DO YOU KNOW YOUR PSA NUMBER?

If you are a man over 40 and you don't, YOU SHOULD! Ray and I are feeling the need to educate our blog readers with some facts, along with the emotions coursing through both of us on this blog. Did you know that prostate cancer is the 2nd leading cause of cancer death in men, second only to lung cancer? Yep, No. 2. Why? Well, one reason is it's not a cancer that shows early symptoms. When actual related symptoms appear, it's usually fairly well along. Another reason is that this is more of a "personal" cancer and a lot of men do not like the screening tests. Also, men tend to not to go doctors in general. That's the bad news.

The good news is that when detected early, prostate cancer is treatable and curable in a lot of cases. So how do you detect it early? You have your doctor order a PSA in your latest blood test.

What exactly is a PSA? Here's some important information from the site Us TOO .

"Prostate-specific antigen is a substance that is normally produced by the prostate gland and a small amount of PSA can usually be detected in the blood. However, if the prostate begins to make too much PSA, it could be a sign of an enlarged prostate (also known as BPH – benign prostatic hyperplasia), inflammation, or cancer. The doctor will draw blood and measure the PSA level.

"Although the exact definition of “normal” PSA level continues to be debated, Us TOO suggests that the following ranges be used:

• Establish a baseline by age 40 if you are African American or have a family history of prostate cancer, but no later than age 45 for all other men.
• Track your PSA score over time. PSA doubling time and PSA velocity are currently thought to be better for telling how aggressive a cancer is than knowing your current PSA number.

"We are all unique – PSA levels vary from person to person."

Ray and I cannot stress enough how important it is for all you """older guys""" to get checked out. It's really an easy, simple and quick test plus some blood. Isn't your life worth that much?