I’m not sure how I managed it, but I picked up a nasty head cold after yesterday’s meeting with the oncologist. Perhaps it was from being at the hospital two days in a row, or from me riding our commuter-packed light rail system to get to the hospital (stops right at the hospital) that did me in, but whatever bug I caught kicked in around 5 p.m. yesterday.
Around 7 p.m. tonight, I was nursing the head cold, watching the ballgame on television when my phone rang, and I was surprised to see it was a call from the VA.
It was the head of the urology department inquiring about continuing my pelvic floor therapy at a community provider. (You may recall that I started that back in December, and the original end date of the therapy was 2 April.) I told her that the therapist and I agreed that I had plateaued and didn’t see a need for me to continue.
Not one to miss an opportunity, I mentioned me meeting with the oncologists yesterday and asked her for her take on whether starting hormone therapy would be appropriate. I also mentioned the negative scan results. She was more of the mindset of waiting until there was evidence of spread, and she said, “I wouldn’t chase numbers,” when I mentioned my current PSA level.
She noted that I had the follow-up with the oncologists on 2 June and a follow-up with urology on 23 June, and said we can review things then.
Once again, the “experts” offer differing approaches, and it’s up to us, the patient, to pick and choose what’s best. After 15 years, it’s not a surprise, but it still is frustrating at times. MO Jr. did mention that it may be appropriate to convene the “Tumor Board” to get all the key players in the same room and review the case for the best course of action.
At this point, I’m inclined to get the PSA test at the end of May and, with that new information, try to push to get everyone in the same room for a discussion of next steps forward. Or at least have them convene the Tumor Board without me.
In the meantime, I’m just going to curl up in a ball and try to get the worst of this head cold behind me before the weekend.
Be well!
Header image: Anza-Borrego Desert, California
Dan's Journey through Prostate Cancer 
The thing about pelvic floor exercises (what you, Dan, term as “therapy”, although I suspect yours has been more regimented), is that you can do such activity any time, any place.
I became aware of even the existence of pelvic floor muscles long ago after listening to a BBC World Service radio programme. That was a decade before I started getting urinary difficulties that led to a prostatectomy.
Post-op, it took around 15 months until I was confident enough to discard the pad on my bed and the adhesive ones in my underwear. I feel certain that my continued pelvic floor exercises helped in regaining continence and I’d recommend any man over (say) 50 to start the practice. On a side note, women seem much more clued up about those exercises because, you know, childbirth.
I just wanted to pass that on, my own pathway to physical coping mechanism, for anyone passing by this excellent history of Dan’s Journey.
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Thanks for sharing, Al. I agree. The therapist gave me the tools to keep up with the exercises at home, and she wasn’t introducing anything new over the last few sessions, so I just thought I’d take what she taught me and continue with it.
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Get well soon Dan.
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Thanks, Charles!
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