Jack Settles Blog

That’s right, this month it’s a year since I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. My primary care physician found a hard spot on my prostate, using the usual method of discovery, and sent me to a Urologist. The Urologist found two hard spots on my prostate, same method, and scheduled me for a biopsy. The biopsy was not much fun. They propped open the opening to the back door and inserted some sort of hollow needle and took a dozen samples from several areas of the prostate. I think that must be what it feels like to get shot. These samples were numbered and put into a special map of the prostate so they could refer to their location at a later time. They were submitted to a professional who decided they were positive. Interestingly enough only one side of the prostate was involved. The other side was ok.

When I went in for my next appointment the Urologist unceremoniously informed me that I had Cancer. Then after some silence on my part he informed me that he was starting me on a regimen of shots that would “do the job”, that’s when I started to breathe again, then he set me up to see a cancer doctor. The Urologist started me on the chemical shots right then. They gave me a shot of something called “Trelstar” It’s a combination of three drugs designed to shrink my testicles and eliminate my testosterone. He explained what that meant. It will dry up your testicles and shrink your prostate. The goal was to eliminate my testosterone. He didn’t tell me very much about what that meant…It changes you from male to female in some ways. You get Hot Flashes and begin to realize what that means to women. I began to think I was going to melt. I had a shot in each hip one side each month for 3 months and then they changed me to one every 3 months. As an aside, The Nurse who gave me the first shot put it in my right hip and got it too close to my sciatic nerve, even pierced the nerve close to where it comes out of the lower spine. Consequently I ended up with a lot of pain in that hip and leg for several months. Only recently has that problem eased up. If you experience the opportunity please tell the nurse to watch where she puts that needle. Stopping the production of testosterone stops the growth of the cancer cells which is a very slow process anyway. I suspect that I’ve been working on this problem for several years before it was discovered. My experience with E. D. goes back several years.

In the mean time I had my first appointment with the Cancer Doctor and he explained what he was going to do to me….seems like they don’t ask they tell. He set me up for a chin to hip scan of a sort of prone xray. They have that in the building next door to his office. That was quite extensive and because I have a Grandson who is a radiologist I ask for and got a copy of the scan on a dvd. Then the Doctor scheduled me for radiation treatments on a beam machine. It’s like one of those tunnel machines they lay you down and shove you in. The beam only goes where they tell it to. In my case they gave me 6 weeks of treatments each morning at 7. So I went in each morning at 7 and got a 15 minute treatment with the beam. They went from the lower abdomen to the bottom of the prostate. The Doctor explained that they wanted to make sure I didn’t have any leakage of the cancer into the surrounding tissue. I thought thatwas nice of him to want that, I certainly did. They don’t treat the whole area at once they only do a (small slice) at a time.

About a quarter of an inch or a little less. So after 30 treatments they have a complete picture. Then I went in for another scan but only of the affected area this time. I just mailed off a copy of that one to my Grandson today. So I had my last shot of the Trelstar stuff, which by the way they never did call that chemo therapy and I never lost any hair. I personally called it chemo but that’s just me. Then the Cancer Doctor scheduled me for a “seed implant” operation for September. That’s when the Urologist and the Cancer Doc get together with me as the object of their affection. I was only one of a whole day of surgery they had scheduled. The “seed implant” is a special insertion of radio active titanium seeds into the prostate. The Urologist uses a camera and inserts it in the urethra to make sure that the Doctor is putting the seeds in the right area. They insert the implant needle into the body between the scrotum and the renal cavity. I can’t locate any scars. Of course I can’t see that area very well. When I went in for the treatment I was put in a dressing room and put in one of those dresses, without a back, and laid out on a gurney. My Daughter, who had flown up from New Orleans to be with me during this time, was there and I’ll ask her to input her experience into this blog as well. Any how a doc came in the room and since the nurse had fitted me with an input apparatus in an artery in my arm the doc inserted a needle in the thing and I woke up in a recovery room. Pretty neat if you ask me. Then I began recovery. That was in early September and it’s now mid November and I’m still getting over the effects of the radioactivity. I’ve had a great deal of heat. It’s like I have my own little microwave down there. It makes the urine hot and it feels like it’s burning when it comes out. Since the prostate is right next door to the renal cavity there is always a problem with feeling like you need to have a bowel movement every time you need to pass urine which is still every hour or so. The Urologist gave me some samples of “Detrol-LA” which enlarges the bladder and helps it to hold more so you don’t have to go as often. So instead of getting up to go every hour I get to sleep a couple of hours between getting up to go. The Cancer Doctor said that the radioactivity should decrease pretty quick. He said the half life of the seeds was only about 2 weeks. The seeds are so small that they only effect tissue within a fraction of an inch, so they put in a lot of them. Maybe 60 or so and they have to put them in both sides of the prostate. (Just in case). The one thing they did tell me about was that the prostate would swell up. The Urologist told me that it would swell up a lot. That was an understatement. It really squeezes the urethra tube down to where you need all the concentration you can muster to be able to go. The Nurse at the urologists office checked my bladder to see if I was emptying the bladder completely and it seems like I am able to do that ok. The swelling of the prostate in the area of the anal cavity is probably why I feel that I need to have a bowel movement because it feels like there is something in there to expel. That has mixed results. When you strain to do that it causes pressure on the bladder and that makes the urine come out a little quicker. So it all comes out in the end.

I have an appointment with the Urologist in early December to see how the Detrol LA is working and to get me started on the recovery of my “Libido”. The Testosterone is recoverable, they say, and everything else should return to normal…over time. I’m 80 now so I don’t want to wait a very long time. I’m ready for a full and complete recovery now. The Urologist gave me a 100% chance of recovery and the Cancer Doctor said 90%. He wants to keep an edge.

Going back over the year, it’s been quite an experience and I doubt if it’s over or will be any time soon. I’ll have to go back for scans and they want to make sure I have enough radioactivity to do the complete job. It’s nice that there are ways to kill something like Prostate Cancer without having to remove the Prostate all together. The resident Doctor in the Beam Radiation Center told me that when they remove the prostate it shortens the urethra and that they must make up for about 2 inches of the tube so to do that they pull up the penis and the urethra that remains to hook it up to the bladder. So If you’d rather not lose a couple of inches off your penis you might want to opt for the things I’ve gone through. It might be best in the “long run”.

I had my appointment with Dr. Ortiz, the Urologist in late December and got a Christmas present. He says I’m doing “GREAT” and I don’t have to come back for 6 months.  I’m still on all the medications that are ment to return all my systems to normal. We’ll see how that works out. I’ll have a couple of visits to the cancer Dr.

He want’s to do another scan to see how the prostate is progressing and to see if I need any more radiation and any more seeds implanted. I hope not. I’ll keep updating this blog as time passes. If you’d like to be notified when a new post has been added,  please add a comment and include your email and your first name and I’ll send you a notice to stop by the blog for an update. My year with prostate cancer may stretch out for awhile and if any thing earth shaking comes up, I’m sure you’ll want to know about it. I’m getting mail from the “HIS” , Health Institute about all source of new and very old ways to cure cancer and how to prevent it before it comes along to grab you. That will be anoter Blog.  Thanks for dropping by. Jack Settles.