Personal Update

whitebeard - thank you for your kind words and support, cancer is never an easy thing as you know it, and my cancer journey has been plagued with one mishap and bad side effect after the other.

ilove - thanks, i have total confidence in my md anderson oncologist/PM, he's all heart and knowledge at the same time

shell, thanks and hugs right back at you

appreciate that, randy

laura, will be discussing all the nutricianal things this coming week I believe, something has to change, i am not wanting to eat at all now, and never feel even a tinge of hunger

straydog - thank you for that tip, haven't heard of that product, will check into it
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Update - August 25th. BTW, today exactly 4 years ago, was when I was given my Prostate Cancer Diagnosis. It came after the results of my 3rd prostate biopsy came in. Had 3 of them in the space of about 15 months. I never had any symptons of prostate cancer, never any urinary or ED issues, never had ever had an UTI in my life, never had to get up to pee at night, and all my DRE's (digital rectal exams - you know what that entails, lol) all came back negative. Prostate Cancer is sneaky like this, and there was no history of it in my family line. As my doctor said, someone has to be the first. Also, I was 56 when diagnosed, and my doctor said I was one of his youngest prostate cancer patients ever, normal age is about 67.

Also today, never wanted to eat again, never felt any hunger. Late today, when my son brought over a pizza to visit, I ate a single piece, perhaps 4" x 2", real small, just to be polite. Didn't even want it. In less than an hour , had severe stomach cramps and that throbbing in my lower back and right side. Actually looking forward to getting these scans next Thursday, sure hope they can show the reason for all of this.

david

David I just wanted to pop in here to say thank you for being you. The support you give others is wonderful, it's honest and most of all it comes directly from your heart. I feel honoured that you are sharing so much of yourself with us.

I have known so many people with cancer and very few have been as compassionate as you. I am glad you have a good support system at home and with your medical team.

I hope and pray you find answers to your appetite issues and they can be easily resolved. I also use glucerna (ensure) drink on days when I just do not want to eat, they are not as bad tasting when they are cold, lol.

thank you lizbeth, i know i have a lot of friends and supporters here, appreciate your thoughts and concern

thank you as well, rose, i bought some "boost" today, going to give that a try, not real fond of the "ensures", they almost make me gag, lol

bwfm, unknownst to you, that could never happen, i am in the middle of serious litigation against CTCA, because they are the ones that bungled my radiation treatments for my prostate cancer - and in the end, burned my bladder/bladder neck so severely, that i had to have a serious bladder by-pass surgery, thus ending up with a perm. stoma which i have to urinate through. right now, from a cancer point of view, very much happy with my md anderson associated oncologist and his team. they have been first class so far

david

sb,

thanks for the tips. my onclogist is very aware about the tylenol portion of my loratabs, i never, ever take more than 6 per day for BT pain, but that is still 3000 mg, which is the new lower daily limit, if I understand correctly set by the FDA. Based on my most recent blood work, doesn't seem to be any elevate liver related levels. i have never had any eating,nausea, constipation, appitite issues using the loratabs. been on them steady since july of 2010. guess its possible things could change over time, but kind of doubtful this is the root cause. sure my doctor will factor that in.

the blood work ordered is specific for pancreatitis and pancreactic cancer, and they will be looking for any tumor evidence in the CAT/MRI scans of my abdomen later in the week. problem with pancreatic cancer, as most know, that there really aren't any "early" symptons to spot, and when you get to the point of rapid weight loss, loss of appitite, back aches, etc, the cancer is usually reached advanced state, not saying this is the diagnosis. hoping and praying that it won't be that. my other risk factors are being male, having smoked a lot of my adult life (ex smoker now), and having pancreatitis for no known reason at age 28. combined with the current symptons, which popped up in the past month in particular, i can see why my doctor is suspect with my pancreas.

plus, since my prostate cancer has spread, they don't know where it spread to. no direct evidence of it metastising to the bone at this point, but in some cases, it can easily spread to liver, kidneys, stomach, colon, spleen, or pancreas. so we need to rule out the obvious.

fortunate right now, that i have the luxury of extra weight to lose. to assure everyone, i am no where near being skin and bones, a long way to go before that would happen. but still something to be seriously concerned about.

thanks for your care, and prayers, can't have too much of that

david

Hey, Jane.

Thanks for your good thoughts.

Even if I get really bad results, hopefully not, cruise is going to happen.

We are going on 5 day cruise to the Bahamas from Charleston, SC. It's only 3 hour drive to ship from where we live in SC. We are going to spend a day with daughter who lives in Charleston, then go on Cruise, then when we get back, spend one more day with her, then head home. Think it works out to 8 full days.

David