Month: August 2020

The drugs are working and I’ve never felt better. My PSA is down from 57 on the 17th of July to 8 on the 17th of August! That drop is after I have been on the drugs for two weeks. My oncologist said they are doing what they should be doing: getting the cancer into remission. And I have felt none of the side effects, some of which can seriously impact life style. If the side-effects haven’t showed up during my first two weeks on the drugs, my oncologist says, they most like will not show up. So I proceed with joy continuing the life-style of proper eating, proper thinking, and exercise that seems to be serving me so well.

I started the Xtandi Monday evening and the Lupron (shot of 3-months’ supply) yesterday, and couldn’t feel better after a sound night’s sleep.  The reason: I have new confidence that the treatment plan may buy me at least a few more years and that any side-effects I get may be tolerable.  This from reading up on the androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) that I am getting plus reviewing some posts of Xtandi users on a chat board.  Some of the users are into their fifth year or more!

The ADT guide book recommends all the life-style practices that I have been following for years: healthy diet, regular exercise, right thinking — practices that I believe have kept me fit and healthy .  So, I may have a leg up on minimizing side-effects.  I intend to maintain those practices with a newfound vigor and we’ll see what happens.

Right now, I feel on top of my life, embracing the new reality that I am taking powerful drugs to keep the cancer at bay and buy me time while I do all I can to minimize their side-effects.  I am clearly into the mode of “continually fight the cancer while keeping my life-style as acceptable and contributing as possible.”  I can do it!      

Back last December I believed I had metastatic bone cancer and began confronting the potential of leaving my life sooner than I had assumed I would. But that was a false alarm. There was no cancer in my bones then; the breaks in my pelvic bones that oncologists thought were caused by metastatic cancer were caused by the intense radiation treatments I received back in 2012 to treat the prostate cancer.

But a new scan last month, prompted by rapidly rising PSA, showed that the cancer has subsequently metastasized to a bone in my pelvis and to a lymph node. While there is no cure, I will start hormone therapy this week in an attempt to buy time.

The posts from December express well how I think and feel about being in the final stages of my life. The overriding question to me now is how my body will react to the hormone treatment. I’ll start tonight a drug called Xtandi and will receive a shot of the hormone drug on Wed. that will last three months. Both drugs can cause miserable side-effects. I’m trying hard to keep my mind in the moment and not conjure up what effects I might get. I’ll wait and see what actual effects I get and deal with them when I have them.

I will periodically post how I am feeling, what I am thinking, and any significant changes.