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Insight into the phases of the Internet forum life cycle: a perspective
On Sep 18, 10:37*pm, "Edward Dolan" wrote:
"JimmyMac" wrote in message ... On Sep 15, 6:00 pm, "Edward Dolan" wrote: [...] I remember after my first PSA test, which was high, I was later examined by an old school doctor at the VA who relied strictly on the digital exam. He assured me I did not have prostate cancer, but still I worried about that high PSA. So I repeated it until there was no mistake. My PSA was rising steadily and fast. A biopsy confirmed that I had prostate cancer. The PSA test is not definitive. But a biopsy is. PSA is a biomarker that is flawed, but it is the best that we have until promising horizon methods become available. *In the interim, free PSA, PSA velocity, and PSA density tests are helpful. *Just the same, PSA screening remains controversial because it is has not been definitively established if the PSA test actually saves lives. Moreover, it is not clear that the benefits of PSA screening outweigh the risks of follow-up diagnostic tests and cancer treatments. For instance, the PSA test may detect small cancers that would never become life threatening. Almost everyone I know my age has a slightly elevated PSA, but they are all on the watchful waiting regime. On the other hand, if the PSA is fairly high to begin with and is rising rapidly, your only recourse is a biopsy, a not particularly dangerous procedure. I recently read that 20% of 20 year old already have some prostate cancer cells. I was shocked and dismayed. As concern a DRE, one can have prostate cancer without palpable tumors, so just like the PSA , a DRE is not entirely a sole reliable indicator. I have just spent the past day at the ER for a stomach ailment. They put me through every standard routine test to make sure I did not have something that was going to kill me. In the end, "you probably got a bug that will pass." Was that information worth over $1000? Until today, I thought I might have stomach cancer. Often the price of reassurance is steep, but whether worth it or not is a judgment call that only the individual with the malady and pocketbook can make. The trouble is that you never know for sure one way or another. Your symptoms will normally either get better to get worse. But if you wait on that outcome, you can easily expire from whatever is ailing you - most especially if you are old like I am. Yep, its a crap shoot and a crap shoot is a gamble and what's at stake is near an dear to you on a very personal level. Emergency Rooms are truly remarkable places. If you fear for your life, that is where you want to be. A trauma center is better yet since trauma centers generally have a greater depth of experience adn are often associated with teaching institutions that are on top of the cutting edged of medical technology and treatment. Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota aka Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota |
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