We saw Dr P this afternoon for the first appointment of the year. (He had been on holidays in January. Rather than being referred to someone else for a one-off consult, he and I had agreed to skip the January appointment.) Anyway, my PSA had risen slightly at the blood test a week ago, to 14. However, a rise of 1.2 over two months is nowhere near doubling. So no-one was bothered by this development.

The only complaint I have had since my last consult is the sciatica, which has become quite persistent. I had been told about various stretches, all of which I have been carrying out. The sciatica just keeps coming back, so persistently that it kept me awake last night. So yet another medication is called for. With Dr P’s blessing, last week I started a short course of prednisolone. (Family members will remember that our mother was taking this steroid for yonks.) According to Dr P, this drug is used in chemotherapy, and could well bring down my PSA a bit. My initial impressions of it were positive — it seemed pretty efficacious. However, this seems to be wearing off. (No-one wants me to be on it for long anyway. I am well aware of its effects on bone density and so on.)

These early efforts having proved ineffective, today I booked an MRI of my lumbar spine to see whether there is any disc compression going on. Fortunately the scan clinic had a vacancy for tomorrow afternoon. I will be seeing my GP the following Monday (20th) to see what, if anything, this scan reveals. As far as I know there are not that many treatments for sciatica other than a steroid injection. If this is appropriate — bring it on! TBC.