Greetings folks,
Well, I had a bunch of medical meetings this past week. I had my ‘sleep’ study done on Tuesday night, which included little pads on my chest to monitor my heart and tubes in my nose to measure breathing, and a finger socket to measure oxygen and pulse. A little box was strapped around my chest which contained the ‘brains’ of the many-fingered apparatus, and there were lots of wires hooking everything together. I did not sleep well for the study.
The next day I had an appointment with my new dermatologist, a very nice lady named Dr. Horney. She must have had a difficult time growing up. But she found no skin issues, so that’s good.
Then an appointment with my chemo oncologist. She said everything is looking good, my blood test showed everything back to normal or close to it.
Then came the telephone consult with the UCSF urologist regarding the Decipher test on my prostate biopsy sample. While most of the numbers are not terribly scary (a PSA of 3.5, two of nine cores with cancer, and a Gleason score of 3 + 4), the genomic analysis of the biopsy cores showed the cancer to be of the aggressive kind. My Decipher score was 0.81 (whatever that measures…) and that number puts me in the ‘High Risk’ category. The doctor said with that score I am no longer a suitable candidate for Active Surveillance.
So the next day I met with my regular urologist to go over the biopsy and Decipher reports and discuss what to do next. She is going to refer me to a surgeon who specializes in robotic prostate surgery, and a radiation oncologist (actually the same one who did the radiation for my esophageal cancer). That way I can hear from each expert the pros and cons of each approach. At this point I am leaning toward the radiation option. It seems like the side effects are fewer and the recover is quicker, and I’m not in the mood for more surgery!
We are going to Alaska in mid August for a couple weeks, so I hope to get everything decided and then scheduled for when we get back from Alaska (and hopefully before we go to Mexico at the end of October). The radiation could take from 6 to 8 weeks, so we probably couldn’t get that completed before the Alaska trip.
So, all in all, I’m kind of relieved to get this prostate situation resolved. Active surveillance is a little nerve-racking….now we’ll just take care of the problem!
Other matters…..weight holding steady, bouncing around 130 – 132. I lost a couple pounds for a day or so with heavy exercising and lots of work around the house and yard. Gotta stop that hard work!
That’s about it on the health front. I won’t trouble you with other details of my daily living experiences, although we did have a fun and busy weekend last week.
I’ll leave you with this:
Montana
The word has a ring—
Of mountains.
A conjure of
Outdoors, rugged, and vast.
The bigness gets you
When you’re there.
The sky, huge,
Mountains
Everywhere.
Trees, rivers, trucks,
Rifles, riffles, rainfall,
And a cold beer by the side of the road.
Mountain trails, mountain streams,
Mountain lakes.
A campfire, a tent, a dusting of snow,
A round of cribbage, a shot of whiskey,
And a trout sizzling in the pan
On the shores of Upper Rumble Creek Lake.
Hi Chris,
Based on what you have posted about your prostate cancer previously, I was saddened, but not surprised, to hear surgery or more radiation would be required to treat it. You seem to have been prepared for it as well; and your plan to work in the treatment after Alaska seems reasonable. It is unfair you are being dealt a tough hand again, but you already know the drill, and are well equipped to successfully address anything they throw at you.
In the meantime, our love and healing prayers are with you.
Your friend,
Don
Hi Chris,
Glad to see all the good medical news, but sorry to see the prostate trouble. Darn! But you are right, that it will be good to get it resolved.
Keep us posted!
love & hugs & Happy Father’s Day
HA
Hello Mr G’s –
We’re sorry that the test from the prostrate biopsy sample indicates that active treatment (radiation) or surgery is warranted, but it was probably unrealistic to hope for an “everything is fine” outcome, and as usual we are highly impressed with your positive attitude as you move forward and address the matter. We can understand your relief (may not be the right word) in knowing with greater certainty what you are dealing with and we can appreciate the upside of treatment or surgery that will likely take care of it, versus nerve-racking continuation of “active surveillance.”
The sleep study was probably just a minor one night ordeal and we hope the results are positive. Sounds like you suspect sleep apnea, however, and, at least there are several approaches for dealing with it if that is the case. By the way, I’ve had three sleep studies done and know it’s no fun.
I actually questioned the value, because I did not sleep well during any of them, but they said they got useful results from the “sleep patterns” that I experienced during the studies. Still it all seemed pretty silly in a way. I went for the studies because I wasn’t sleeping well, then they wire you up as you described, turn on some noisy machines, and expect you to go to sleep so they can see what the problem is!
Anyway, best of luck as you pursue the next steps on the prostrate cancer and bring that situation to a conclusion. We look forward to seeing you and Mrs G’s soon.
Mr and Mrs B’s