Spent the day scraping, caulking and painting exterior windows and garage door. Getting close to having everything with at least a primer coat and one finish coat. Second finish coat may wait til spring depending on what the weather does. Still have the storm windows to do but they are in the basement and I can do them inside before taking out. Bet is away for the weekend with her Edward Johnson friends. Four of them went to Prince Edward County to visit a few wineries and a couple of neat restaurants we found when we were there in July.
Started to rain so I took advantage of the quiet and did the body scan Bet has been doing for her mindfulness course. I find the more I do it the better I am at it. I still have some issues in keeping my mind from wandering however I find it does relax me. Going to have dinner with friends this evening, looking forward to it.
This will be my 4th post and I am finding it easier to write, even though in re-reading it seems a bit scattered but it will get better I presume. I just realized that I don't think I mentioned the prostate support group meeting I went to the other evening. They were having a guest speaker, one of the radiation oncologists from Grand River Cancer Centre, so I thought I would go. A large turnout, I was the youngest in the room by at least 5 years and considering I was diagnosed 6 years ago I was definitely the exception in the crowd. Only 1 other individual had received brachytherapy and so far his results are still positive. It was interesting to hear the doctor speak about his preferences and brachytherapy definitely ranks low on his list. I sat beside an old friend who had surgery about 4 years ago and has had followup radiation and is now on hormones. He quite likes this doctor but perhaps because of his attitude in the public meeting I found that I was quite defensive.
slainte, Ric
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Thoughts
I seem to be late posting! Must learn not to think ahead but just post when the urge hits. As I said in my last post I made my decision to go with Dr. Chin. I had met with both Dr. Chin and Dr. Izawa and was impressed with both. Apparently if you kept score they are probably 1 and 2 as far as radical prostatectamys performed in Canada each year.
A bit of history. In Round 1 I was diagnosed very early. My PSA was only 1.84 with a Gleason score of 6. After consultations and deliberations I opted to have brachytherapy which surprised many individuals. As a young person many thought I was an ideal candidate for surgery however I was also an ideal candidate for brachy. The prostate was small, from the biopsy it appeared the cancer was localized, the Gleason score was low and I will admit it, the low incidence of side effects appealed to me.
The procedure went smoothly by all accounts. They keep you in the hospital for a short while - until you pee. I created a bit of excitement because they have you pee into what resembles a coffee filter in case you excrete one one of the radioactive pellets. In my case I did and this created a bit of excitement. Most of the nurses had never seen one and all had to have a gander. The hazardous waste squad arrived with their lead lined box to carry it away. Shortly after I was discharged and Bet and I headed for Guelph with me sitting on some bags of frozen peas to keep the swelling down. I also had some of the coffee filters to pee in and a special container to place pellets in in case I passed any more. Special mailing instructions as well.
Follow-up PSAs went according to expected with slight variations but all in the acceptably low category until mid 2008 when there was an escalation which caused some concern but the thought was that this could be the 'bump' and the next reading would be low. Unfortunately this was not the case and it has continued to rise, in fact doubling about every 6 months.
I had a biopsy performed in May of 2009 at Victoria Hospital by Dr. Izawa. You'll have to excuse me if I have some of the details incorrect but I believe 12 cores were taken with 9 having cancerous cells present in varying amounts. This procedure was not without moments of humour. After radiation the prostate gland takes on the characteristic of gristle in your favourite cut of beef making penetration by the biopsy needle somewhat difficult. Indeed in some cases the needle was being bent as Izawa tried to penetrate the gland.
Pathology reports indicated a Gleason score of 7, somewhat higher than the report of 2002. It is also located in all 4 quadrants of the gland. This has led to the speculation that this is a secondary invasion of cancer and not a remnant of the first go round. Doesn't matter, all I know is that it is there.
What lies ahead? I'm not sure, hopefully all will become clear after our trip to London on Wednesday. At some point I htink I will go public with my musings for any to read who wish. Men need to be more aware of this cancer which will afflict many of them. It is said that most men die with prostate cancer, not of it. I'm sure this is true but probably truer is that no man needs to die of it if they had proper testing.
Til I post again, slainte Ric
A bit of history. In Round 1 I was diagnosed very early. My PSA was only 1.84 with a Gleason score of 6. After consultations and deliberations I opted to have brachytherapy which surprised many individuals. As a young person many thought I was an ideal candidate for surgery however I was also an ideal candidate for brachy. The prostate was small, from the biopsy it appeared the cancer was localized, the Gleason score was low and I will admit it, the low incidence of side effects appealed to me.
The procedure went smoothly by all accounts. They keep you in the hospital for a short while - until you pee. I created a bit of excitement because they have you pee into what resembles a coffee filter in case you excrete one one of the radioactive pellets. In my case I did and this created a bit of excitement. Most of the nurses had never seen one and all had to have a gander. The hazardous waste squad arrived with their lead lined box to carry it away. Shortly after I was discharged and Bet and I headed for Guelph with me sitting on some bags of frozen peas to keep the swelling down. I also had some of the coffee filters to pee in and a special container to place pellets in in case I passed any more. Special mailing instructions as well.
Follow-up PSAs went according to expected with slight variations but all in the acceptably low category until mid 2008 when there was an escalation which caused some concern but the thought was that this could be the 'bump' and the next reading would be low. Unfortunately this was not the case and it has continued to rise, in fact doubling about every 6 months.
I had a biopsy performed in May of 2009 at Victoria Hospital by Dr. Izawa. You'll have to excuse me if I have some of the details incorrect but I believe 12 cores were taken with 9 having cancerous cells present in varying amounts. This procedure was not without moments of humour. After radiation the prostate gland takes on the characteristic of gristle in your favourite cut of beef making penetration by the biopsy needle somewhat difficult. Indeed in some cases the needle was being bent as Izawa tried to penetrate the gland.
