Post Christmas post (for lack of a better title)

In the past week or so I've been to the urologist for a post procedure chat, had some changes in the side-effect picture, and today had my 2nd (of 4, I think) Trelstar injections.

The chat with my urologist went well.  I was prepared for his usual doctor-macabre sense of humor, but there was none of that. Instead, he said the procedure had gone very well, there was no evidence of any infection (they take a urine sample almost every time you walk through the door) ...which was good, and if I hadn't asked a couple of questions, that would have been the end of it.  

I had some bleeding going on (from hemorroids) and asked if the FloMax I'm taking might be causing that... and he said it was more likely due to the ultrasound probe being in there for over an hour.  I said I thought the bleeding was getting less frequent, and he said that if it kept going that direction it was nothing to worry about.
He asked how I was doing with frequency and urgency to go to the bathroom. My approach has been to think of some of the urges as phantom ones, and so I try changing my posture or moving around and that seems to help.

My only other noticeable side effect from the seed implants is that I seem to need more sleep and I fatigue somewhat more easily. Of course, I haven't been on my bike since the procedure was done (really haven't felt like it... physically or mentally).  From what I can tell, this is normal, and it really hasn't cut too much into what I want to do in a given day, but I've been on vacation! So..the pressure of daily work has lessened somewhat.

But we're trying to keep things quiet for the holidays (I say that after jetting around the Bay Area on Saturday and Sunday!)... and that's fine with me.

Today I went in to get my 2nd (of 4) Trelstar LA injection.  Trelstar is the luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LH-RH) that is part of the hormone therapy piece of the attack we're making on this cancer. This shot went better than the first one, mainly because I was aware of taking weight off of the leg on the side where the nurse was going to put the needle.  Last time I (foolishly) forgot that detail... and you know, muscle that is tight likes to get tighter around a needle.  Ouch!  :-(

I'm making jokes about the hot flashes (or flushes) I get as my new effort to get in touch with my female side, which causes most of my women friends to roll their eyes. And I notice a rather blue mood will come over me once in awhile, but I don't think that's entirely due to the hormones.  :-)

I need to do some more research on the way the hormone attack works because I realized that I'll stop taking the bicalutamide (testosterone blocker) @ 6 months from when I started it, but I'll continue to get the Trelstar injection to span a year of that hormone.  Ahhh... the things I don't know could just fill entire books.