Cancer – reasons for hope in the near future

[Dan]

Swerd, when the catheter comes out curl your toes. It makes no sense but seems to help a little. And I hope your bladder recovers in days not weeks.

TLS, it sounds like it went as well as it could. As an academic MD I went there as a patient for a consultation couple of years ago, a much bigger trip for me from Maryland. My issue was kidney stones and bone loss. They are also THE place for kidney stones which is why I passed up on closer centers. They are truly a level above anywhere I have seen which includes some of the top centers in the country. It looks like a great place to work but I know two things. One I am not smart enough to work there and two I'd go crazy there in winter. I hope you recover speedily and have a complete cure.

 

[Alex2507]

I have to get my damn catheter removed

Is that like trying to start a lawn mower?

 

[Swerd]

Is that like trying to start a lawn mower?

Yes, but with the toes curled.

 

[Swerd]

Well getting the catheter pulled out was much ado about nothing. It was a piece of cake. Nothing close to serious pain. On a scale of 0-10, it was barely a 1. I've had worse hangnails.

I'm waiting before I find out if I'm cancer-free. But as of 10:05 am EDT, 2 July 2020, I am 100% catheter-free !

 

[TLS Guy]

Well getting the catheter pulled out was much ado about nothing. It was a piece of cake. Nothing close to serious pain. On a scale of 0-10, it was barely a 1. I've had worse hangnails.

I'm waiting before I find out if I'm cancer-free. But as of 10:05 am EDT, 2 July 2020, I am 100% catheter-free !

So, I assume by that the pathologist has told you the margins of the surgical specimen are clear. If that is what you mean, that is good news indeed.

 

[Swerd]

So, I assume by that the pathologist has told you the margins of the surgical specimen are clear. If that is what you mean, that is good news indeed.

I celebrated this afternoon with a 2½ hour nap! What a relief to go to bed without that catheter tubing.

I've begun testing my pain. I took 600 mg ibuprofen at 7 am today as I had been every 8 hours. At 6 pm when I woke, there was no acute pain, only slightly sore stiffness in my abdomen and flanks. I took 200 mg ibuprofen as test to see if that was enough. I think it is.

So far, I've been able to go pee 3 times on command since getting home. This is only preliminary, but it's a very good sign.

I just looked for and found my path report less than an hour ago. I think it's all good. Margins & lymph nodes are clean. I have one language question. I'll send it to you if you like.

 

[Swerd]

Last week, I saw the pathology report from my prostate, 11 lymph nodes and associated tissues that were removed in surgery. It looked good to me, but I didn't understand everything it said.

Yesterday, two weeks after surgery, I met with my surgeon by video call. He made it very clear there was no detectable carcinoma at the prostate margins or the 11 lymph nodes. Meaning, all of the tumor tissue was removed. It doesn't get any better than that.

I will still be monitored by the PSA blood test, every 4 months, for the next year or two. But this almost certainly means that I am cancer free. You can probably guess how good it feels to tell all of you this .

 

[snakeeyes]

Last week, I saw the pathology report from my prostate, 11 lymph nodes and associated tissues that were removed in surgery. It looked good to me, but I didn't understand everything it said.

Yesterday, two weeks after surgery, I met with my surgeon by video call. He made it very clear that no detectable carcinoma at the prostate margins or the 11 lymph nodes means that all of the tumor tissue was removed. It doesn't get any better than that.

I will still be monitored by the PSA blood test, every 4 months, for the next year or two. But this almost certainly means that I am cancer free. You can probably guess how good it feels to tell all of you this .

Congrats!!!!

 

[STRONGBADF1]

Last week, I saw the pathology report from my prostate, 11 lymph nodes and associated tissues that were removed in surgery. It looked good to me, but I didn't understand everything it said.

Yesterday, two weeks after surgery, I met with my surgeon by video call. He made it very clear that no detectable carcinoma at the prostate margins or the 11 lymph nodes means that all of the tumor tissue was removed. It doesn't get any better than that.

I will still be monitored by the PSA blood test, every 4 months, for the next year or two. But this almost certainly means that I am cancer free. You can probably guess how good it feels to tell all of you this .

Great to hear!

 

[Swerd]

It's now a bit longer than 4 years since my prostate surgery.

• The pathology results showed all the tumor was contained in the prostate, and it was all removed.
• In the next year, I had PSA levels checked every 3 months.
• For the next two years, every 6 months.
• Since then, once yearly.
• Every time, my PSA levels were undetectably low, less than 0.1. The yearly PSA checks will continue for a long time, but after 5 years I'm considered as Prostate Cancer free.

Since a year ago, I came down with lung cancer, advanced metastatic lung cancer. And since mid-November I've enjoyed unexpected success with one of those new miracle drugs, Selpercatinib (AKA Super Catnip). When I was diagnosed early last November, my blood samples, pleural effusion cell debris, pericardial effusion cell debris, and a liver biopsy were analyzed. All of those samples had several lung cancer markers, but zero prostate cancer markers.

So, despite the lung cancer, the good news is that I still am free of prostate cancer .