I just realized that it's been a couple of months since I last updated. My apologies - I'm just not normally one of those people who post updates about themselves, so I don't tend to think about it. I also tend to not really notice the passage of time, until something happens to bring it to my attention. (I'm a natural born hermit, and I've worked from home for more than a decade, so one day tends to blend into another, and before I know it weeks or months have passed by.) Fortunately, the news I have is all pretty good.
I finally managed to get my MRI done. I got sneaky the last time that we had the authorization problem, and immediately rescheduled the MRI for three weeks later, then the doctor's office applied to the insurance one more time, and this time we managed to have an active authorization covering the appointment! That was about 5 or 6 weeks ago. I got to say, I'm more claustophobic than I would have thought, but I managed to get through the whole procedure anyway. They put headphones on you so they can communicate with you (it's ridicuously loud in there while they are imaging your innards), and they let you pick what music you want to listen to. Fortunately, Pink Floyd and Jethro Tull were able to help me keep my cool during the occasional panic attack.)
I meet with my urologist yesterday to get my three-month jab in the butt with the hormone suppression injection, and to discuss the results of the MRI. I had already reviewed the results in my chart, but it was still nice to have my interpretation of it confirmed by the doctor. When I had the initial CT scan and Whole Body Bone scan done, they were concerned about some apparent abnormalities that turned up, particularly in my adrenal glands, next to the kidneys. The MRI provided a much more detailed view, and those abnormalities turned out to be just some benign cysts. The MRI didn't detect any cancerous tissues beyond the prostate and the pelvic tumor we already know about, so it seems the cancer hasn't spread any further. The hormone suppression therapy seems to have stopped any growth and may have even shrunk the cancer a bit. I'm less conscious of the tumor than I was before we began this therapy, and I recently realized that my urine stream is a bit stronger these days - still not great, but better than it was, which implies that my prostate isn't blocking the flow quite as much.
So, like Paul's uncle, it looks like I'll be on these drugs for at least the next several months. I've got to get some blood work done, and they'll be scheduling another scan in a few more months (he said they normally do them about 6 months apart) to confirm whether the cancer has shurnk.
I still get hot flashes occasionally, but since I started taking the fish oil supplement those hve been a lot less frequent, and usually milder and of shorter duration. Forutnately, the ceiling fan in my bedroon has a remote control, so when one hits in the middle of the night I can just grope for the remote and switch it on until it passes, without getting up. lol
Oh, I do have another piece of heath news. Around the end of February, my brother and his girlfriend both sick, and she started losing her sense of smell and taste. My brother could get a free Covid test at the pharmacy in the store where he works, so he did that and picked up a testing kit for his GF. They both tested positive for COVID-19, and then a day or two later I got sick. I never bothered with a test, but under the circumstances it was pretty obvious that I got it too, although ironically I had the mildest symptons. I felt crappy for a day or two over the weekend, but felt better enough by Monday to sit in front of the computer and do my job like always. I was completely recovered in less than a week, while Sally (the youngest of the three of us) felt bad for two weeks, and wasn't fully recovered until another week or two after that.
