Hiatus

It is now five months since I have posted on this blog.  That was remiss of me.  I make no excuse, but I do note, in mitigation that I was diagnosed this year with advanced prostate cancer.

Normally, prostate cancer is slow growing and men tend to die with it, not on it.  Mine wasn't like that.  A biopsy showed that 95% of my prostate was cancerous and the cancer was trying to spread via blood vessels and nerve pathways.

So... on the journey, I've learned some new names that are important such as Bicalutamide - which was the first drug they gave me as soon as I was diagnosed and staged.  This was needed before they could give me Goserelin as an implant every three months.  This will shrink the cancer before I have radiotherapy in October.

As a very young (first time I've been 'very young' for years) prostate cancer patient, I was judged as suitable for the ongoing Stampede clinical trial.  I was randomised to the arm using Abiraterone before metastasis and indeed before the cancer itself becomes 'castration resistant'.  Because Abiraterone prevents the body from producing naturally occurring steroids,  I also have to take Prednisolone.

Despite all of these drugs I am surprisingly fit.  My weight has slipped below 20 stones (280lbs or 127Kg) for the first time in years, this despite a tendency of Prednisolone to cause bloating.  I feel blessed.

For all this though, the literature suggests a ten-year survival rate of about 60%. So, I need to get off my ass and stay off my ass to make sure the stuff I need to do gets done.