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......