A few weeks ago I wrote about ‘Chef Roger’, an on-line friend that had passed away
from prostate caner. I had wondered what happened to him?
Well, today another friend Dan J sent me this:
http://www.pcainaz.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=1040
and so it appears that Chef Roger made his way home to his family!
It’s been a while since I got a little philosophical. I was thinking the other night, as I was going through the posts of a few of the prostate cancer bulletin boards, “Do I belong here?” I mean, how do I end up here? Then today I looked back through my blog and came across this from April 2005:
I like the first better, the second one hits to close to home.
~~~~~~~~~
I love rainy days. Perhaps because I am trying to enjoy every day for what it is; another day!
A cliche’ yes, but one worth posting.
I welcome a rainy day like today. We need the rain, it’s Springtime. Selfishly speaking, I fertilized the lawn on Tuesday and today’s slow steady drizzle is a perfect compliment! Yes, too many rainy days in a row and I would have a much different tone, but not today.
Health wise, I have nothing new to report. I find myself in that ‘funk’ between appointments. Waiting, wondering what will happen on the 21st. Aches and pains have subsided.
I’ve been playing nine holes of golf each Wednesday afternoon (the ball variety), and walking the course. It’s great to get out, and my game is OK for this early in the season. Yesterday, I shot a 48 including a 10 on a par 5 hole. (I had a little issue with a creek and out of bounds!) If I could have just made that hole a double bogey 7 and I would have shot 45! Oh well, I’m just out there to have fun and improve my game a little this summer, no worries!
Spring continues to tease us here in Kansas City. The forecast is calling for mid to high sixties this weekend…..Saturday morning disc golf is going to be fantastic!
It’s not been a very good March in my world, the world of my prostate cancer brethren.
I posted about Wes the other day, now today there is news about “Chef” Roger Woods. I’ll describe Roger as he did himself; an old hippy dude that lived “off the grid”. Translation; he lived in an old RV in southern California and Northern Arizona and got by on Social Security, Medicare, the occasional cigar and bottle of “Two Buck Chuck” and of course the kindness of friends and strangers. He was diagnosed last summer, July I believe, and he left this world over the weekend. He wrote some of the best posts, simple and to the point.
Roger, who was two hours short of his 70th birthday is now just another in a long list of examples of the diversity of this dreadful disease. Old, young, rich, poor, urban, rural, connected, ‘off the grid’. Prostate Cancer had no enemies, this cancer has never found a prostate it doesn’t like.
The last we heard from Roger he was leaving the desert and driving across country to see his sister in Baltimore and to try find a new doctor, and perhaps another treatment. I wonder if he made it?
If you care to read more, here are a few links:
http://rogerwoods.bravehost.com/
http://www.yananow.net/Mentors/RogerW.htm
Finally, send your prayers for a quick and full recovery to KN, who had PC surgery today.
Here is a link to a video that captures some of the highlights of the Ice Bowl.
The folks at the Kansas City Flying Disc Golf Club (www.kcfdc.org) and the generous player throughout the area helped raise over $1300 for our foundation.
Enjoy the video, look for the FLHW banner in a number of places!!! Also, appearing my friends Rob, Jud (in the background).
After a week in Florida (pictures and a full report later) I had my monthly appointment this morning and there were a number of changes:
1) First we switched to a doctor at the University of Kansas Cancer Center.
Dr. V specializes in prostate cancer. We have met with him a couple of times previously for second opinions. He has a compassionate approach and is dedicated to supporting patients with genitourinary cancers.
2) The KU Med Cancer Center just opened in it’s current location about 6 months ago. It is fantastic. It is a state of the art facility that was definitely designed to provide the patient with a privacy and comfort during treatment. The staff was consistently polite and compassionate.
In the waiting room there is a lady with a cart and provides free bottled water, juice, etc. The refreshments were offered with a smile and a warm greeting while we waited to see the doctor.
Doesn’t sound like much, but it really was a great touch.
3) Because the lab and the treatment room are in the same facility, when they inserted the
temporary port in my hand, they drew blood for all the tests at the same time. Again, not
a big deal, a small touch but it goes a long way.
4) The treatment room or should I say rooms. These are laid out like cubicles in an office environment. No more big room with 15 chairs and 15 patients. Each room has a flat panel TV, DVD player, a door that closes providing privacy. This is going to be real important in the future when I have chemo, now it’s just a good addition to the monthly visit.
