The patient was a lively middle-aged man who always smiled. He visited my girlfriend, a urologist, to check his PSA level, which helps in detecting prostate cancer.
He had no health problems at all. He was just an active man who liked to take action early, not waiting for symptoms like many others do. He had seen some of his friends wait too long, and he wasn’t about to make that mistake.
When my girlfriend got his blood test results, she was shocked: his PSA level was over 1000 ng/mL, which is extremely high. For a man his age, even 10 ng/mL would be considered elevated. She immediately scheduled him for medical imaging.
The images showed something that had been happening for a long time, and this time she wasn’t shocked. The very high PSA level had pointed them in the right direction.
A couple of weeks later, she told him the diagnosis, and he cried.
He had come into the office just two weeks before, feeling healthy and confident, saying he wouldn’t die young. But now, looking into her eyes, he knew things were about to change, and the future no longer seemed so bright.
Sources: An analytical compendium of the various branches of medical science, for the use and examination of students (1848), J. Neill and F. G. Smith. (© Public domain)