Monday, November 30, 2009

Musings, appointments, and ....

An email from a relative today made me think again about the complexity of the problem of this cancer (and I expect this is true of many kinds of cancer... this is just the one I have to pay attention to right now).  And I'm not satisfied with how accessible my story is to people who might be able to use the information. So, I'm thinking about how that might be done within the confines of this blog. If anyone following this has suggestions, please email me - neale.barret@gmail.com.

But back to where I started... which is on the complexity of correlating the data to help new patients make a decision.  I think it's an amazing thing to say, as one of my doctors did, that deciding on a course of direction is like buying a car: you want a red one or a blue one?  He meant that as far as he was concerned, the data supporting surgery was about the same as the data supporting some of the other approaches.  At least that's what I think he meant.

But is that the issue, really?  I don't think so. 

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Side effects (round deux)

Hot flashes or hot flushes?

Well, to tell the truth, I don't really care (but for some reason "flush" seems more appropriate and in-line with the feeling... but one web site uses both...the flash comes first, and then the flush.  Seems like there's a bad pun in there somewhere.  Nevermind that, the point is that  I'm having them more often.  I'm not particularly thrilled with the development, but I haven't talked to my doctor about them yet, and really, I don't want to get into taking yet another pill.  But these are interrupting my sleep all the time now, so... something more to mull over.

The headaches along with the bicalutamide pill seem to have gone.  I'm no longer taking an extra strength Tylenol along with that in the evenings.

I have added a calcium chew to the mix.  It's candy, really... it tastes like caramel.  Why did I add it?  Because the lack of testosterone can cause bone loss.

Gad... this is an incredibly boring post!  Fortunately, it's short!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Corporate concerns

This isn't specifically about prostate cancer, but it's related... or at least it seems to be.  And lest anyone mis-read this post, let me say right up front, this is not a complaint about anyone. It's just how I felt.

There was a concern expressed about how I was dealing with this whole experience, and what effects it might be having on my performance at work.  And so I was encouraged to work with my doctors and fill out a "medical treatment report" form... which I thought was a kind of corporate intervention.  After some research, though, I am glad I work for the company I do, because there are structures in place to help protect people from the considerable pressure of the workplace while they are going through some other form of pressure (in my case, this cancer treatment fun). So, I got over the hurt pride, and am working on getting the form sent in.  We'll see if it helps or not.

But it made me think... what if I hadn't been working for this company? What if instead of a caring discussion about what was best for me, I worked for a place where they had just come to me and just said, "hey... things aren't working out so we have to let you go"? I have worked for places where that would have happened.  Thankfully it wasn't the case here. But there's more than that...

Monday, November 2, 2009

Antagonists and Agonists.. or "I coulda been a contendah!"

OK... this is silly, I'll say it right up front.  There.

I've been mucking about reading about hormones, agonists, antagonists, and trying to make some sense of what it is I signed up for (willingly, I should emphasize... I just didn't appreciate the complexity of the interactions going on here).  And I was casting about for a visual image for an agonist, because I felt like I was leaving the poor agonist out of the picture.  So ...brace yourself.  It's Marlon Brando in "On the Waterfront" asserting that he coulda been a contendah.

Where did that come from?  Good question! The Greek background of the word "agonist", which is this
"The word "agonist" comes from the Late Latin agnista, contender, from the Greek agnists, contestant, from agn, contest. An agonist is a chemical contestant or contender."

OK... that wasn't as funny as I thought.  Interesting words, these... and a bit confusing as well.  I mean, an antagonist is the bad guy in a story, right? And he or she plays against the protagonist.  Except not here.  It's another example of medical (terminology) humor. HA!  It is to laugh!  Only it would help for the medical terminology to be somewhat less opaque to the patient side of the equation.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Side effects. The horror!

The posted side effects possible for the drugs I'm taking are a scream. They cover just about every possible problem someone might have while taking the drug. For example, diarreah and constipation. How does that happen?  Well, let's move on.

Almost as soon as I started taking the bicalutamide I had horrible headaches.  But because I have a lot of headaches on my own, it was hard to discern if it was me, or the drug. I finally decided it was the drug because the headaches were in the same place (felt like they were in my eye muscles, so it hurt to move my eyes) all the time, the same intensity, and the same general feel. Then, I found out that extra strength Tylenol cut them... which was another clue that they weren't mine: Tylenol doesn't normally come close to relieving my regular headaches.