5) One of the most important benefits for Mary and I – we received the PSA results before I left the appointment! No more waiting for days and placing multiple calls back to the doctor’s office.
Now for the bad news, my PSA went up a little bit from 29.4 last month to 34.7 this month.
A few factors that we believe may have contributed:
– I was on vacation and was out of routine; no daily work outs, lots of eating out, etc.
– The week proceeding vacation was perhaps one of the most stressful I have had at
work in years
– The week proceeding vacation, I was also working 4+ hours a night on a volunteer project for our church and therefore sleeping less, etc.
Dr. V, Mary and I decided we will continue the current regimen of Lupron and Nilandron to give the Nilandron a fair opportunity to get the PSA under control. Hopefully, over the next 4 weeks we will resume a better sense of normalcy and routine. I will be back to working out tomorrow morning.
Not much else to share right now, that’s my story….and I’m sticking to it!!
Historic Data:
3/24/08 34.7
2/25/08 29.4 (Started taking Nilandron on 2/4/08; Started Selenium 200 mcg on 2/26/08)
1/28/08 36.2 (Stopped taking Ketoconazole and Hydrocortisone in anticipation of next treatment)
12/31/07 30.9
12/3/07 21.9
11/5/07 23.3
10/8/07 19.30
>10/8/07 Changed Lupron from 120 day dose to monthly dose> 9-12-07 Began taking .5mg of Avodart per day. Changed Ketoconazole from 600mg twice per day to 400mg three times per day)
9/4/07 21.80
8/6/07 19.25
8/2/07 16.96
7/02/07 20.30
6/04/07 17.80
4/30/07 16.25
4/2/07 17.68
3/5/07 21.87
2/5/07 20.90
1/8/07 18.90
12/11/06 24.86
11/13/06 43.61
10/16/06 51.48 (Started “High Dose” Ketoconazole and Hydrocortisone, 10/01)[at this point and for a second time we prepared for Taxotere. First my Oncologist wanted to try High Dose Ketoconazole and Hydrocortisone.]
9/11/06 83.97 (started Zometa)
8/23/06 41.77
8/18/06 54.66(no tests in June or July)
5/19/06 11.37 (stopped Casodex)
4/3/06 4.25
3/5/06 1.45 (started Casodex again)
1/27/06 0.46
12/28/05 1.85[at this point we prepared for Taxotere, chemotherapy treatments. First I had a new PSA test and new bone and CT scans, lymph nodes clear, spine clear, ribs, femur and hips stable. The PSA dropped to 1.85 and the scans revealed marked improvement. Chemo was cancelled 72 hours before it was scheduled to begin]
12/15/05 7.18
11/03/05 4.64 (Stopped taking Casodex)
9/22/05 0.8
08/11/05 0.35 [nadir]
6/24/05 0.55
4/17/05 2.51 (taken at MD Anderson, Gleason lowered to 7/7)
4/06/05 3.51 (Six weeks after starting Lupron and Casodex)Original Gleason scores (7/8)
Pre-treatment tests:
2/18/05 Started Lupron
2/11/05 Started Casodex
2/?/05 219
12/?/04 189 (Original test)
Having returned from Florida last night that last thing I expected in my inbox was news like this,
on Thursday we lost another PCa brother.
Wes Witcher, 46, of Marshall, MO lost his battle with PCa, my thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. His obituary is here:
http://www.campbell-lewis.com/sitemaker/sites/campbe0/obit.cgi?user=wes-witcher#
Wes found my blog and contacted me a number of times last year, he was pretty well advanced when initially diagnosed. It’s sad news to wake up to on Easter morning.
Damn this disease.
I just finished reading “The Kite Runner“. Have you read it?
This was the first time in my lifetime that a book made me cry. Seriously! Perhaps it’s
the hormonal imbalance? Maybe the flood of emotions in other areas of my life?
What ever it was, I cannot say enough about this book. It was fantastic!
I just saw they made it into a movie…..it will be realesed to DVD next week, not counting on much but I will probaby rent it.
Why does Hollywood think they can translate every good book into a movie? It rarely works.
I’m not a book reviewer so I’m not going to add comments like “SPELLBINDING”, “CAPTIVATING”, “A MUST READ”…
If you like to read and are looking for a unique, heart warming and heart wrenching story, this is well worth your time.
