Friday, May 16, 2008

Tale of Two Graphs

I just got my latest PSA score, and it's 9.4. Not good at all, and it's headed in the wrong direction (it was 7.8 last month.) "Normal" scores are below 4 (some people like them to be even lower), and anything above 10 is bad, bad, bad. Astronomical scores in the hundreds like I had last year are an indication that the cancer is metastasizing and out of control.

To get some perspective on where I stand, I decided to make two graphs of my PSA. (you can click on the pictures below to enlarge them) The first graph is every PSA reading since I was first diagnosed last July -- and it shows the remarkable plunge in my PSA score since starting both my supplement therapy in August and my treatment with Dr. Thaller in September.

The 2nd graph is a close-up of every PSA reading since last August. This is the territory I need to manage, and I really want to stay below 10 on the chart.

What this tells me is that I need to make some adjustments in my treatment -- I'm not currently doing enough to battle the cancer. More on the specifics of what I have in mind in a subsequent post.