Pathology reports indicated a Gleason score of 7, somewhat higher than the report of 2002. It is also located in all 4 quadrants of the gland. This has led to the speculation that this is a secondary invasion of cancer and not a remnant of the first go round. Doesn't matter, all I know is that it is there.
What lies ahead? I'm not sure, hopefully all will become clear after our trip to London on Wednesday. At some point I htink I will go public with my musings for any to read who wish. Men need to be more aware of this cancer which will afflict many of them. It is said that most men die with prostate cancer, not of it. I'm sure this is true but probably truer is that no man needs to die of it if they had proper testing.
Til I post again, slainte Ric
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Decisions
A bit late posting this but over the weekend I spent time sanding and painting windows while hemming and hawing over which doctor I should opt to go with. Monday morning I wasn't that much farther along in my decision process so it almost boiled down to the proverbial flip of a coin.
In the end I elected to go with Dr. Chin. Now I have an appointment September 30 at 10:10 in London. Although I don't know I suspect that at that time a path will be laid out for me to follow leading up to surgery, hormone treatment or a combination of both.
Will be posting more tonight
In the end I elected to go with Dr. Chin. Now I have an appointment September 30 at 10:10 in London. Although I don't know I suspect that at that time a path will be laid out for me to follow leading up to surgery, hormone treatment or a combination of both.
Will be posting more tonight
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Round 1
Adding this bit of script a month or so after posting the first message. Originally I was blogging to myself but then decided after the 3rd posting to let the address go public. Not sure why, other than to fill friends in, perhaps pick up a follower or two on this journey. It will not be a medical treatise but rather my recollections from the first go round and then my thoughts etc as I go into Round 2. Hopefully all my postings are accurate and I don't screw something up, if I do I am sorry, it is not intentional.
December 2002 I received the news that I had prostate cancer, still very early it was there. This was a blow to my psyche at age 52. However with the support of my family and the medical community I investigated various treatment options and opted for a treatment called brachytherapy. For those unfamiliar with this treatment it involves the permanent placement of a numerous radio-active seeds (rice grain size) directly into the prostate to kill the cancer. This was done in May 2003 and for the first 4 + years it appeared to have been successful. As a follow-up to any treatment my PSA levels were monitored quite closely and appeared to be doing the usual thing until about a year ago when there was significant rise. Was this what is called a 'bump' or was this the beginning of a continual rise in the reading? I should say that while of concern the levels were still quite low - under 2 - but it was doubling every 4 to 5 months so the trend was becoming scary. The interesting thing was that according to the criteria used I was cured. After 5 years my PSA level was not out of the acceptable range for the statistical cure level.
In late May I had a transrectal ultrasound guided biopsy which confirmed the cancer was alive and well in the prostate. In fact it was found in all 4 quadrants and for the most part on the periphery of the gland. This was to be expected the core of the gland was 'dead' as a result of the brachytherapy treatment of 2003. What was not determined was whether this was a second invasion of cancer cells or simply remnant cells from the first invasion. The pathology reports were similiar but there was some difference including the fact that this cancer seemed to be a bit more agressive.
Following the results of this biopsy I have seen the original radiation oncologist, the surgeon who performed the biopsy and a second surgeon to review some other possiblilties - cryotherapy and HIFU (High intensity focused ultrasound). At the end of these sessions it became clear that the leading candidates were hormone therapy, selvage surgery or a combination of both. I should mention that a bone scan did not indicate other sites of cancer beyond the prostate at this time.
By this time tomorrow I will have called the surgeon of choice to make a follow-up appointment and set in course my treatment for Round 2. Stay tuned.
December 2002 I received the news that I had prostate cancer, still very early it was there. This was a blow to my psyche at age 52. However with the support of my family and the medical community I investigated various treatment options and opted for a treatment called brachytherapy. For those unfamiliar with this treatment it involves the permanent placement of a numerous radio-active seeds (rice grain size) directly into the prostate to kill the cancer. This was done in May 2003 and for the first 4 + years it appeared to have been successful. As a follow-up to any treatment my PSA levels were monitored quite closely and appeared to be doing the usual thing until about a year ago when there was significant rise. Was this what is called a 'bump' or was this the beginning of a continual rise in the reading? I should say that while of concern the levels were still quite low - under 2 - but it was doubling every 4 to 5 months so the trend was becoming scary. The interesting thing was that according to the criteria used I was cured. After 5 years my PSA level was not out of the acceptable range for the statistical cure level.
In late May I had a transrectal ultrasound guided biopsy which confirmed the cancer was alive and well in the prostate. In fact it was found in all 4 quadrants and for the most part on the periphery of the gland. This was to be expected the core of the gland was 'dead' as a result of the brachytherapy treatment of 2003. What was not determined was whether this was a second invasion of cancer cells or simply remnant cells from the first invasion. The pathology reports were similiar but there was some difference including the fact that this cancer seemed to be a bit more agressive.
Following the results of this biopsy I have seen the original radiation oncologist, the surgeon who performed the biopsy and a second surgeon to review some other possiblilties - cryotherapy and HIFU (High intensity focused ultrasound). At the end of these sessions it became clear that the leading candidates were hormone therapy, selvage surgery or a combination of both. I should mention that a bone scan did not indicate other sites of cancer beyond the prostate at this time.
By this time tomorrow I will have called the surgeon of choice to make a follow-up appointment and set in course my treatment for Round 2. Stay tuned.
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