Should have posted sooner, but things jus kept changing!

Back in April I posted that Jim seemed to be developing resistance to the hormone treatment that had kept his prostate cancer at bay for about 12 years. They told us it would happen eventually, but still scary and surprising to get to that point. His PSA had risen to about 5, and it should theoretically be zero, at least just after receiving the hormone treatment.

Lots more doctor's appointments in May and June. Trip to Cleveland for an ultra-sensitive pet scan to see if the cancer was growing (results negative). (Got to Columbus that day before they called and said "oh, wait, can you come tomorrow, the isotope didn't pass the QA test, we'll have more isotope tomorrow" - REALLY????) Talked to several oncologists, a surgeon, even got a recommendation from a noted national  specialist in this area. Finally determined  that a clinical trial made the most sense, as it was testing the effects of a slightly different drug from one already on the market, one that had less side effects and could be given earlier, before sign of a tumor.

So Jim goes in for the base level testing required for the clinical trial. Lots of paperwork, scans, and another PSA test. Result is like .7. WAIT! that has an extra decimal point (lower is good). Hmm, must be a bad test result - let's repeat. WAIT, second test is like .3. Ok this is good that it's low, but now he's not eligible for the clinical trial.

So lots more talking to doctor's - why would this happen? do we trust this result? what treatment now? Doctors decided one of two things happened. Either the 5.0 test result was an error, or taking Jim off a medication had jump started the hormone treatment into working again. They aren't exactly sure which, so now they are watching him like a hawk, testing his PSA every 6 weeks instead of 3 months, and double testing it. And it's continued to stay low, two more results under .5. So they'll keep testing until it rises again, and keep on with the hormone treatment. And the "cancer cloud" seems to have blown on past us again, at least for now......maybe because it's settled over other dear friends, unfortunately. :(

So we focus on the good parts of life, and the extra birthdays we get to celebrate, and look forward to the birth of our first grandchild in December. For now, for us, life is good......

Cancer still sucks

It's been a while since I updated this blog, as everything has been pretty status quo. Well, the kids keep growing up, but in terms of Jim's and my health, everything has been pretty status quo - until recently. Jim has been going every 3-4 months for a checkup with his urologist, and it seems that the hormone therapy they've had him on isn't working so well anymore. This was expected, they told us when they started this therapy that at some point it would have killed off the less aggressive cancer cells and the more aggressive cells would start to develop some critical mass. And it looks like it's that time, as normally the hormone injection drives his PSA down to nothing, and then it slowly builds back up over the next several months, but the last two injections seem to NOT have lowered the PSA.

So several scans later, it's a good news/not so good news situation. Good news is that Jim still has no evidence of a tumor or growth anywhere, including lymph nodes and bones. Bad news is that the next treatment they would put him on tends to only be covered by insurance when there IS evidence of disease. So really, we're supposed to just wait until he has a tumor??? Well the urologist is trying to get insurance to cover it, and in the meantime, Procter has a GREAT benefit where we can get a second opinion from the best doctors in the country for various diseases, so his records are being sent to the prostate cancer experts to see what they would recommend. He feels great, and in fact he will be running the Cap City half marathon with Julie at the end of this month. Here's hoping all that healthy living will help keep things at bay a while longer. Prayers appreciated, as always.

Teri