Posted 12/24/2019 9:29 AM (GMT -5)
A long time reader, first time posting...I just had my physical yesterday,but I would like to flash back to this day 3 years ago as my physical concluded. I got the news that my psa was 6.4,but at 52 lets not be concerned you must have had too much sex or rode your bike to many miles this week ( not the case on either account but OK) Lets put you on a 30 day med and that should clear everything up. This is where my journey begins, 30 days later it did drop all the way to 5.8 whoops. We better do a biopsy, but those are NO BIG DEAL. I don't know what was worse almost dying from the procedure or hearing that I had cancer. I was in the hospital for 10 days with a terrible infection, home for a couple of days and back in 4 more days. I was the 1% guy that does not do well with biopsy. 8 of 12 cores but mostly Gleason 6 with a bit of 7. Obviously not what I wanted to hear, but appeared manageable. Now decision time,which approach to take. I talked to everyone I could and took the time to do my research,but it was clear to me at 52 I wanted it out.
I was barley recovered from my biopsy, but we did the procedure and it appeared to go well. I had never experienced a catheter, not much fun but I was up and walking after surgery. I got home and was recovering well and then the pathology report phone call. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was upgraded to all 7,but much more aggressive type and it had gone to the margin. The DR was very surprised, he can generally tell during removal if there is a problem. The good news it was caught just in time it had not gone out, but I still did have a small psa reading. I thought my prostate cancer decisions were done right, it was no longer in me. They told me I could do nothing and may be OK. You could do radiation and there is this other treatment called hormone therapy. I could begin HT, but I had to be "dry" before I could do radiation. Once again my age was what I based my decision on, at 52 I decided to throw the kitchen sink at it (the triple play). There was a school of thought that you could begin with a round of HT while healing up, do a second round during radiation and then one last round at the end while the radiation is still working several months after your last treatment.
I was by no means the poster child for getting dry. I worked very hard and when it was time for radiation to begin I fibbed a bit, but I was relatively dry! ( 3 years later relatively dry...) I began 43 sessions of radiation, two hour drive one way for a 10 minute treatment. That is if you had the right amount of water in your bladder. It was a trick honing that in while in the car at 4:30 am every morning. What worked for me was 3 32 ounce Gatorade's timed to the minute. If I was off by more than a couple of minutes I was toast and had to start all over...... I was told radiation was NO BIG DEAL. I would call it very manageable, but I can also think of many other ways to spend a 3 month stretch.
After completion of radiation I had my final consult with my oncologist. He stated that he had been doing some studies and 6 months of HT might be enough instead of the 3rd round ( I had already had 2 3 month injections). I told him I had been doing some reading and did not know a 6 month injection was available. He said yes but I do not use those I have chosen to do the 3 month treatment to monitor more closely. I said do you remember my kitchen sink approach... I would like to try the 6 month injection and then be done. He shook his head, said he was not surprised and signed off on it.
I hold long time HT guys in very high esteem. This stuff kicked my butt, the first two rounds were no fun, but the cumulative affect and round 3 seemed to really hammer me. They say the way to combat it is to eat less and better with daily exercise. For over a year it felt like every night I was coming down with the flu. Comfort foods seemed to help. Breads and pasta......lol. From what I was told I had memory issues, I am pretty sure I forgot how to exercise. Studies have shown for every month on, it takes a month to recover. This was spot on for me. July of this year I slowly began to turn the corner and by mid August I was back to working out 2 times a day.
I have herd it over and over, well at least it is only prostate cancer. Many folks equate this with a bad case of the flu. I wish that was true. For better or worse I chose my own treatment plan. Possibly a bit extreme. I quit getting on the scale for over a year (maybe 2) it was a tough road back for me. Yesterday at my physical he signed off on a clean bill of health with a non detectable psa and 6 lbs less than my 2016 pre prostate cancer treatment weight.
My lump of coal has been replace with thankfulness in my 2019 stocking.
Merry Christmas