The eagle-eyed among you will notice that I’ve made a few cosmetic and content changes to this website.
The cosmetic changes are mainly on the home page to make it a little more visually appealing and to get readers to my most recent blog posts faster.
When I started this blog, my content focused mostly on my surgery experiences. But now that I’ve hit the prostate cancer trifecta—surgery, salvage radiation, and hormone therapy—I thought it was time to broaden the scope of the site to reflect those experiences. The old menu at the top of the page used to have “Surgery” as one of the options, and it’s now been replaced with “My Treatments” with the sub-menu items of:
I hope the changes make sense and make visiting the site a little easier.
For those in the U.S., have a safe Labor Day weekend! (Stay cool—it’s supposed to be around 97° F/ 36° C here this weekend! Ugh!)
Dan's Journey through Prostate Cancer 
Hi Dan. I agree with the change. Prostate Cancer is a journey starting with Active Surveillance, followed by Treatment (surgery, radiation or brachytherapy), remission, recurrence, salvage radiation & hormone therapy, remission/cure and then metastatic cancer. Your interest and focus is dependent on where you are on your journey. Here’s hoping that we are both at the cure stage.
Gary
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Thanks, Gary. You’re absolutely correct about this being a never-ending journey. Even if we show no evidence of disease, we’ll still be getting our PSA tested for the rest of our lives.
I would be ecstatic if this combination treatment led to NED. But I also am ready for the alternative—that this just kicked the can down the road for 3, 5, 7, or more years. That’s fine, too, as long as my quality of life remains high.
All the best,
Dan
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Hi Dan, I wrote you a long letter way back when… I don’t think you ever received it because of “wordpress” or because I’m on a MAC. I never received a response which bummed me out…
Anyways, I had the “shitshow” and had radiation (SBRT = Stereotactic Body Radiation Treatment). It was 5 days with a pretty heavy dose of two years ago. My PSA has been good 0.2 the first year and a half and recently it was 0.3 which is outstanding. I did have residual effects though… Let me know if you want more details or would like to call when you have a spare moment. [Contact info removed] Ps. I just found the letter I wrote (3-11-20) Geeze – A long-ass time ago… (I’ll attach it)
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Hey Paul,
Sorry. I just checked my email folders and didn’t see an email from you at all. I appreciate your offer to talk (I removed your phone number for privacy reasons), and may take you up on that as time progresses and side effects kick in.
Be well!
Dan
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Hi Dan, great job on categorising your site.
Wonder if you can help re my about to commence the Radiation Therapy stage having come half way along the Hormone injection trail.
What is the best way, practically speaking, to get the “bladder full, bowels empty” status at a given time every day for 7 weeks?
Yes I think I can train the bladder even if some mechanical aid is needed, but how on earth do I achieve an empty bowel – is there a dietary trick to it or some intervention, a rhythm or what?
I’m dreading holding up the process or “failing to deliver the requisite state” with bowels Ive never considered able to be trained!
Cheers and well done Dan, hope the cure is at hand for you, you’ve certainly done a great job for us fellow travellers.
Peter.
Sydney. Australia
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Hi Peter,
I had the same concerns about the bowels because I’m not necessarily a “poop on demand” kinda guy. On the other hand, I’m pretty regular in my routine where I empty my bowels pretty much shortly after I get up in the morning. Knowing that, I specifically asked for a morning appointment to complement my natural body rhythms, and it worked out. Only once in the 35 treatments did they question the amount of stool in my rectum.
One thing they suggested was eating a higher fiber diet to keep things moving and softer (that would be less likely to push the rectum wall into the radiation field).
Please talk it over with your radiation oncologist and his/her team of nurses to let them know your concerns and get their ideas as well. Also, my technicians were very understanding and accommodating when I came up short on the bladder. They recognize it happens with virtually all prostate cancer patients. I was harder on myself than they were.
I hope that helps.
All the best,
Dan
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