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
