Treatment Update

This is an interesting time in my life. I usually abhor the word "interesting" since it means so little, but I also dislike "ly" words, so I'll just let it go at that.

So, a bit of time has passed since my last cancer update. People are asking. Some folks we know came for a visit and expected to see me bed-ridden and gasping my last breath.

Not yet.

I still do all the things I've always done. If you didn't know I had cancer, I'm hoping you couldn't tell. I do walk a little slower. Sometimes, when my right hip hurts a lot, I limp a bit. Maybe that's just arthritis. Who knows?

Let's compare my two bone scans, the one from this past March and the one from October before I really started treatment.

 

The first one is the latest. You can see that the spine is not as brightly lit, nor are my pelvic bones. That means the treatment is removing the cancer from my bones, though it isn't all gone. Still, good news!

My PSA results tell the same tale.

So here's the story that goes with these numbers, and what the current plan is.

My results in February looked so good that Dr. Corn allowed me to stop taking my medication (Erleada, if you're interested). So I stopped taking four pills a day and went to zero. The idea was to help relieve some of the symptoms.

What symptoms? Oh, Extreme fatigue, aches and pains, hot flashes, headaches, skin problems, etc. Yeah, those don't sound so bad when I just type them like that. I mean, there are a lot of people worse off than I am in this world, so I'm not complaining.

Still, less medicine is always a good thing in my book. Let the body fight as much as it can.

So after a month off the meds, we can see that my PSA rose slightly, but was negligible. My side effects disappeared. Even the headaches, which I did not realize were side effects.

Dr. Corn and I decided to see if one pill a day would be sufficient. You can see the results. My PSA went from 0.1 to 0.7, which isn't much compared to 103 in January 2021. He didn't like the jump, though, so now I'm back at two pills a day.

Most of the side effects came back, though to a lesser degree. The headaches remained absent, and I love that, but the fatigue, according to friends that have prostate cancer, is an on-going problem.

I have some new pains, but I don't feel comfortable talking about them. I also have some sores in my mouth, a known side-effect I did not have before.

One positive benefit is that my testosterone rose to a normal level and remains there for the moment. I think this means if I have the energy, I might be able to build some muscles, muscles I’ve lost over the last few months.

Just FYI, there have been no other benefits to my rising testosterone, and I’m not going into any greater detail than that.

So at the end of the month I’ll get another blood test and we’ll talk to Dr. Corn about those results.

I have to say that I was more comfortable on one pill a day than I am on two. I’d prefer no pills, but that isn’t really an option, is it?

Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not afraid of what is happening to me. Annoyed? Absolutely. Will I die of this? Yes, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.

We all die. Some of my friends already have died, and I miss them. I miss my Mom, my Dad, my friend Tim, my baby brother Tim…

We all miss someone, don’t we?

And I know there are people out there, people we know and people we don’t, that suffer much more than I do.

My heart hurts when I think of Darling having to continue life without me, but she’ll do fine. She is an amazing person, surrounded by awesome friends in an environment that provides her lots of support.

Overall, I am content. We’ve done what we could to mitigate financial and living issues for when I die.

Now I simply must live, to the best of my ability. Just like everyone else.

So if you want to know how I’m doing, I’m doing just fine.

Thanks for reading.