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
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