Something Has Changed

Not too long ago in the recent past, I recall going to be at night around 9:30 or 10:00 and within minutes I would be fast asleep and would not wake up until 8:00 or 8:30 the next morning...  also associated with that was my feeling of constant fatigue that gradually disappeared leaving me with a renewed vigor to exercise which I did but began slowly. 

About this same time, my PSA levels had double and were above the acceptable range and while there was no indication for immediate alarm, I was told I still needed to get myself checked out by a

Urologist.  A day or two later, I mentioned to my Oncologist about day sweats and additional tests were performed on my blood indicating that my Thyroid levels were too high so I was put on medication.

After 5 days of that medication which is really too soon to see any kind of change, my body is in fact making a change...  I am waking up an hour or two earlier than before...  I have even more energy than before which could be attributed to my gradually increasing exercising routine that is now up to 40 minutes on the bike and walking a mile at a speed of 3.0 or 20 minutes a mile...  and, my desire to eat have substantially reduced from that which I was eating, although I am still not eating enough protein, veges, and fruits.

• Is it my thyroid medicine?
• Is it my exercising?
• Is it my cancer treatments?
• Is it my age?

SOMETHING HAS CHANGED...

Through Another Lens

A couple of days ago, I talked with my new Urologist about potential prostate cancer via video conference (like Skype I suppose) and while our sound did not work as was intended, we talked to each other on the telephone.  Interestingly, he said that of his 6 video calls that week, he experienced audio problems with 5 of them.

Our meeting lasted about 12-15 minutes and he patiently described the situation about having a high PSA number of 8+ as not being that alarming since it had only happened once, especially since I was not experience the other, more traditional, symptoms of prostate cancer.  He wanted to do another blood test in a couple of months to see if the PSA increased/decreased or stayed the same.

The next step was to do a biopsy of the prostate but because of COVID-19, no biopsies were being performed unless the patient had a PSA of 15 or higher.

He reassured me that prostate cancer was slow growing and since this was my first high PSA that there was nothing to worry about, since it was very early in the process and especially since prostate cancer typically was slow growing.  He also answered my question with a NO that there was no connection between prostate cancer and either Lymphoma or Melanoma; although there had been some evidence that treatment for Melanoma had helped prostate cancer patients.

What I liked about this video conference was that I did not have to leave my house and my first thought was that this is the way it should be normally for all FIRST TIME visits to keep patients from driving to the office and spending time with others in a waiting room for 60 minutes or so...   Perhaps, some follow-up visits could happen like this as well.

HOPEFULLY, this corona virus will change how we conduct future healthcare in this country.