So it begins...

27 Aug 24

Made some great bread & butter refrigerator pickles from the cukes, peppers & garlic we grew. The blackberries are starting to ripen so we’re picking like crazy. Blueberries are almost finished. And we have a few strawberries and raspberries each day. We have one more apple pick, we'll make sauce with them. The melons are getting larger and looking gorgeous. We have watermelon, cantaloupe (Minnesota Midgets) & honeydews! The green beans have been amazing. Berit cooks them in a cast iron pan with lots of garlic and they're delicious! We spend a lot of time in our garden.

We met with our medical oncologist, Dr. Y, yesterday at UW Medicine. He’s nice, very informative and spent an hour going over options (there aren’t many choices), what to expect and to answer any questions we had. We really like Dr. Y. He’ll be directing the process for the foreseeable future. He’ll work with Dr. M, our radiologist at Fred Hutch. I should emphasize that all the people we’ve met during this process are smart, compassionate, and very generous with their time and knowledge. We feel cared for.

Following the protocol for advanced prostate cancer, we’re looking at two years of hormone therapy, with 5 weeks of daily radiation in the mix. That starts about 5 weeks from now. 

For the hormone treatment, one shot of Lupron every 3 months with a daily pill of Abiraterone (Zytiga). Because we didn’t want to delay the start of the healing process waiting for the insurance company to approve the treatment (the injection costs $5K), I’m taking Bicalutamide (Casodex) at this time to block production of testosterone, post-approval we will switch to Abiraterone (Zytiga).

And because abiraterone lowers the level of other hormones in the body, they add prednisone to the treatment to avoid additional side effects.

We’re using the nutritionist on staff, she’s wonderful, hoping to get access to acupuncture and maybe some counseling as this is pretty stressful stuff to digest. Fred Hutch and UW Medicine have lots of support services and we’re taking advantage of them 😊

I need to get a bone scan soon; to determine a baseline for bone strength as the hormone treatment can affect bone density. And we’ll continue to do regular bloodwork, throughout the process, to help monitor changes.

Side effects, there are a few, with possible fatigue, weight gain and hot flashes at the top of the list. Long term effects, will depend on how much radiation is used and how long the hormone treatment lasts.

And to add insult to injury, I have a fungal infection on my backside that is quite uncomfortable, but unlikely to have anything to do with the cancer. Regardless, I’m using an anti-fungal cream to treat and am watching my sugar/carb intake. It seems to be working.

The menus are getting easier to create as we dig deeper into a plant-based diet. We have a bunch of recipes now which are tasty and nutritious. We made some yummy enchilada’s last night.

I have a daily weight routine. I no longer run so we walk a lot with the dogs (cycling is out until the fungus is eradicated). We do yoga every evening. I’m 180 lbs, same weight as my junior year in high school. I have no stress to speak of (except cancer) and I feel great!

We’re hearing from lots of friends and family who are keeping us in their hearts and minds. Thank you, it means a lot.

Fingers crossed 😊