Follow-up, Follow-up

The much awaited day (to me, anyway) has come...

In my last blog entry I lamented the cost of my new medication and the the uncertainty of results. Well, I had my blood draw and the results were more than encouraging. My PSA, which had leaped to 27 less than a month ago, has dropped to 16! That's in just three weeks on abiraterone. If that continues I may get back to an acceptable level in another month or two--hopefully. That is indeed good news. In the cancer world there is no guarantee good news will last forever, but it's a start!

The life of anyone with any type of incurable cancer goes by the numbers or x-rays, or some other marker. In the case of prostate cancer it is PSA--however accurate that may be. When my PSA is up I worry (but not too much). When my PSA goes down I celebrate (but not too much). When my PSA is going down the side effects (there are always side effects) don't seem so bad. Most of us, I suspect, get used to side effects over time and they just become a continuing minor annoyance.

Stay tuned.

axman