How’s Your Health They Asked.

Yesterday was Christmas Day of 2019. I spent the day calling friends and relatives and a frequent question would be, “so how’s your health doing?”  I would respond that I’m not 100% sure.

Please allow me to explain why I’m not sure as I try to update you on where I’m at.

Back in November, I decided to take a sojourn back to Texas for three weeks. I noticed the last week I was there that I wasn't feeling very well. Marked increase in fatigue, pain during urination, painful ejaculation, blood in what little semen I still produce and just overall feeling like crap. I have been experiencing the kind of fatigue where I can sleep soundly for nine hours and wake up and feel like I haven’t slept in days. I did manage to work a little bit at the beginning of December playing Santa but I’ve worked few dates other than that and I’ve spent a good deal of time just trying to get simple tasks accomplished. The neuropathy pain has really spiked, particularly in my lower legs.

Side note: A friend and I in Houston were stopped at a stoplight and got rear ended, so that has also played a role in how my neck and shoulders have felt.

I’ve also had what is approaching 44 pound weight loss since the beginning of the year with the majority of the weight, about 35 pounds of it having been lost since radiation and more specifically, within the last 2-3 months. That’d be fine except for the fact that I’m not trying to diet and I really haven’t changed what diet consists of.

I saw Dr. Lo (onc) at the beginning of December. He noted that my PSA, which had dropped to 5.4 ng/ml after the radiation, was now clocking in at a hair over 9. It’s not uncommon for a man to experience a slight, temporary bump of .5 to 1 in the few months after radiation, but a 3.5-4 point post radiation jump was not something he’d seen before.

Therefore, I’ll have another blood draw next week and I’ll see him in mid January again. Then we’ll decide what type of imaging to use to try to figure out what my little friend is doing.

I’ll take any thoughts and prayers people wanna send my way :-)

Until then, a happy, healthful , new year to each of you my friends!