What What! Up The Butt? (slightly naughty)

Sorry to disappoint, but there's no buttsex here.

Even more (slightly) disappointing was that we saw the Charge Nurse in the Radiation clinic. We had met her before, back in early May when we met the Radiation Oncologist for the first time.

It turned out that this was more a case of signing paperwork, and an instructional for his prostate implant. The proper name for the procedure is "Implantation of  Fiducial Markers into Prostate." A fiducial marker is a small 18kt gold pellet about the size and shape of a grain of rice. Yes, they're putting gold up his butt!

Prep includes two (2!) Fleet enemas the morning of the procedure, and they will be doing a rectal ultrasound when they insert the markers. He goes in on the morning of September 12th, and he will have to wait 2-3 weeks before the radiation starts. Radiation will be 5 days a week for 9 weeks. By my estimate, he will be done just before Christmas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRCsYJ6MSNA

While I Was Sleeping

My husband and I are mostly on different sleep schedules. It can suck, and we frequently miss out on important things for each other.

Like this morning. I don't know when it happened, but I do know that shortly after my 10:35AM alarm went off, my husband walked into the bedroom, and I sang him a special version of "Good Morning Merry Sunshine" which made him smile, and then he asked me if I saw the new event on my Calendar.

I was still in bed and groggy, so I answered no, so he told me.

The Radiation Oncology Specialist called him and gave him an appointment for tomorrow(!) morning! Naturally, it's at the butt crack of dawn, and we have to leave the house at 8AM, but just the fact they gave him one so soon makes me happy.

So, onward we go, no wait necessary!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q9Gou6d9Uo

Today's Oncology Visit

It was a mixed bag, and unfortunately, I'm not feeling very optimistic. It's coming up on the one year mark of dealing with this, and I guess I'm more discouraged than I care to admit. 

Nobody is interested in "Doom and gloom," and I'm just frustrated. Trying to be the best I can is hard today, but my mood is merely a reflection of the results we received.

My husband has a standing lab order for his Vitamin D levels, PSA, and Testosterone.  

Vitamin D is going up. It was too low before, so this is very good news.

Not so good news is that his PSA and testosterone numbers are going back up and they aren't sure why. His PSA at the beginning of the month was 2.6, and now it’s up to 4.7, and his Testosterone was 20, and now it’s up to 24.

There's a good chance they may have to start giving him the Casodex again if it starts going up more. It's discouraging and more than a little scary especially for me. My husband is taking this in stride, because his results have been so much worse, but he knows that I take all this to heart, and some days are more difficult emotionally for me.

His MRSA infection also came back, which means there might be a delay in other treatments until that goes away completely.

The Oncologist gave him a new prescription for a stronger antibiotic. Now we just have to wait and see if it works.

Oh, and we're still waiting on insurance to approve the radiation.

So while we wait, I will grumble for a little while.

Oncologist Appointment Results

I'm making this quick and dirty.

Good/bad news... 

The biopsy results from 2 weeks ago shows that the prostate cancer has metastasized (spread) to the pelvic lymph nodes. I mentioned it in my previous entry.

According to the Oncologist, this was expected, so please don't feel sad. The radiation can now get scheduled.

Numbers:

PSA  ("Normal" is 4, Goal is 0)

Early January: 120 

Early April: 98

Mid June: 4.1

Today: 2.6

Testosterone ("Normal" for a 62 y/o man is 200 Goal is <50)

Early April: 330 (Enviable by most men, bad for prostate cancer, because it feeds on testosterone)

Mid May: 500+ (initial side effect of Lupron even with the Casodex, this was surprising!)

Mid June: 25

Today: 20

Of note: Lupron destroys testosterone in the body, so estrogen takes over. There have been changes to my husband's body, notably, less body hair overall, and more scalp hair. I also noticed breast tissue development, and the Oncologist said it was normal.

For Comparison: The picture on the left was taken just over a year ago, and the one on the right today.

Notice the difference in body hair, chest, and weight.

So now there's more waiting.

It's About Time

Time:  Never enough, too much, wait, wait, wait!

In my last entry, I mentioned that my husband's last biopsy of his lymph glands was inconclusive, so the Oncologist ordered another one, this time deeper in the pelvic cavity, and that we were waiting to get it approved by insurance. We spend lots of time waiting, and it's gotten close to a year since his (and now my) former GP finally sent a referral to a Urologist. The stress lately has not been kind to me, and, as a result, I got sick, but I'm okay now.

Anyway, the new biopsy was done last month (July) on the 26th. We have a followup to discuss the results this upcoming Thursday (the 8th) however, due to my husband falling ill, we wound up seeing his wonderful new GP this past Friday, and he casually mentioned that the biopsy results were in, and offered to tell us. We agreed that we wanted to hear them.

Understand that after all the CT scans and MRI's we knew that the cancer had metastasized to his lymph system, and that the biopsy was merely a way to confirm for insurance purposes and to target the radiation that has been postponed pending the biopsy results.

We were not surprised by the results that there was cancer in the lymph system in the pelvic cavity, but knowing and having the confirmation has brought about a weird sense of relief. It means we go on to combine radiation with the chemo.

It also means that when we go in Thursday, we can face things and make decisions in a more practical and less emotional way. Honestly, I've been mostly "cried out" for the past few months anyway. Yes, I still cry sometimes, but after a while, the tears just don't come anymore. Understand that I worry almost constantly about all this, but I also know that my husband needs me to be strong and assist him with the hard decisions, and his current desire is "fight and fight hard at any cost!" My job is to stand by him and be his bulldog.

So, yes, we are armed with the results, but there is no plan of action until after we meet with the Oncologist on Thursday.

Again, we wait...

More to come.