Tuesday, June 19, 2018

June 19, 2019 - NAD Man


Chemo Man is now “No Active Disease Man”

I was going to write that my last PSA test showed a drop back to 0.03 after my March test was a 0.04.  Of course this was very good news, even though the difference may have only been an anomaly.  I should explain that even getting a an 0.03 takes a special ultra-sensitive PSA test.  The less sensitive test can only say that the patient has a PSA of less than 0.06.  In any case 0.03 says that if there is any prostate cancer activity, it is extremely small.

Then today I underwent an Axumin™ PET scan, a new (approved by FDA on May27th) type of scan that uses and amino acid analog called fluciclovine F-18 with radioactive fluorine-18 attached.  This stuff is injected into my blood vein and the drug is taken up by the prostate cancer cells.  The fluorine-18 emits radiation that is picked up by the PET/CT scanner, which in turn uses a computer to produce a detailed image.  A few minutes ago I received the preliminary results from my oncologist, Dr. Bhangoo.  He said, “PET scan shows no evidence of active disease.  Great result.  Quite frankly I was expecting much worse since this is a more sensitive test than anything I have had before.  It does, however, make me wonder if my doctors are disappointed to see nothing while using their brand new toy.  J

I have stuck to my regimen that I have talked about in the past.  I did introduce a turmeric/curcumin pill in my daily pile of supplements, even though Kathe does add some turmeric to our shakes.

Last month I had my yearly Medicare wellness exam.  My blood work showed everything in the normal range except for one thing.  This was my Hemoglobin A1C which was 5.9 % (normal is less than 5.7%).  This is pre-diabetic!  My primary care doctor said I should cut back on my sugar intake.  WTF?  I am on a very low carb, almost no sugar diet! It makes me wonder what I was when I was gobbling all those cookies and sucking in that pure white sugar.  No one told me I needed to do anything then!?

I talked to several doctors about this finding.  One said it could be the Lupron.  Others said it could just my getting old.  Just Great!

Now I have to work on this problem in addition to keeping up with the cancer fight.  I do know exercise is one thing I can do and I know I don’t exercise enough.  Walking the dogs several times a day is not enough. 

I am reading a good book on nutrition entitled “Beating Cancer With Nutrition” by Patrick Quillin.  I recommend it to anyone who is going through this fight.  It isn’t teaching me a whole bunch of things I didn’t know, but it is reaffirming much of what I have been doing.  It talks about four main contributors to successfully fighting cancer: (1) positive mental attitude, (2) good doctors, (3) mindful nutrition and building the immune system, and (4) exercise.  It talks a lot about mental attitude and the contribution that friends and strong beliefs can make.  This cannot be underestimated.  I’m getting into nutrition details now, but I can say that I agree 120% that the four contributors are why I am here today calling myself “NAD Man”.

So what is next?
I am going to have a DEXA (bone density ) scan soon and am also going to have genetics testing.  Stay tuned…


NAD Man