Update
May 28th 2010PostmasterCaregivers & Coping & In Treatment
Hi all. I want to use this opportunity to update you on my situation and let you know how we are dealing with my latest treatment. It has been a week since my surgery and this morning, for the first time, I am feeling some reduction in the level of surgical pain. Frankly, it has been incredibly painful, even with a much higher than usual dose of pain meds. I suppose any back surgery is going to painful, but perhaps it is more so because they were carving an area that was quite painful to begin with.
My surgeon says that he was able to remove all of the tumour that he could see, which is very good news (much better than leaving some cancerous bone to avoid damaging nerves)! So this is something to celebrate. I have my pre-op, base case PSA reading (high for me around 6) for a reference point, yet it takes a month or two for it to clear out of my system post treatment. But I’m hopeful that we will see it drop. If it gets down to “undetectable” than I will be ecstatic.
On top of that, if the surgery leads to an elimination or reduction in the pain I’ve been experiencing from the tumour for the last few years, that could mean I can reduce/eliminate the pain meds! So, all in all, much to look forward to.
This past week has also been very hard on Dianne who remains my numero uno caregiver. Not only has she had to wait on my every need, but she has had to carry out all the household duties that I either did or helped with prior to the surgery. She continues to amaze me, reinforcing how lucky I am to have had her for the last 33 years.
While I don’t feel lucky much of the time (with cancer hanging over my head and with all of the unusual things that have happened to me along the way) I feel a degree of optimism that has eluded me for some time. It’s a nice feeling.
But I’m starting to go stir crazy camped out in my living room!
Many thanks to friends and family for all your support through this.
Posted by Doug
This was a different New Year’s Eve for me as I had my 13th of 33 Salvage Radiation treatments to ring out the old year and hopefully my recurrence. Thankfully, I had Christmas Day and Boxing Day off which gave me a little break. It’s still early in the treatment, but I’m feeling some side effects (manageable) and just want to get it over with.