A few weeks ago I posted a blog that linked to ‘Surviving Prostate Cancer: Why Early Detection Can Be Important’, coincidently I saw a poster locally for a Prostate awareness event that included a Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) check.

Having attended this event and currently waiting for my results, I was shocked to learn of the statistics, according to the Cancer Research UK there were 41,736 cases in 2011, 10,837 deaths, with a 84% survival rate due to prostate cancer.

Is this a survival topic – Hell yes!

I was talking to a work colleague about this event, his comments were ” I should go along and get checked but it’s a one of those tests that you just tend to put off” this is one of the reasons for posting this, the misconception that guys think that this initial test is the ‘finger up the bum’ check, just to add this colleague was 59 years old and his older brother died of prostate cancer at 53 and he still hasn’t been checked!

Honestly, its a simple blood test that takes less than a minute, to give you an idea at this event they get anywhere up to 1500+ men attend over a 3 hour period, you take a number, listen to the speaker and get PSA tested.

You may be more likely to get prostate cancer if:

• you are aged 50 or over
• you are Black
• your father or brother has had it.

This leaflet 2782-understanding-psa-test explains the test in more detail and what to expect back in the results, however a normal PSA level is less than:
• 3 ng/ml for men aged 50-59
• 4 ng/ml for men aged 60-69
• 5 ng/ml for men aged 70 and over.

If there are any issues then the next stage is a physical examination which really isn’t that bad guys!

Fingers crossed on my results!