The Advantages of NOT having a Prostate

Look on the bright side, old timer...

There is, of course, the nasty side of having your prostate surgically ripped from your body. There are side effects you won’t much like: a scar, some pain for a few weeks or months, a reduced sex life, and your bladder control never seems quite the same.

I’ve bemoaned all this and more. But what about the upside? Upside? There’s an upside?

Here is a list of some, if not all, of the obvious and not so obvious benefits I have observed and experienced from no longer having a prostate to kick around.

1. Most important to me - I’m alive seven years later and still counting

2. I never hold up lines in public restrooms (believe me, this can be a godsend)

3. I lost the two ounces the prostate weighed but I hardly notice the weight loss

4. I have an awesome scar to show anyone brave enough to want to see it (so far no one has ever asked to see it)

5. I’m definitely sterile – as if it matters to anyone as old as me

6. I can tell humorous and entertaining stories at parties about tubes and bags and diapers (my wife says definitely NO to this possibility)

7. Once the deed was done, it was done; no specific ongoing treatment – nobody ever gets a prostate implant – not yet anyway…

I consider my prostatectomy one of the more significant events of my life – after marriage, parenthood, grandparenthood, and running a few marathons.

axman

Prostate Cancer has gone to the Dogs

Maybe they’ll take a bite out of cancer...

We all know that dogs can track the lost and detect drugs at airports and border crossings. Now they have been trained to detect prostate cancer by identifying a specific scent in male urine (which, I’m told, is NOT in the male at the time of diagnosis). This has nothing to do with the dogs in your life that have been unrepentant crotch sniffers.

There are a number of articles and blogs explaining the research and telling you everything except just what exactly it is the dogs are detecting. Here are two links that pretty much sum up the French study.

Sniffing Out Cancer or Study Finds Dogs Can Detect Prostate Cancer will give you more details or maybe just wagging tails.

I’ll bet you really want to know if you’ll encounter a dog the next time you visit your oncologist. Probably not, but stranger things have happened. The dogs in the study were 95% accurate – much better than the reported 85% accuracy of the tried and true PSA. Maybe some combination of blood samples and urine sniffing will turn out to be 99% accurate!

The value of this study is probably in the fact that there is something that can be detected in urine and clever scientists will probably find another, less canine, way to detect it. Sorry Rover, sit, stay, good boy.

For most of us who already have prostate cancer this potential breakthrough won’t do much, but it just might help our sons and grandsons. We’ll see.


axman

Run, Rest, Recover, Repeat - - - Eventually

It takes a long, long time…

My motives (like me) are more or less pure and simple; I just want to get in shape to run another (ONE more) marathon. How hard could it be? I’ve done it 75 times before. But the dark powers of the universe seem to be conspiring against me (like in a Greek tragedy).

I’m not talking about serious injuries, hurricanes, floods, or even fire. I’m talking about the frailty of my own body and how long it takes to recover from a workout.

I’ve been doing this for six decades or so and have noticed a diabolical trend. In the early days it was pretty easy; I could do two workouts a day with no downside. Then it was one-a-day workouts until my late 40s. For the next 20 years or so I could muster every-other-day training. But now it takes three or four days between even moderate workouts to make sure the kinks are gone, the muscles are no longer sore, and the fatigue has moderated. Not fair.

A little more sleep, longer sessions in the hot tub, and a nap now and then all seem to help. But, time’s a wasting! Where did those ‘runner’s highs’ and ‘endorphins’ go? Maybe there is an age limit. I’ll let you know what I find out.

axman

Us Old Men with Prostate Cancer are actually Living Longer

...but why?

If you ask ten doctors why their PC patients are living longer you’ll probably get ten different answers. You’ll get the same variety of responses from those of us who have the dreaded PC. We all have an opinion but facts are few.

Is it:

1. New medications and treatments?
2. Better diets?
3. Exercise for the elderly?
4. Positive attitudes?
5. All of the above?
6. Some of the above?
7. None of the above?

I don’t know for sure if I’m living longer than expected – certainly not longer than I expected. But then I’m a cockeyed optimist – mostly.

Long ago I decided NOT to take it easy and “go gently into that good night” (apologies to Dylan Thomas). I have never seen any evidence that being active and pushing your limits does any harm. And even if it does, it keeps life from being boring.

Life is always terminal so having a terminal disease doesn’t change things all that much – hopefully.

axman

It’s Just like Herding Cats

My experience with the latest and greatest prostate cancer clinical trial

When I use the term ‘prostate cancer clinical trial’ you probably immediately have visions of old men taking exotic pills, getting strange injections, donating copious quantities of blood and other fluids, having full body X-rays, and tolerating invasive body probes.

Not so - this one is different.

A group of men with incurable prostate cancer and their wives (who do NOT have prostate cancer) were invited to participate in a six month twice weekly closely monitored strength training class. Including my wife and me, there are 20 in each class and husbands and wives work as a team (what an original concept) doing a series of simple but challenging strength building and stretching exercises. The plan is to get stronger, fitter, and ultimately live longer - maybe even save marriages.

The idea of husband and wife working together (a long shot at best) is supposed to increase the possibility of continuing the exercises when the program is completed.

Of course getting 20 old duffers to do anything as a group and stay focused isn’t easy and the instructors/experimenters have their hands full. It’s a lot like, well, herding cats.

axman

Ask Lots and Lots of Questions

…just don’t expect lots of answers

I see several doctors every two or three months. I give blood, get weighed (and keep gaining), have my blood pressure checked, and am told that nothing has changed. It’s all pretty mundane and boring.

But, I usually have a list of questions to ask – at least a few. I believe it is my job to ask questions – it’s MY life. My doctors likely (at least in their minds) roll their eyes and say, “Oh no, not again.”

