Hismones 04/30/25

Mission 1 Complete: 44 weekday radiation treatments finished April 22. Radiation oncologist set follow-up labs for May 22 with Telemed conference May 29 to discuss outcomes. I've never been known for being patient. I have a semi-annual checkup with my primary care physician May 1. I asked to have labs done the week prior and to include a PSA (blood) test among the rest. The tests were done the day following my last treatment and posted on the primary care physician portal. Results? Whereas my PSA was 6.x in November when diagnosed, it was down to .11. Excellent early success (!) and my blood pressure and anxiety went down a bit! The tests also identified some deficiencies in my blood work that match side effects listed by the hormone medication manufacturer, so I'll check with primary care and confirm with the oncologist the best approach to compensating. Now that radiation is complete, I have to focus on weight management. I've gained 10%+ of body weight during treatment, in part likely due to hormone treatment but also certainly due to stress eating, so that part is personally manageable. Despite being embarrassed at the lack of self-control, I look forward to talking with my doctor about moving forward. I requested an appointment with the surgical oncologist/hormone specialist for next week. The purpose is to discuss the remaining months of the treatment plan regarding continuing, discontinuing temporarily or long term, or enhancing hormone treatment. The current plan is to take Orgovyx through December 2026 but that length of treatment will likely make permanent changes to the quality for whatever years remain. I'm hopeful that the oncologist will be receptive to my personal life goals rather than simply to optimal cure rates. In the meantime, I anticipate that radiation side effects will subside in the next several weeks and will plan to post again after the primary care and oncology appointments. I participated in an interesting online session from Duke University this evening on the subject of reducing the financial burdens of prostate cancer care. Topics included a referral network, resource specialist in the cancer clinic, and more resource education for physicians and clinic staffs. Whereas my PSA at its highest was still single digit, one of the survivors in the meeting was finally diagnosed when his PSA was 1000+! His disease had metastisized widely, so his treatment included chemotherapy and surgery...but obviously he survived. His story was quite encouraging. So now, back to the Orgovyx and Immodium. My wife was so sweet last week that she took me on a surprise two-day getaway to a condo a little over an hour away for some simple down time. Life could be so much worse; I have ongoing reasons to be very grateful.