in place.

Thanks for that info Lyn because it vaguely crossed my mind to go to an external provider given that I won't be having a PSA test until August (the local hospital is where I usually go) and my GP doesn't do the car park thing. I'll bin that idea. In the great scheme of things, whilst it would be nice to know where my PSA is after nearly 3 months on bical and after my 9 sessions of SABR on the affected lymph nodes, it isn't that essential. It will be down and it's highly unlikely that my treatment plan would change. I just like my stats!

User
Posted 19 Apr 2020 at 20:20

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member
The problem with going to an external provider is that you won't be able to make a direct comparison with your previous PSA tests so it would be 3 or 6 months before you had a reliable trend again.

Have you spoken to the surgery? I am not sure what your main concern is but John is having his PSA bloods taken tomorrow morning and has been told to turn up at his appointment time but remain in the car park and the nurse will come out to him. She will be wearing PPE. Others here have mentioned that their PSA bloods will be taken at home by a district nurse. When John attended the GP practice a couple of weeks ago, they had a 'one patient in the waiting room at a time' system in place.

 

Hi LynErye, I feel the same as all my test results since my prostatectomy in September 2018 have been reported as <0.1. If I order this test and it comes back higher I will be forced to go to the surgery. If it's lower, I can hang on for another 3 months.  If I get to September 2020 they will change the frequency to every 6 months.  

Edited by member 19 Apr 2020 at 20:22  | Reason: Not specified

 
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