Happy New Year

As 2008 comes to a close, I mark another milestone on a journey I neither expected nor wanted to take. Today, I had my 17th radiation treatment out of a planned 35: close enough to 50% to celebrate!

I am doing very well. Fatigue continues to be the biggest side effect, but even that is manageable. I felt well enough last night to go to the Holiday Bowl here in San Diego with my brother-in-law Kimo.

I want to thank everyone who has traveled with me on this journey (some willingly, and others dragged into an odyssey of prostate cancer). Your prayers and support have seen me through some difficult days.

And I shared with my new-found friends and fellow cancer survivors in the doctor's waiting room this morning, "Happy New Year, and may we all be cancer free in 2009!"

40% and still doing well

Tomorrow, Christmas Eve, I will have my 14th radiation treatment out of 35 total. Then I will get a four day respite before resuming treatments next Monday. If my math is correct, that will mean I am 40% done. No big side effects so far. I am doing very well.

Thank you, everyone, for your prayers, concern and support.

Merry Christmas, and may you have a blessed holiday.

Want to see what IMRT is like?

I had my 4th of 35 IMRT treatments today. Would you like to see what it is like? Only difference is my doctor set me up so that I go in feet first because of my claustrophobia. So my feet are where this guy's head is, and visa versa. The machine never covers my head. And since my midsection is being irradiated, it makes no difference.

View the YouTube video of an IMRT session below.



Bless you.

Minor Delay

I went in for my setup x-rays early this morning. Apparently I did not take a very good picture, because the doctor's office asked that I come back Friday to have the x-rays redone. Maybe I moved, or something like that.

Bottom line: My IMRT treatments will now start next Monday, December 8 instead of tomorrow. No big deal. It gives me a few more days to prepare.

Bless you, everyone.

IMRT Starts

Well, I'm back after another pause in my treatment. The relaxed schedule has been good for me, and I now know why they delayed the next phase start date. It has taken me three months plus to heal from surgery. That does not mean I am 100% healed, but the last month has been a good one for me getting back to a state of normalcy.

Tomorrow (Tuesday, Dec. 2) I go to radiology for setup work (x-rays and such, I guess). Then Wednesday, I start my treatments with the first of 35 weekday treatments of Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT). IMRT permits the delivery of a high dose of radiation to the cancer while minimizing dose to other sensitive organs.

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We surely did, with so many things to be thankful for.

Hard to believe it is December, but time marches on. I am feeling very well, and ready for the next phase of my war on prostate cancer.

Bless you, everyone.