talkingaboutcancer.com

When someone you love has cancer 

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Having cancer is a life-changing and, for many, a life-long event.  For almost five years I was okay to call myself a survivor, because I had survived.  Although my cancer is now back and has metastasized, I still consider myself a survivor (largely because I’m still around) but everything is so very different.  I have had to adjust to so many things.  I can’t simply “get on with life” anymore (as I would tell everyone else) because recurrence and the consequences of advanced disease have become the largest part of my life.  New treatments are called for to address the cancer directly and to treat the symptoms, particularly the pain.  And, as I have discovered, the treatments create their own symptoms which, in turn, have to be treated.

I have four different types of oncologists working with me and I have to see each of them separately.  I’m taking literally handfuls of drugs every day on top of the ones that I have injected every few months.  And I do all of this while working full-time and while trying to enjoy the rest of my life.  New coping strategies are called for.  It’s difficult to talk to people about it.  Most people don’t understand enough about an initial cancer diagnosis, let alone a recurrence or advanced disease.  I’m so lucky that I have a loving wife to share all of this with, although I feel so bad that she has to bear the brunt of my emotions (see my previous post), but her strength holds me together.

However, it seems never-ending…. relentless…. and often overwhelming.  I know that this is normal and I know that, somehow, I have to keep moving forward.  And I do.

But it’s a long, long road.

Posted by Doug

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Today I gave blood. Not for any altruistic reasons (I don’t think they would accept my blood any more) but in preparation for my 3 month, post-radiation PSA check. It’s been quite a wait and next week I get the results. If my PSA is unchanged or higher than before my treatments, then I guess they didn’t work and I went through it all for nothing. If it’s back to “undetectable” then the treatment worked and I could be cured or their still could be microscopic cancer cells elsewhere in my body that could flare up later. I won’t know until they do or don’t.

I have been coping with the wait by working hard…..keeping busy, knowing that my subconscious mind was chewing on the “what if’s”. It’s been okay, really. Most of the shock of recurrence and the fear of the possibilities assaulted my peace and self-confidence when I was re-diagnosed. I haven’t really accepted it, but I have learned to live with it (I think). I’ll know better how I have really handled it after my appointment next week. But after doing all that I could to learn my options and take action, there really isn’t anything else I can do. It becomes all about coping and adapting…. learning to live with cancer. At times I feel it has made me stronger and at times I wonder if I am strong enough.

Wish me luck.

Posted by Doug

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I’m just about finished my “salvage” radiation treatment for a recurrence of prostate cancer, 5 years after my initial diagnosis and treatment for surgery. I’ve had 32 treatments and I’m getting really, really tired of the whole thing. I lay on the table watching the machine go around me and hear if firing off 60 times from different angles and I wonder, “What the hell am I doing here?” And I have to confess that I keep asking, “Why me?” I’ve asked myself that many times over these past 5 years but it seems less fair this time around. It was bad enough to get cancer, but to have it come back and possibly stay is worse.

I think asking, “Why me?” is normal and I know there is really no answer to that question, but it’s there. What makes it worse is that I have to deal with all the emotional stuff while I’m experiencing significant fatigue and all sorts of bowel and bladder problems from the treatments. Sometimes I feel like crying because it all seems too much, especially when I’m trying to concentrate on doing something else.

Maybe I’m just feeling sorry for myself.

But who ever said that life is fair?

Posted by Doug

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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.

While there is uncertainty for me in this new year coming, I look forward with optimism and hope, knowing in my heart that I am doing all that I can, that I am doing the right things, and that I am getting the best treatment available.

I wish everyone a very healthy, happy and hopeful New Year.

Posted by Doug

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Today, I met with the radiation oncologist to talk about “salvage” radiation therapy (hate that expression) to try to kill the cancer that has recurred in my prostate bed. Odds are that this is where it is, but I don’t know for sure. Either do they. So they’ll just fire the particle accelerator at me and hope they get it all. It’s a lot more refined than that, but the outcome is the same – I’ll only know for sure if my PSA goes down and doesn’t go up. I’ll be starting in a couple of weeks for 33 consecutive days.

I kind of knew this was coming but it all seems so much more real now. I’m stressed to the max just cuz it was such an intense day. The shock of a recurrence is one thing, and I’m feeling good that I’m doing something about it, but now I feel like I’m really living with cancer, or at least starting too. I think it’s going to be a long haul and I don’t know whether time will make it easier or whether it will accumulate. I guess we’ll see. I need to make time to absorb it all and to adapt. I really should be doing things like yoga and meditation and would welcome any other ideas or advice.

Posted by Doug

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When we are stricken with cancer, depending on which cancer, its stage, etc., we are faced with many choices. Choices of doctor, choices of treatment, choices to get second (or third or fourth) opinions. They are all terribly important choices that we have to make at a time when our lives have been turned upside down, and each of us will approach these choices in a way that is uniquely us. Many people are very analytical and will vacuum up as much information as possible in order to make the “right” choice. Others feel much more comfortable putting their faith in their doctor(s) because they don’t feel qualified to make some of these choices on their own. I think others may just get dragged along, hoping for the best.

Cancer is a game of numbers. Treatment options are based on statistical, historical studies of large numbers of people. If you happen to fall neatly into certain categories it may seem obvious which way to go, but we are all unique and no one can predict with certainty what will happen to us based on our choices. But we have to make them, because not choosing (or choosing to do nothing) is, more often than not, a death sentence. So we choose our doctors, we choose between radiation and surgery and chemo. Sometimes we choose when to start. And then we throw ourselves at the mercy of those who know what they are doing and who have our best interests at heart.

It is very, very important that we never second guess these choices. While you may be able to stop a course of therapy, there is really no way to reverse or go back. And since we cannot predict the future with any degree of certainty, we certainly can’t answer the “what if” questions. What if I had radiation instead of surgery? What if I had opted for high-dose chemo? What if I had insisted on adjunctive therapies? Maybe you have choices going forward, but you can’t undo the choices you have made.

So make your choices with the best information you can, with the strongest intent you can muster, and put your faith in those you trust. Its the best you can do. Never look back or second guess those decisions and choices. There is nothing you can do about it and it will tear you apart. You have enough to deal with without blaming yourself for “wrong” decisions. And if your original choices don’t work and the cancer recurs or spreads…… well, you did your best, and now you need to make new choices. Take what you have learned and move forward.

Posted by Doug

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After 5 years of undetectable PSA readings after my Prostate Cancer surgery, my annual blood test showed that it’s back. I was supposed to have really good odds of being cured, but I guess I fell into that small percentage. Now I’m looking at other, different treatments like salvage radiation therapy (what a name!) and hormone therapy. What I don’t know is whether these treatments will be able to get it once and for all or just slow down the inevitable. Life suddenly isn’t looking as long as it once was.

How do you handle something like this? My first diagnosis 5 years ago was hard enough, but at least I did something and thought it worked. This is something different. I’m not going to die tomorrow but, instead of living as a cancer survivor – wounded but back on top – I’m now going to be living with cancer and treatments and doctors and side effects. It just seems so big. It’s always on my mind. I thought that I would be able to handle it better this time around, but it’s damn tough. I have good days but I have some really nasty days. I’m going to attack this thing aggressively and that feels good but even though I am doing something, it only helps a little.

I have hope and I have a loving wife to shore me up. She tells me it’s okay to cry.

Posted by Doug

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