O-Dark-Thirty

In my last post I explained that my chemo was bad enough we didn’t repeat it. Dr Corn ran a scan on me that did a targeted highlight of my cancer - it was very precise, pointing out some lymph node cancer that would usually be missed with a normal scan. Good news is that I am one of the 80% of guys who can use a newly released treatment called PLUVICTO, which uses the same targeting chemicals to carry a small nuclear payload to the prostate cancer cells. Bad news is that it is a new treatment and the drug is only manufactured in the Netherlands. The soonest he could get it for me was “late March or April”. That doesn’t seem terrible, but Dr. Corn, quite frankly, doesn’t think I have that long with no further treatments. SO, that means we will go in for a once/week dose of chemo instead of a once/3 week dose. Hopefully, it will be less traumatic for my body. After all, it is one-third the amount of chemical poison in my system. He hoped that he could get me in a clinical trial on the ne...

I think I'm starting to lose my hair, which is too bad. I have great hair. Even my brother Barry says so. Many of the other side-effects of the Chemo beset me as well. Literature mentions mouth sores, but I wasn't sure what to expect on that front. I found out. It's like I was too quick to take a bite of hot pizza all over the roof of my mouth and partly down my throat. So, not to be too obvious, but it feels the same way on the other side of that gastrointestinal tract. You figure it out. I've gone full circle, I think. Thank you, Desitin. Yeah, you probably didn't want to hear that one. I have the leg pains. Some days I feel like someone kicked me in the crotch five minutes ago - except it feels like that all day. Like today. Other than that, I feel better today. So ... yeah! I spend a lot of time complaining about the side effects, but I don't think I want to do that for this post. There are other side-effects to talk about. The blessings. I sat with Darling ...

The nurse made a point of telling us that the chemo medicine takes seventy-two hours to leave my body, and mucus will expose others to its toxic effects. If I blow my nose and my dog eats the tissue, he will now have the medicine in him. Fortunately, I don't have a dog. > I felt okay last night, but somewhat wired, which seems to be why I could create both of the previous posts and get them online. My pulse rate was pretty steady between 95 and 115. Seems high, but I think my body os working harder than I am, so I'll just keep an eye on it. That was the steroids. I finally managed to get to sleep about midnight, but then I slept fine. Darling, not so much. This is taking a toll on her. My blood pressure this morning is running between 80 and 95, so that's an improvement. I'm not having the diarrhea or the constipation. I have been drinking copious amounts of liquids, and, if necessary, drinking water. No, really. I had a lot of coffee this morning. I was already a ta...

11/22/2022 0748 I’m sitting at home and we’re waiting to leave. I plan to write my thoughts as I go through today. If you’re reading this, perhaps you are heading off to do an IV chemo session for the first time. Nervous? Worried about how it will all work out? Yeah, me too. Joshua 1:9 states “Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord, thy God is with thee wheresoever thou goest.” Yeah, it’s tough to not be dismayed at all this. I don’t think I fear death, I fear pain. Death, to me, is like that trip to a very cool place and you’re leaving soon. The bag is packed (hopefully) and you just go about living your life until the morning you leave, then you’re committed and rush around and hope you did all the right planning. Except Death, of course, we don’t usually know the date of departure. Still, butterflies in the stomach… IV Chemo doesn’t seem like such a fun thing. Darling and I read all the side...

This is an overdue post, and it's a long one, so be prepared. If you want the short version, the current treatment failed,  and I am just now starting IV chemo. There are also some added complications, yet to be addressed. LONG VERSION (Bless your heart if you continue) Three weeks ago ( Nov 1, 2022 ), I went in for blood results. My awesome Oncologist expected the results to be in line with previous results. With most patients the drugs I am using would combat the cancer for months, perhaps years. In ten to fifteen percent of patients using my therapy, the drugs fail to halt the growth of cancer. I always knew I was special. Let's face it; I'm a tough guy, and my cancer cells are tough, too. Last week I had new blood tests, a Bone Scan and an MRI. PSA Those tests confirmed that my Oral Chemo is not working. In fact, I'm regressing. My PSA is soaring, from 0.2 on August 30 to 8.4 on November 1 to 13.5 on 11/16. I didn't show the Testosterone chart,...

