When will I stop worrying? The answer is likely, never.

It is true, I have started the next step in the journey, but the way that this whole process evolves in my mind is a little tricky. As I go through this post I hope I don’t leave you with the impression I am not grateful or that in any way I am not thankful for the opportunity that this new drug provides.

The next, and first measurement will be a PSA blood test in four weeks. In between I will have my potassium level and other markers measured but the key marker will be the stabilization of my PSA, and eventually the lowering of the PSA. As long as this continues every four weeks I will remain on Abiraterone indefinitely.

You may be saying, great that will make you so happy. Well on one hand yes it will, but on the other I will return to living my life in 28 day cycles. I would give practically anything to have 6 weeks, two months or more without having to worry about this disease. As I mentioned in my last, it’s an emotional grind and yes, I should be cherishing this opportunity but not yet. I pray that it comes in time.

I was able to put it aside from time to time this past weekend. After spending Thursday night back in Kansas City I left for Los Angeles on Friday to help a friend with some business. There was a convention in LA that I agreed to help him with last minute.

We arrived on Friday around 2:00 pm and were pleased to see a convertible Mustang waiting at Avis. Though it was the color a blue Smurph would have envied, we didn’t express any complaints.  Our first appointment was about an hour south of LA so with the top down and the temperature a perfect 72, we hit 405 south.

It was around 4pm when we got back on the highway to LA and we began discussing how much we’d be willing to pay for Lakers tickets that night.We got a real bargain on StubHub, better yet, he had a connection that got us into the club level for the game.  The Lakers ended up losing but it was a fun time and a good experience.

We spent Satruday at the trade show, hit Tommy’s Burgers (I passed on the burger), drove up and down Rodeo Dr. and watched ‘Due Date’ before calling it a night. Sunday we grabbed some breakfast, returned the car and returned to LAX. [side note: back and forth to Atlanta and LA in one week, no one at the TSA came close to patting me down and the security personnel were all pleasant.] We spent about an hour in the terminal brain storming ideas for business and then back to the cold midwest with new stories forecasting a blizzard in the coming week. for Kansas City. It was a nice distraction and freat way to end a very stressful and hectic week. J, I owe you big time!

Today I had my monthly Oncologist visit and I received the standard shot and infusion. My PSA spiked but it was a different lab than last week and I’m now five days into the treatment. It’s too early to tell if anything had changed so I’m going to mentally discard today’s reading. It’s the test on the February 24th that will hopefully  start to indicate how things are going.  Dr. A in Atlanta did attempt to set our expectations by explaining that a patient does not typically see a positive response for a month or two.  We will do our best to have patience.