
Just a quick update as we head deeper into the holiday season.
Along with the good news from last month’s scan, my PSA (the prostate-cancer blood marker that is the first-line monitoring agent) is now undetectable. Again, to be completely transparent, those results are not going to last forever, but we surely are thankful for them now.
Today’s visit to the cardiologist suggests that all is good in that department. Prostate-cancer patients under treatment need to keep an eye on this. Hormone-deprivation therapies can cause muscles to wither (and many of mine are withering.) The heart is a muscle. Hence…if you have prostate cancer or know someone who does, make sure that the cardiac situation is monitored on a regular basis. Today’s EKG showed no problem and essentially no change from previous EKGs. The cardiologist is pleased, though he scheduled a “strain electrocardiogram” for next month, just to be sure.
The last few suctions of blood work show that I have anemia that is worsening fractionally every month or so, another gift from the therapies. That could partially explain the increasing fatigue and occasional and minor shortness of breath, according to the docs. Now, I’ll be downing iron supplements along with all the other stuff.
And that’s it.
We’re thankful this holiday season to be where we are on this and where we are in life in general and for all of our relatives and friends.
I am particularly thankful for my wife, Marion, who makes sure that the weight and muscle losses and other side effects remain under control and who monitors the prostate-cancer message boards on a regular basis and who keeps us ever grounded and moving onward.
The objective: We have four grandchildren and grandchildren-ish kids in our orbit. All are sketching wondrous life stories. I want and need and plan to see how it all turns out.




P.S. If you are man, get your PSA checked at least once a year, more often if possible. If you are a woman, make sure the men in your life do this.