Is there anything new in meds or clinical trials?
What’s next when THIS med stops working?
Is it OK if I decide to run a marathon (fantasy thinking)?
What could I be doing that makes the bad cells grow faster?
How am I going to pay for all this?

Do I get answers? Sometimes. Sometimes the doctors ask me what I think. They may or may not listen to my answers.

If I can get them to think about what I’m thinking it just might lead to something in the future (my future).

My lifelong training and education has been to accept that doctors should know the answers and we patients should obediently and quietly listen and obey. Nope.

A friend of mine (who incidentally died of cancer) always said his preferred way to die was to be shot by a jealous husband. I’d prefer to be done in by global warming or even a charging elephant. I’m not sure just what choices I may have at the time.

In the meantime I plan to survive indefinitely and keep asking questions (my doctors may eventually decide on their own way to do me in).

axman

On the Road Again…

There’s no place like home, but…

Whether it’s around the block or around the country, it’s good to be on the go. Really.

I have been in a seven-year prostate cancer holding pattern – a series of treatments, no cures, just doing what needs to be done to keep progression as slow as possible. That’s as good as it’s going to get far as I can tell. But I have also noticed that when I’m at home for any extended period of time – particularly in the wet Oregon winter (October until May) I tend to think more about my cancer and aches and pains.

So, we do a lot of running around (traveling makes us sound too sophisticated). We visit friends around town, spend time with kids and grandkids in other states, go to lots of historical spots, and do more than our share of camping and hiking in the summers. We even get out of the country once in a while. Our kids gave up any hope of an inheritance years ago.

When I’m doing things – especially new and interesting things, I feel better and go days at a time without ever thinking about my health problems – less time to dwell on self pity. It works for me.

axman

Medical Science, Black Magic, and Dumb Luck

Prostate Cancer Treatment in the 21st Century

I follow a few blogs, medical sites, and government sites that focus on prostate cancer. As an old geezer with incurable (but not untreatable) prostate cancer I am looking for hope and progress – something credible that might slow growth, shrink tumors, kill cancer cells, and let me live happily ever after. There are a lot articles and anecdotal stories that tout green tea or pomegranate juice or some drug not yet approvedas a miracle cure. It does appear that more men are living longer – that’s good.

But, there does not seem to be a cure on the horizon – guys keep dying while waiting for something to happen. Every once in a while somebody claims to be totally cured after suffering for six or sixteen years, or their macrobiotic diet shrunk their tumor to nothing, or eating flax seeds while living in clean mountain air has lowered their PSA from 842 to 1.2.

My PSA has stayed about the same for the two years I have been on hormone therapy, but all the data points to a time when the hormones will no longer slow prostate cancer cell growth. Nobody seems to know why it works for two years for some guys and 10 years for others. I’m hoping for 10 years – or more.

Answers would be nice. Even knowing the right questions would help. For now I can more or less accept my role of keeping on keeping on. Let me know if YOU have either good questions or good answers.

axman

The PSA Test – to be or not to be

What’s a guy to do?

In recent weeks and months there has been a lot written and said about the PSA (prostate specific antigen) test that men have been getting for several decades to help detect prostate cancer.

Some doctors and researchers are condemning the test as useless or even harmful and others defend it. What should us poor guys (who need the information) do? I’m way past the diagnosis part but I get PSA tests every three months to help determine the amount of hormone therapy I get. That seems to work for me.

Opponents say that PSA tests result in a lot of unnecessary treatments – surgery, radiation, freezing, and other options. And those treatments can lead to impotence and incontinence. That’s true - those side effects do happen. Common sense and patience might help. The PSA test is less than perfect but what is plan B? Nobody seems to know.

Increased PSA doesn’t necessarily mean you have prostate cancer. But results can provide information you need to weigh future decisions about your condition.

If you have never had a PSA test, check out organizations that you trust for more information and certainly talk to your doctor. What do the experts say? Check out the Mayo Clinic and American Cancer Society guidelines. They’ve changed over the years. Whatever their recommendations are you and your doctor will still need to talk and decide.

Mayo Clinic – PSA Guidelines http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/prostate-cancer/HQ01273.

American Cancer Society – New PSA Guidelines http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/NWS_1_1x_Revised_Prostate_Cancer_Screening_Guidelines_What_Has--and_Hasnt--Changed.asp.

I’ve had many PSA tests and will probably have many more. Every man has to look at all the options and decide for himself. What do YOU think?

axman

In the Spring an Old Man’s Fancy Turns to Thoughts of…

Sore knees, malfunctioning plumbing, setting new goals, and, of course, the good old days

After several years of almost daily walking and hiking but very little running, I’m starting to run again. …just a couple of miles every other day so far but hopefully it will build and lead to completing a marathon by next fall. That’s if everything goes well.

I tire more easily than I did even four or five years ago. Maybe it’s because of my cancer; maybe it’s due to my age; maybe it’s a combination of the two plus a few physical disparities. On obvious problem is my knee – with all the cartilage removed in 2006.

So, as I see it:
Job 1 – get these old bones and muscles back in shape – lungs too
Job 2 – baby that knee so it doesn’t grind and scrape too much. And be gentle with those herniated disks in my back
Job 3 – combine the results of job 1 and job 2 into a completed marathon in my 70th year.

Why am I doing this? Honestly I suppose there are several factors; ego, self identity, stubbornness, or maybe just stupidity (that’s my wife’s conclusion). I’ve completed more than 75 marathons and ultra-marathons and I always enjoyed the challenge. I ran pretty fast in some of them (won a few) and pretty slow in others. One more would feel good – another personal goal met.

My last marathon was in Stockholm (the one in Sweden) in 2005 and it took me well over five hours – more than double my best times in the foggy past. But I can live with slow – not that I have much choice. Stay tuned…

axman