Mike shares how years without PSA screening delayed the detection of his prostate cancer, reinforcing his belief in the importance of routine PSA testing and early detection. After navigating multiple opinions and healthcare system challenges, he underwent surgery and credits his care team, pre- and post-surgical pelvic therapy, and strong support system for a successful recovery.

Mike Rosa, reside in San Diego County. Been here for probably 40 years now. Moved from the San Francisco Bay Area for work. Have a terrific wife, Julie. And we have lots of nieces and nephews that we like to entertain.

I was very aware of PSA tests. My journey started in the fact that in 2017, my doctor that I was using had read an article and determined that PSA was not an appropriate test to do. While I did my blood work every six months for my cholesterol, he didn't do a PSA test because he said until you have symptoms, there was no need to do a PSA. And that's part of the reason why I'm here is I wanted to make sure people understand that it's such an easy test and if you're doing it with your regular blood work, why wouldn't you just get that done?

2023, I had my test done and my PSA ended up being 7.2. And in 2017 it was 2.9. So, could have caught this sooner, but it was just one of those things where I told the doctor, "I'd really like to just have a new baseline." And I said, "Since we're doing my blood tests, let's just do this."

And then he kind of wrote it off as being, "Well, I think maybe you might have some kind of urinary tract infection." So he gave me Cipro for two weeks and then we did the test again and it was still 7.2.

At that point, I asked my doctor, I said, well, and he had also said, "Okay, let's get you over to a urologist." And so I went and saw a urologist, did the MRI, found there was markings in the MRI that said that there's something going on there inside the prostate. That urologist doesn't do the surgery, so then they refer you over to a surgeon. And so I ended up going to see a surgeon. And the surgeon was like, "Just do a proctectomy, just remove the prostate."

Insurance was fighting with one of our local hospitals here. Anthem Insurance was fighting with Scripts. And so they terminated their contract at the end of December of 2024. And so, I was stuck looking for a whole new opportunity. So I had to find something else to do somewhere else to go. I ended up at UCSD and I went to their urology.

The first doctor I saw was very good, very friendly, jovial, but was trying to keep me calm and talked about all the different options that were available. And then he suggested that I get with Dr. Michael Liss at UCSD and he had just transferred a little bit ago.

He had worked, I think as a resident, and then he went and moved to San Antonio, Texas where he did a lot of things for like 15 years and learned a lot about prostate and urology. And so then they brought him back. And so I saw him and he does focal therapy. But when he looked at my cancer, he said, "Focal therapy is not appropriate for you." And so he also recommended a proctectomy for me.

Fortunately, I had four different urologists all give me the same thing, so I didn't have to make a decision as far as this doctor saying this, this doctor saying that. So, then we went to go schedule the proctectomy. And as we know, things are always backed up. So it was months out, but then they had a cancellation, asked me if I could move things up. And I said, "Absolutely." And so on March 31st of 2025, I had my proctectomy.

There's probably many different ways of doing pre and post therapies. I think UCSD actually has one of the better setups. And in talking to others, they had never seen that kind of pre and post treatments. They prepared me beforehand. They had me do pelvic exercises before to help strengthen up the pelvic. Afterward, there was a lot of things that they had available.

And one of the things that they started, I think about four years ago post-treatment is they have a pelvic PT therapy department. Because I think one of the things that scares a lot of men in addition to the sexual part of it is, am I going to be able to control my bladder because I don't have this thing there anymore?

And it's amazing what you can do afterwards to strengthen your core as well as your pelvic. And today I have very little leakage issues or anything like that. And it's been 10 months now since I've had the surgery. The surgery was not that bad of a surgery. And I think it's just because my surgeon has a lot of experience and he's done different things. And so, they actually fill you up with air to expand your stomach area so that they can get in there and get everything.

And he's learned techniques to not do it so aggressively that you have shoulder bruising and those type of things. And I actually had no bruising post-surgery and I felt pretty good. So, I think from that standpoint, I mean, it's a pretty involved surgery. I mean, it does last three and a half to four hours, but you don't know about it because you're not awake.

After the surgery, I think the worst part is the having the catheter in for a week, but even that is pretty easy the way that catheters are done today. It's pretty easy. And I think I was more concerned about getting the catheter out. And after the nurse had taken it out, I didn't even know. I said, "You're done?" And she says, "Yep, it's out." And then once I had that removed, I think things were well on the mend as far as me going forward.

Like I said, I have a very supportive wife, so she was with me throughout. And for me personally, I'm a little cautious because you don't want to panic people. So you tell them, "Hey, everything's going to be fine." And it did turn out to be fine.

But yeah, it's like I did share. And I think one of the things I wanted people to know is what I was going through. My workplace was very supportive, and I think because prostate cancer is every one in eight men are getting prostate cancer that I think people are aware. And so, from that standpoint, I wanted people to know what I was going through. And I have a colleague that works for me and I'm trying to help him through his prostate situation, as well. And so, I want to share as much as I can with as many people as I can.

I was on a three-month checking the PSA and now it's because the first two were negligible, now I'm now on the six-month cycle. But like he said, you're going to be friends with me for the next five years because we'll be working together over the next five years.

PSA test is just a simple blood test. And if it is borderline, there's other things that you can do. And what I did prior to having my surgery, since I had time because of getting the surgery scheduled, I did some other tests that are non-invasive.

There's genomic tests out there that you can do, and it's a simple urine test, so it's non-evasive. I mean, I did do the biopsy because that was one of the things that you do, but there's so many other things you can do.

So if men are scared of getting a biopsy, which for me was, I mean, it's just that instant piece where it takes some time to get it done, but it's not that painful. And when it's done, you're good.

And they always put you on antibiotics to prevent any infections. And most people don't get an infection, so there's no reason not to do it. But there's other tests if men are just fearful of doing a biopsy that you can do.

And I know that UCSD and other research areas are looking at other ways to do non-invasive tests. I did a PT, a PET scan. I did that as well, and that confirmed what the biopsy said. It confirmed what the MRI said. So, there's many different ways. If you're scared about having some biopsy, there's many different ways to determine what you should do next if your PSA is borderline. And so, there's different options out there.