Yesterday, I had an appointment with an Oncologist! This was be the initial appointment since a set of tests over the past few weeks have determined that the cancer cells in my prostate have spread to the other areas of my body. My urology professional team and I had hoped mightily that the small level of cancer showing in the prostate would remain just another item to watch out for in my aging 82 year old body. Turns out we were wrong. Now it is going to be up to both my urology folks and my new Cancer specialists.
As some may know, back in December of 2022, when my wife and I were living in the Newport News/Hampton area of Virginia, I had a malignant tumor removed from my bladder. The urology/oncology physician determined that the entire tumor had been removed. He also discussed with me, during a subsequent follow-up to that surgery, the aspect of “shaving” or trimming the prostate gland in my abdomen. It had been diagnosed as being enlarged a couple of years prior to this and I had been taking medicine to reduce its size making my urethra more open. My wife and I had already made plans to relocate back up to Alexandria, VA because she had received a terrific offer with a company back up here, and had put our Newport News home on the market. Thankfully the first day of being on the RE market, we received several offers. We selected one and accepted the offer. I informed my Newport News area urology/oncology doctor of this and we agreed that as soon as we were settled into a home in Alexandria I would contact a urologist and have the prostate procedure performed.
Once we had completed the closing process on our new high rise condo apartment, I contacted my previous Primary Care Physician at the Virginia Hospital Physicians Group. He had been my PCP for more than 10 years before our relocation to Newport News and he was the first contact I made after we got our personal effects in our new Alexandria home. My PCP referred me to a VHC urologist and my first visit was scheduled. We determined that the prostate “shave” surgery should be performed very soon. The prostate surgery was performed by the Virginia Hospital Physicians Group Urology specialist on April 19, 2023. Lab analysis of the shaving samples from my prostate discovered the presence of cancer in the prostate. While it was a small amount, we felt that it was simply a case of monitoring to ensure that it would not spread in the prostate or elsewhere. Several months later, in October, a decision was made to test for the Cancer’s status using a PET scan test. Results of that PET scan caused the medical folks to schedule a biopsy of my lymph nodes to confirm the results found in that earlier scan. Turned out, the Cancer has spread from my prostate into other areas of my body and was found in those lymph nodes. I was informed of this status and an appointment with the Virginia Cancer Specialists organization was made for yesterday, November 30th.
I met with the Oncologist who would be in charge of my Cancer treatment plans. There were some tests performed and blood draws were taken. Turns out that the Blood Draw will be a regular event throughout the treatment process to monitor the red and white blood cells and other indicators, oh joy! Hate those blood draws.
Medications, both oral and injection were identified by the Oncologist and two other appointments were made with my new Oncology Team of professionals in this organization. One for palliative care and another for genetic evaluation; can my children be faced with the same type of cancer? Orders were placed for the specialized cancer medication, and another member of my new “team” will be responsible for interface with my insurance and my Medicare people. As they put it, the plan is to keep my focus on fighting this cancer and they will take care of the other things.
So, it seems this old man has hit another roadblock and now faces the aspect of the dreaded word CANCER. My father and one of my brothers died from Cancer so I just figured that this is perhaps a bit of Hodges male curse. I don’t plan on just rolling over and waiting for the Cancer to kill me through. With this great group of Cancer specialists, and my regular team of medical professionals in the Virginia Hospital Physicians Group, I hold great hope and confidence that we will put up a good strong fight and hopefully win this battle.
More on this as things progress. Just want to keep my cyber friends (primarily males because this is a male type of cancer), aware of prostate cancer’s danger and hope that they take lessons from this to keep awareness and evaluative testing to ensure that they catch any semblance of this disease in the early stage. Don’t ignore the danger, Prostate Cancer can be a horrible invasion, and in many cases a harsh end of life. I feel confident in my team of medical experts and specialists and do believe that this old curmudgeon will be around for quite a bit longer.
Musings of a Geriatric Curmudgeon 