Life From Here! November 16, 2011

Well little Cowboys and Cowgirls; the news is not good. My PSA level has risen 92 points since the last test and more importantly since my first treatment of the “Wonder drug” Jevtana. As of yesterday my reading is 337, up from 245…3 weeks ago, and only 37 below the 374 where I originally started, in 2009.


I’m little pissed. My infusion appointment was Tuesday morning at 8 but the results of the PSA were not in yet. The Doc was not there and they said, no matter what the PSA is, he will still want you to get the chemo and, against my better judgment, I went ahead and did it. The results came in around 10….just as I was finishing up, natch.
I talked to the Nurse and she said it is not unusual for the drug to need a couple of hits before it really becomes effective…..I can grasp some educated optimism from that….Every drug I’ve taken has taken a couple of treatments or weeks of doses to get a favorable read….so we’ll see. (I'm surprised the violins haven't shown up).

With a combo of Taxotere and a clinical trial drug, which I first started with, my PSA dropped 100 points after the first treatment! And it never did anything but go down or break even after that. So, I’m disappointed for sure but I have other arrows in my quiver and so I’m just going to chalk this setback up as a “Rule learning" experience! Yeah!

I’ve gotten some of positive comments on my writing style (I’ll stop short of saying skill). Nobody is more puzzled than me. I was always able to write a pretty good business letter but.…who knew. Well, my 87-year-old Mother showed me a little story I had written when I was in the 5th or 6th grade…….our teacher wanted us to explore new words or ideas to express things instead of the normal “It was a dark and stormy night”. I won’t bore you with the whole story but my opening line was “As the Sun vomited forth light upon the earth”.....Probably a lot of people wouldn’t have recognized that as talent.…right?

I’m not crazy about now having to go through nadir and the other discomforts for a drug that may not even work. It’s not as bad as before….unfortunately, I always felt that the worse I felt…the better it worked and I was usually right. So Pray that I feel like real crap this weekend!  Enough of that.....I hear the violins.

Just a couple of observations since I have your attention:

Have you ever wondered how the government decided that the ATF, the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, was the right combination?…I can see it…..they thought of a bunch guys sittin' around playing poker, smoking cigars and drinking liquor......with guns on the table!

The "Occupy" group…they say they're protesting corporate greed…well, why don’t they protest for world peace, they both have the same chance of being changed. And to protest is to what...camp out?  I protested against the Viet Nam war in the 60's. But we had an achievable goal in mind...end the war.  I really think most of them are there for the party...hell, I'd go too if I were in my mid 20's. 

I was once in a world where I discovered that 8:08 on a digital clock, looked a lot like B:OB. So it became “BOB Time” and every time someone saw it on a clock they would yell "It's BOB time" and the whole group had to dance....It will haunt you forever now…LOL

I don’t want this to sound all negative….I’m sure there are options, I don’t plan to run to Mexico like (my hero) Steve McQueen and get coffee enemas. But for the first time I was able to understand the “panic” some may feel. I had a flash of it….but it went away, Things, treatments, drugs may get a little harder from here on…but I’m up to it! Bring it on!

I’m not done and want each of you to keep the faith…I intend to.

And hey! Steve Jobs’ last words were “Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow…..maybe there are 17 virgins?

Hey!  Have you ever wondered what the devil looked liked?  See below, I call it "The Before" and stay tuned for my "After"

Behold......the Beast!  Live Prostate cancer cells.

Keep the Prayers and Spiritual Energy coming, and Thank you, Bob