I remember referring to June 16, 2004 as GROC Day or Get Rid of Cancer Day. A few months earlier, a sudden jump in my PSA had sent me to a Riverside Hospital urologist for a biopsy of my prostate and the resulting diagnosis: prostate cancer. I remember leaving the doctor’s office with the feeling that a dagger was pressed against my throat. Death, I feared, was not far of. As it turned out, that was not the case. Dr. Kamal Pohar of University Hospital removed the cancerous prostate on June 16 and the danger of an early death passed. In the years that followed, I went in for regular PSA screenings. These were necessary, Dr. Pohar explained, because I might still have microscopic cancer cells in the area once occupied by the prostate, and if these started to spread, my life would again be in jeopardy.

For a long time, the PSA screenings revealed no detectable cancer. Then between February 2015 and February 2017, my PSA number began to rise again, almost doubling in that 2-year period. Was cancer once again pressing a dagger against my throat? That was one possibility. But there were other less-threatening possibilities, too, most notably the multiplication of normal non-cancerous prostate cells that had been left after the surgery.

To find out whether cancer had returned, Dr. Pohar had me undergo two tests on June 13. The first was a bone scan to see if cancer might have left the prostate area and moved into my bones. The second was a CT scan of my pelvis and abdomen. In between, I underwent another PSA screening. The tests were administered with all the professional competence I have come to expect from the University Hospital staff. The bone scan required me to drink a radioactive fluid over a 45-minute period. I was told that if I entered an airport or federal building over the next three days, I might set off an alarm. But that was a small worry compared to my fear that the cancer — seemingly vanquished 13 years ago — had made a comeback.

I had an appointment with Dr. Pohar on the 20^th to receive the test results, but I knew they likely would come to me sooner through the hospital’s online patient portal. The PSA result reached me the same day the tests were administered. It showed almost no change from the PSA I took at the end of February.  That was pretty good news but not that surprising. A long wait followed for the results of the other two tests. On the 19^th, the bone scan report reached me. There was no sign of cancer in any of my bones. Again, good news but not surprising.

As I went to bed on the 19^th, the CT scan results were still unknown to me. The next day, just minutes before leaving for the appointment, they came in. There was no cancer found anywhere in the prostate area or the neighboring organs — liver, kidney, pancreas — either. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief as the dagger moved away from my throat.

At my appointment with him a couple of hours later, Dr. Pohar confirmed the positive test results. But he also gave me one piece of sobering information: Even a CT scan focused on the pelvis will probably not detect microscopic cancer growth in the prostate area. So, the possibility of recurrence is not gone and probably never will be. Accordingly, I will continue getting PSAs at regular intervals and hope that cancer’s dagger is kept at bay.