Hello All.....I have been remiss in creating this folder and then letting it fade from sight. I will post an update of sorts in this saga of the killer walnut (AKA prostate gland)
First off, here is my "digest", an assortment of relevent information relating to the treatment of my cancer etc., when you get involved in the internet "mailing lists" on cancer, a proper digest is helpful in giving your stats. My participation in such lists has been minimal lately, not really much to say about it.
(dates approximate)
Age 42, minimal urinary dysfunction prior to Dx. Family history of PC 3 of 4 uncles, and Grandfather not known to me until after PSA test.
12/1/96 PSA=15.2, test done during routine physical by GP without my knowledge
1/2/97 PSA=14.4 sent to different lab by new GP, DRE "nothing abnormal" (new insurance mandated starting over again)
1/9/97 DRE= "no palpable tumor, firm" only comment by Urologist
1/17/97 TRUS biopsy, (total of 4 cores taken)right apex-100% involvement, "mod. diff." 1.5cm gleason 3+4=7,adenocarcinoma, right mid. 75% involvement "mod. diff." 2.cm 3+3=6, adenocarcinoma, left apex "minute focus" adenocarcinoma, left mid, benign prostatic tissue. Results confirmed by 2nd path. lab. "DNA ploidy" by Smith-Kline, (3/97) aneuploid, 1.4
1/21/97 bone scan, negative
2/10/97 Lymphandectomy surgery for clinical staging of PCa, biopsy results negative (10 samples)
2/17/97 Staples removed, incision opened up of it's own accord, ongoing "wound care"
2/24/97outpatient "seed implants" (qty-126) Iodine-125, to be followed by 7 weeks (35 sessions) of XRT
(conformal beam) by Radiotherapy Clinics of Ga. (http://www.cpi-prostate.com)
3/15/97 still going to "wound care" daily at hospital from lymphandectomy, healing is proceeding well.
3/15/97 Comments post-seeding: Mild to moderate "urgency" of urination, diminishing, intermittent symptoms range from slight burning, to incomplete urination, occaisonal rectal discomfort.
3/19/97 Commenced 1st of 35 sessions (minimum) of conformal beam radiation
3/21/97 Finished 4 weeks of "wound care"
4/11/97 About half way through the radiation treatments now. I have days of considerable urinary malfunction, ie; "urgency" with accompanying straining, and moderate pain. A few days of bowel problems which may or may not be associated with the radiation. Taking 4mg of Cardura daily for relief of urinary problems, also take pyridium (as needed, like today for instance)
4/15/97 Attempted to return to work yesterday....made it about 2 hours before urinary and bowel problems made it exceedingly difficult to stay at work. I'm off for another week or two until things clear up.
A few noteworthy items since the last time I posted here. I had a DNA "ploidy" analysis done of the tumor tissue, it turned out to be of the "anueploid" variety. That has to do with the patterns of replication that the cancer has, and has implications in the success (or lack of) with a given treatment. Basically there are three types, diploid, tetraploid, and anueploid. Mine is the third, and lucky me, the least desireable to have. It is known to be non-responsive to hormone treatments, and less responsive to radiation.
All it really tells me is something I already knew, it's an agressive cancer, unlike the diploid variety which can take many years to grow and is often not life-threatening.
This is not to say that I can't be "cured" by my present treatments, it just adds to the importance of a successful treatment. I'm not going to kick off overnight, or probably even in 5 years if the treatment just failed completely. So, it's just one of those things that you file away for occaisonal reference, and try pretty much to forget about!
That's about it. I can not stress enough that men in the 40+ range need to know if they have a family history of prostate cancer, and to have PSA blood level test added to their yearly physical to establish a normal "baseline". This test did not exist 10 years ago, and without it my cancer would not have been detected this early.
Food for thought!
Anyway, enough of this, back to the market! |
