Between Journeys

Entry 63

March 29, 2013

New York, Rome, the Canary Islands, Rio and very soon... China. During the last six months, my wife and I have been busy visiting these places we imagined experiencing before we retired.

It's been several months since the last entry on this blog. As I have alluded to on previous entries when you live with the reality of cancer, it's sometimes valuable to take a break from referencing it and analyzing your condition. This is especially the case when not much is happening, as has been the case with me since the last entry.

By way of a quick recap, I had a radical prostatectomy two years ago last December and recovered quite quickly. The not so good news was the cancer had escaped the prostate gland itself and was found in two of the lymph nodes removed during the operation. Between that and a post surgical PSA# of 0.26ng/ml it was clear I would require additional treatment to keep it in check. That treatment, Androgen Deprivation Therapy (ADT) aka Hormone Therapy, essentially stops the majority of testosterone manufactured by the male body. Testosterone, by some diabolical quirk of fate is the source a prostate cancer cell uses to sustain and multiply itself.

In consultation with my urologist I chose intermittent ADT as opposed to continuous ADT. This means I was injected every 3 months for a full year with a time release medication called Zoladex. After a year I was taken off the therapy and my PSA# was tested every 3 months watching for it to begin to rise again. When it begins to rise they measure how quickly the PSA# doubles. This doubling is referred to as the 'velocity' and it gives the urologist a yardstick to measure the aggressiveness of the cancer.

So this brings us to where I am today. I have now been off the Androgen Deprivation Therapy for over a year and not unsurprisingly my PSA# is starting to rise again. It has risen from 0.02 to 0.09 ng/ml. Disappointing, but frankly not surprising. We knew the cancer is still in there it is merely manifesting itself as my urologist suggested it would. My next PSA reading, in about 3 months will give him an idea of the 'velocity' and I will likely go back on the Androgen Deprivation Therapy medication sometime on or before this fall.

Harry at the Colosseum

Margaret in the Pantheon

Walking the streets of Gibraltar

Harry on Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro

 (More photos)

hstimson @ shaw.ca
                                |  Before Surgery |  After Surgery  |  Before ADT  |  ADT/Hormone Therapy  |