Don't skip the PSA test! My prostate cancer is treatable because simple test caught it early

Daily News graphic designer Jeffrey Rosenkrantz, at home in Park Slope with wife Lori, is being treated for prostate cancer, which was detected in the early stages thanks to a PSA test.

A PSA test saved my life. I had one only because I ran into my doctor on the street.

It was a Sunday in late April. I was out walking with my wife, Lori, on Ninth St. in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

My internist, Dr. Lalit Patel, was out in front of his office. He works seven days a week. His philosophy is his patients get sick all the time.

My bronchitis was bothering me - it hits me once or twice a year. I needed a blood test to get cough medicine.

Lori would always bother me to take a blood test to check for diabetes, too, because it runs in my family. It was a perfect opportunity for her to say, "Dear, are you going to take a blood test?"

The doctor wanted me to do the testing right then, but we'd just been out to eat. He said, "Come in tomorrow and don't eat." He included a PSA test in the blood work.

I'm a graphic designer at the Daily News, and I'm 51. I've taken the annual PSA test The News offers at least a half-dozen times. Last year, though, I was really busy at work and missed it.

In the past, my PSA number was around 2, nothing to worry about. This time, my number was 4.75 - catching me off guard.

No one in my family has had cancer.

The doctor talked about having a biopsy done, but said, "Let's wait another month. We'll take your blood again; we'll see what the number is."

Lori and I were going to North Carolina to see my niece for a week. While I was away, I cut down the sugar in my diet. After I came back, I wanted to check my blood-sugar level. So I had a blood test, with a PSA included.

In two weeks, my PSA had gone up a half point. It was over 5. The doctor sent me right away to a urologist, Dr. Jude Barbera.

The urologist found an indentation on my prostate and suggested a biopsy, right away.

It took a while to get the results. I told Lori, "Maybe it's fine, because you'd think if it was cancer, he'd call you and say, 'I want to see you right away.'"

For my next appointment, Lori took the day off from work and went with me. It was a good thing she did: The biopsy showed cancer cells.

As the doctor was explaining everything, Lori backtracked, "You're saying he has cancer?"

"Yes," the doctor replied. "He has cancer."

That's when it hit both of us - that I've got cancer.

On the good side, he explained that I had caught it early. It can be treated. I have a 95% chance of surviving.

He's a surgeon, but he said, "If it was me, I'd do the radiation. It has the least amount of side effects."

It's called external beam radiation therapy. High-speed X-rays come from five different directions to target the cancer cells.

I'm doing it five days a week for nine weeks.

When I went to meet with my radiation oncologist, Dr. Joshua Halpern, he told me that if I'd waited any longer to have the biopsy, I would have been dead within five years.

THE DAY I met my radiation therapist, Michael Plantamura, I told him, "Mike, you're going to be my new best friend. You're going to save my life."

Mike laughed. But it's true.

After I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, I gave away my cigars and humidor. I enjoyed my cigars, but I wasn't going to trade one cancer for another.

I've been telling my friends at work my story.

I tell every one of them: "You take the test. It's free, it's here and it's just a blood test. Chances are, you're perfectly healthy. But I thought I was perfectly healthy."

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