It's too bad that we have not had an oncologist chime in...possibly I can get mine to register. I had no symptoms of prostate cancer but took the PSA test as part of physical. Tested PSA was 6.7 and was sent to a urologist who did a biopsy. Biopsy indicated cancer. Three doctors said that I had to do something about it. I did radiation treatments then radioactive seeds and was ready to ride a bike within a month. PSA fell no lower than 1.2 and after three years my PSA has started to climb. It means that when they killed the cancer in my prostate there was cancer s already out of the prostate. I believe that the PSA test and treatment also has given me another three years on top of the ten years my oncologist tells me I should have left.

I listened to a Doctor on NPR radio talk about the PSA testing controversy and he had some interesting statistics. I think he said that 7 of 1000 men who have the protate removed die from complications of the surgery. He said that even more patients die within 30-60 days from strokes and heart attacks that are somehow a result of the procedure. Statistics tell us that 40percent of men that have the procedure become impotent. Another 40-50 percent end up incontenent to some level. There is also a general tendency to rush to a judgement that something needs to be done to treat the cancer as soon as it is diagnosed. There are many other complications from prostate cancer treatment that aren't mentioned here. Although I can't write my name in the snow like I could when I was 20 years old I was fortunate enough to escape all these complications except for the big one...I still have cancer.

This new PSA testing controversy is a good thing because it is a reevaluation of what the medical community has been doing for us(and to us) for the last 10 years. No body has said that treatment hasn't saved lives. They are just questioning how many people they have made miserable in the process.

This is a question that everyone needs to answer with help from their doctor. Everyone needs to MAN UP here. This ain't about insurance companies , politics and money. Live your bucketlist everyday, treat people right and cherish the time you have left because soon we'll all be dead anyway.