Graduation Day: March 28, 2017

I'm a certified graduate of radiation therapy!

Tracy,
Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last!

Well, OK. Now that I've got that out of my system I can calm down and bask in the realization that my radiation treatments are over and my night sweats may soon be a distant memory.

But today is still special because I've been under the photonizer for the 39th time without any deleterious effects. No soreness from what might be called "collateral damage" from the radiation that was directed at my prostate. No diarrhea and no apparent scarring of the urethra. It's been an easy ride.

Along the way, I've met some nice people, such as the fellow pictured next to me in the photo below. His name is Robert, too, and he has had lung cancer since 2013. I had met him a few days ago, and he had such a positive attitude I wanted to include him in this blog. He wasn't supposed to be here, but he has survived, possibly because of stubborn cheerfulness and a good heart. Robert said he would pray for me, but I've had one of the easiest rides a cancer patient could ask for. If prayer works, I suggest everyone pray for him, because the world needs more people with his attitude.

Robert and me on my last day of radiation.

It wouldn't be a special day without a statement of thanks to my health care team, most of whom were too tied up to join me for a group shot today. But they are not forgotten. Bartell's had a twoferone on Whitman's Chocolates 10 oz. box. I had wanted to get the biggest 40 oz. box, but I couldn't track it down. Then I found out I could get the smaller ones on special. Wow! Winners all around.

I bought four for the price of two and gave one for the staff and the clients at the front desk; one for my team of technicians; one for my radiologist and his staff; and one for my urologist who tracked me for years, keeping an eye on my PSA score and performing the operation that uncovered the cancer. They have all been a great, nurturing team. Here's a photo of the ones who were present for the final photonizing:

Juergen, Shelly, me and Kari (the one holding the Whitman's chocolates)

The photo's focus is pretty soft, because I set up my droid phone to take a movie. A still would have been sharper, but who cares? We all feel great.

This final picture is of me, setting up the camera.

Immortalizing that special milestone. . .

We'll see how long it takes before I don't have to wear that balaclava headband. I met with the radialogist after my final photonizing and was told that I can stop taking the bicalutimide, which put me through the hot flashes and night sweats of manopause. And I can start easing off that celibrity medication, Flomax, which shows up in TV ads about old gaffers who have to pee all the time. By the time you're my age they'll probably have something better, but for now it works pretty good.

In a month I have a blood test to see what my PSA level is, and a week later I meet with the radiologist again. Then every six months I have a blood test to see what the PSA is doing.

But tomorrow, I can sleep in. Or I can get up and go someplace beside the hospital. Those weekday visits with the photonizer are oh-ver.

Love,
Dad

Mid-course consult: prognosis, radiation, fatigue

March 8, 2017
Hi, Tracy.
Today, about halfway through my radiation program, I had a productive consult with my radiologist. We talked prognosis, fatigue, and the nature of the  radiation I'm receiving.
The prognosis:
This was the first thing on my mind, because of this line of information on a report I received last week:

"Cancer of prostate w/high recur risk (T3a or Gleason 8-10 or PSA>20 - Primary." 

I looked that up on the Internet and  came up with the startling conclusion that my cancer might be Stage III, high risk cancer. But that apparently is not the case. What spiked the conclusion was the fact that, unbeknownst to me, my PSA count has reached 25, almost double the level before it started escalating rapidly last spring. Until today's consult, I  had forgotten that my PSA had already reached 25, even way back in September, which led to my taking the hormone suppressing medications. I have been having so much fun that I  had forgotten that key piece of information.

Obsolete information

Sometimes I wonder whether you really need all this information, because by the time you have to worry about your prostate, you may be able to take a pill for it. I read in the Wall Street Journal today about research into dealing with cancers that is informed by the nature of pregnancy: the fetus apparently releases a chemical that keeps the mother's body from rejecting this foreign organism in her belly. Turns out, the same chemical is used by cancer to prevent the immune system from rejecting the tumor. Block that chemical, the theory opines, and you allow the immune system to eliminate the problem. In that light, radiation seems so crude!

About the radiation

You can read about radiation at "Radiation Answers," but to sum it up, I'm not being hit with Alpha or Beta particles, which have limited penetration. I'm being hit with photos. I thought that was interesting, because I always thought of photos as the light we can see. But photons are just part of the spectrum of x-rays, and they are the part we don't see. The room I'm in when I get x-rayed is surrounded by concrete to protect the staff when they are illuminating my prostate with photons.

Fatigue

I have been feeling very good, but when I even mildly test my body, I'm disappointed.  Remember the Madison Street Marathon, when I climbed from the waterfront to the crest of Madison Hill nine times to promote the One World Futbol? I was understandably tired after 27 miles of hill climbing. But now I get tired just walking halfway from the waterfront to the condo. Two nights ago I had to stop and rest twice. My radiologist says this is normal; the body is spending energy healing the damage the x-rays do in the course of curing the cancer. He told me to engage in moderate exercise and feel free to take a nap of no more than an hour. (Too long a nap and you get groggy, he said.)

Well, that's the latest.

Love,

Dad

Time for some celebrity medicine

March 1, 2017

Hi, Tracy.
I've had some surprises during the weekend, so I sent this note to the Advanced Registered Nurse Practicioner (ARNP) that I meet with every Wednesday:

I was under the impression that "incontinent" referred to the place where the tourists went when they got off the cruise ship. I have since been reminded otherwise. The most memorable time I've had this experience was on the Evergreen Point Bridge at night in a rainstorm, when there was no place to pull over and my urinary tract infection that resulted from the implantation of the gold beads in my prostate had not yet been diagnosed. 

Well, it's gone, but something has replaced it, and I have a sneaking suspicion it has to do with all those protons you people have been spraying at my prostate. I think at least one of the neighbors -- my urethra -- may have been listening to it moan and got aggravated the only way it knows how. Lately it felt a little tingly and when I passed water, sort of like someone ringing the doorbell. I noted the effect but didn't act on it, so today my urethra ran out of patience and decided it wasn't going to wait for me any more.
This happened twice today. I was wearing an absorbent pad which was in the wrong place at the wrong time, so it didn't help much. Fortunately, I had a spare set of undies in the backpack I took on my outing to with two ladies to Blaine, and I don't think they caught on. I thought I was OK, and didn't bother to put another absorbant pad in the fresh undies. Smart, huh?
Anyway, what would you suggest I do? (I can already imagine your ambiguous answer: Depends!)

 Well, as it turned out, maybe the radiation was contributing, but I also had another Urinary Tract Infection. So right away I got an antibiotic (Ciprofloxacin) and then some celebrity medication: It's called tamsulosin, but the stage name is Flomax -- yes the very one they advertising on TV for men who have to pee all the time. Wow.

However, the very next day the medication changed. The laboratory found E Coli in my urine,  As I understand it, the E-coli is resistant to Ciprofloxacin, but the laboratory test showed it responded to the new medication, Trimeth Sulf DS.

Here's hoping...

Love,
Dad