Except for my chemo summary, I left
you in April of last year after a 6-month hiatus from Lupron, ending with my returning
to Lupron (ugh). From April to July my
PSA had gone from .70 down to .11, which made me happy that the cancer was
still affected by Androgen Deprivation Therapy (hormone blocking). By July any of the positive effects of being
off of Lupron such as stirring of sexual feelings had disappeared. That’s what no testosterone will do. At the peak of the “no Lupron” period my
testosterone level went up to 345.58 from the low double digits. It was back to 18.79 in July.
In October my PSA was down to .07
and by November it was down to .06.
Osteoporosis
In July Dr. Lilly prescribed a DEXA
scan to see where I stood with osteoporosis.
Unfortunately the osteoporosis had progressed, so in October in addition
to my next Lupron shot I received my first three month Prolia® (denosumab)
infusion. From now on I have to be
sensitive to any side effects from denosumab.
An example is Osteonecrosis of the Jaw (ONJ)—in other words dying jaw
bone. Great! The drug description says I need to avoid
invasive dental work or any type of dental infection. I am also supposed to get plenty of Calcium
and vitamin D. I should also do
aggressive weight-bearing exercises (more on this later).
On the site “Consumer Lab” I
learned a lot about Calcium and vitamin D.
First, Calcium can only be absorbed in less than 500 mg doses and it
also is better absorbed with Magnesium.
Also, if vitamin D levels in the blood are above 80 ng/ml the outcomes
for prostate cancer patients have been worse than those with vitamin D
deficiency. The ideal range for D in the
blood is something like 50-80 ng/ml. I
was tested in October to have 84.2 mg/ml, which is not bad.
So I put the 1000 mg Calcium pills
and the high dose D3 pills aside. Thanks
to Consumer Lab and a friend of Kathe’s who waxed eloquent on the reversal of
her bone density loss due to “Bone Up”, I am now taking Bone Up capsules three
times per day. Each capsule has low dose
Calcium (333 mg), Magnesium (116 mg),
and D3 (333 i.u.). I was taking more
than 5000 i.u. doses of D3 per day.
Chest Pains
There is something else I haven’t
talked about here because I have been writing them off as minor side effects of
the cancer. I have had these pains off
and on for quite a while. This is what
happens: (1) I am in bed and I turn over
on my side, (2) I feel a dull chest pain in the middle of my chest, (3) I can’t tell if my heart is beating
harder but I feel a slight constriction, (4) the pain goes away within 15
seconds, (5) I have a hot flash and go back to sleep.
After saying something about it to
Dr. Lilly he suggested that I might want to wear a heart monitor. He could prescribe one, but because it is not
his area getting Medicare to pay might be a problem. I decided to take it up with my new primary
care doctor, Dr. Sevastos at St. Joseph’s/Candler near home. I did this and Dr. Sevastos (telling me he
didn’t think it was heart), referred me to a cardiologist just in case. I saw the cardiologist and he said he didn’t
think it was heart either, but he prescribed a stress test. I tried on the treadmill, but couldn’t get my
heartbeat to go above 115. So the
cardiologist prescribed a “nuclear” test where they inject me with something
that makes my heart beat fast and they take both an ECG and take images. I was quite nervous about this. I had to drive to Savannah (45 minutes) to
have the test and I was brave to go alone.
Bottom line: It was a piece of
cake. Sure, it took 4 hours, but I was
uncomfortable for about 5 minutes. I was
a little claustrophobic under the imaging machine and I had a stomach ache that
was dealt with by drinking caffeine. The
results were that they didn’t see anything wrong with my heart and in fact my
heart made an above average showing.
So what is it? My brother read somewhere that there is a
nerve in the chest that when pressured, causes similar symptoms. With my muscle loss due to the Lupron I am
sure my insides are a little more exposed.
I do plan to read up on this.
Chitosan Trial
In November I entered a trial being
conducted by Dr. Lilly. It is to test
the effects of taking 1500 mg of Chitosan twice per day. Lab tests have shown that Chitosan, in
addition to some weight loss advantages, may attack proteins that are behind
the growth of some forms of cancer. As for side effects, I have noticed
occasional stomach aches since Chitosan apparently interrupts part of the
dietary cycle. I haven’t noticed weight
loss, but Kathe has been taking Chitosan hoping that it will help in weight
loss. The worse side effect is that it
disrupts my supplement schedule since I can’t take anything two hours before
and after taking Chitosan. Every month
after November I have had to make the 2 hour drive to have tests for Chitosan
effects. Next week I will see if
Chitosan has had any effect on my prostate cancer.
This last dose of Lupron was a
4-month dose instead of 3-month. This
puts me out of synch with the Prolia and neither Dr. Lilly nor I are really
sure that the dosage is correct for the last month. I asked that the next time we go back to the
3-month dosage.
Exercise
Both for the cancer and for the
osteoporosis, I should be exercising. I
have tried from time to time to do this, but I often come up with excuses not
to do it. I do walk the dogs multiple
times per day for a total of an hour, but that is not weight bearing. So Kathe, being the good coach established a
rule for both of us: No TV without
exercising!!! I haven’t watched much TV
since. <smile> Actually, it has made me do a lot more
exercising, not that the TV is actually worth it.
On February 3rd I go
back for the next checkup. Hold your
breath until then to read the next in the saga.
Les