Hey, I turn sixty-five this month. Not bad, eh? It messes with insurance, though. I'm still not sure what the entire impact will be, but it costs me more since I am keeping my BCBS as a Supplementary Plan. Funny, the cost of BCBS didn't change at all. Do we think that has something to do with my cancer? I sure do. So, I'm on a standard treatment now. The RELUGOLIX that Dr. Corn put me on seems to work fine fighting the cancer, and the side effects are manageable, though not particularly welcome. I'm still tired. A lot. Perhaps that will pass when the cancer is mostly removed from my system? Or not. I get the hot flashes, but that makes sense, since the Lab work shows a Total Testosterone of 7 ng/dL. Yeah, back to that old woman level, since a man my age should have 193-740. The problems associated with that are exactly what you might expect. Just leave it at that. My PSA, however, is a nice 0.2 ng/mL. The Doc likes that number, so I don't need any more testing until...

Before I launch into this post, let me just say that I know it all sounds like nothing but complaining. I don’t intend to do that. What I want any other readers to know, especially if they have the same cancer or know someone with the same cancer, is that you are not alone. The pains are real. The side effects will drain you. But we are all together in this. It’s the fatigue that gets me most. I hear the same from a friend of mine who has prostate cancer in remission. His cancer was also a Gleason Scale 9, but it did not metastasize into his bones. I’ve been reading the notes posted by my doctor and I seem to be quite a complainer. That saddens me. I did have a bit of a rant about drug prices with him on our last visit (via phone – Covid, you know). I guess since I was paying for the visit, I can talk about anything, and he is a good listener. Here’s the upshot of my rant… The Apalutamide (Erleada) costs over $14,500 per bottle! Ouch. I carefully typed that number and put i...

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...

Interesting point that our Pastor made Sunday. Anxiety is caused because we feel that God will not work out our issues THE WAY WE WANT HIM TO. That's hubris, I suppose. I need to get a proper alignment with God in my life. Humble yourself before God I have to remember that there is a God and I'm not him, as the line in Rudy goes. Have a proper view of God I must believe that God loves me and remember that God is all-powerful. Release your concerns to God There's a story that illustrates this. A little boy takes his broken toy to a toymaker. "Can you fix it Mister?" he asks. "It's my favorite toy." "I sure can, my Lad." So the boy stands there and waits and the toymaker looks back at him. "Well," says the boy, "are you going to fix it?" The toymaker smiles. "My Lad, in order for me to fix your toy, you must let go of it." A few years ago, our youngest daughter had a crisis at work. Her job seemed at risk. "...

I won't make this long. I treasure the few of you who are following all this, but I do tend to natter, so I won't this time. The treatment plan is decided. The Doctor ordered Apalutamide for me (Brand name: Erleada) which I will start taking as soon as I can get my specialty pharmacy to deliver the meds. That's an entirely different fight, one which anyone with insurance and specialty pharmacological needs fights time and again. Just as a heads-up, here are the listed side effects of Erleada. WARNING/CAUTION: Even though it may be rare, some people may have very bad and sometimes deadly side effects when taking a drug. Tell your doctor right away is you have any of the following signs or symptoms: Signs of an allergic reaction, like rash, hives, itching... (the list goes on but it sure looks bad) Signs of high blood pressure like very bad headache or dizziness, passing out or change in eyesight (I'm not sure what that means since I get headaches anyway, and my eyesight ...

I have not posted lately, but bear with me. I'm going to start with our latest trip to MD Anderson, which was Wednesday - pretty much all day. I had the most terrible experience while I was there. For my CT scan, the nice people put me into a room and told me to change clothes. I put my shirt and pants into the little paper bag and realized I needed to send Darling a text to let her know where I went, since she went wandering through the complex (we expected a five hour wait in the waiting room). I dug into the bag and pulled my shirt out. I removed my glasses from my shirt pocket and put them on my leg, then grabbed my phone and repacked the bag. I lost my glasses. They were totally gone. I moved the chair, unpacked the bag, checked all my clothes. My glasses vanished. Not a huge problem, since they are just dollar store glasses, but they vanished! Resigned to the loss of my glasses, I sat back down in my chair. My glasses were on my face. I'm getting old. ~ Let's review. ...