I go to see my onc next Tuesday. In addition to moving, spending a night at the ER to get pain "down there" under control, working a job or two, I also squeezed in a PSA test and an MRI to see (said in my best southern accent) "what's goin' on down thar." Well the report came back the same day and my onc knows me well enough to know that I'm pretty adept at reading them and, regardless of the news, I won't throw myself off a bridge if it's not great news, so he kindly posts them once he's read them.
And it's not all great news. But not all bad either. But not all great.
We'll start with the good stuff. My PSA is down to a 6 from a 13. That's the right direction. For reference, when I was diagnosed in 2014 it was a 5.1. Highly aggressive PCa tumors don't typically boost PSA much, so this is just one part of the puzzle.....but a welcome one.
Also noteworthy is that the largest tumor "demonstrates mildly decreased size" (3.3cm x 3.2cm vs 2.6 x 2.40). The radiologist notes that the bladder neck is "Grossly (seems like they could find a different word, ya know ?!) unremarkable". This is a good thing. It may explain why I'm having less and less pain during urination. I'll take it!
Now the not so great news is that I have a "Pi-Rad" score of 5 which means the radiologist thinks that there is a "very high" indication that I have a "clinically significant cancer". Well duh! What do ya think I've been up to for 5 years?!
Also, the extensions of the tumor that threaten my bladder and rectum appear unchanged. That's not so good.
My reading indicates that the full effect of radiation (the good effects as well as the bad effects) can take months to happen. But the fact remains I still have a highly aggressive, metastatic cancer in my pelvis and likely some cells running around my body.
Fatigue is my number one complaint now. I had no idea how bad it would knock me down, but it's right up there with chemo and ADT in terms of what it does to energy levels.
And I'm sick and tired if being sick and tired.
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