My husband had a radical prostatectomy in May 2008 after a biopsy showed gleason levels of 7, 8 and 9, and his PSA (prostate specific antigen) level had gone from 4 to 11.4 in three months. After surgery, his PSA level was undetectable and he was placed on hormone therapy. Almost one year later, his PSA lelvel rose from .2 in January to 1.1 in April. His hormone therapy is continuing, with taxotere chemotherapy starting late May. He is just over half-way done with the chemo course of 9 months. His PSA is now .4, and was .4 last month.

What level can we realistically expect his PSA to be and stay "okay"? Can we ever expect to be cancer-free? Two doctors have told us to look at the trend of the PSA, rather than the number at any particular point. I'm having trouble coming to terms with the PSA level not being "undetectable". Should we be prepared for a higher level PSA as a norm?