Medical Update

I realize that these blogs are not coming at a regular intervals but I am posting things here as soon as I can.

Michael went to the oncologist on Monday of this past week.  He is seeing a Dr. Dakhil out at the VA hospital.  Dr. Dakhil also has a practice in the Wichita area.

His PSA count has gone up to 200.  Normal is 3.  It was up from 145 a week ago.  What this means is that the cancer is still growing.   Dr. Dakhil wants Michael to start on the hormone therapy.  What they do is give him an injection in the stomach just below the skin.  The hormone pellet that is delivered will work for three months.  He will get his next shot in December. 

The doctor also found a nodule in his lung.  It is 1.2cm and he isn't sure if it is cancer but he is assuming so.  The lymph node that is near the lung is infected with the cancer also.  He told us that since it is so small, he is going to leave it alone for a month to see if it grows at all.  If it does, then it is probably cancer and he will address that next month.  He is hoping that hormone therapy will work and will start to decrease the PSA count. 

What the hormones do is removes all of the testosterone in his system.  With the testosterone gone, the cancer has nothing to feed on and will starve to death. 

They have changed his medicines also.  They put him on a 3 day Fentyl patch and 30 mg quick release morphine.  He is still in pain.  Last night he fell asleep in the chair in the back room smoking a cigarette.  When he woke, he came in the apt to go to bed.  He woke up this afternoon at 2PM and fell back asleep at 5pm.  I woke him up at 6 to make him eat supper.  I am almost sure that the sleeping all the time is the pain meds.  It is very frustrating to see him sleep is life away and yet I understand about the pain. 

So he has to go back to the doctor in October.  In the mean time, we are trying to do some small exercises to keep his muscle tone up.  He has lost so much by not being able to move around without the pain. 

I hope all of you out there are doing fine.  I know that you miss him but we really do need to stay here to see if we can get this cancer whipped.

God Bless and Take Care.
Lynn & Michael