Do I smell Spring coming?

What a winter! I have just been reminded by a friend here in the forums to post occasionally so as not to cause worry. Thanks Gunslinger.

Ive been keeping a little scarce for 2 reasons. The reading of posts gets pretty heavy to bear sometimes, and I feel I bring no real knowlege to the table, yet I can share what I experience; Thats all I can do. So with that heres whats been going on for the last 2 months with me.

Had the Orchiectomy in January (23rd) I think. I must say the aftereffects of this surgery are pretty negligable except for one thing, I can become overly emotional at times. This I must keep under some kind of control. I can cry just thinking randomly about something sad, and the crying can get sort of out of control according to my nature In my opinion. Increased empathy has been a new and rather rewarding emotion since starting Hormone therapy those years ago, but one must keep it healthy dont you think?

As for me, I do not miss sex at all. I seem to have a larger reserviour of love for my spouse, which manifests in lots of hugging and speaking love words. It suffices.

wasnt long after the surgery my left hip became painful,...again....this time I could tell nerves were involved; the left leg going numb yet tingling, being supremely aware of a "hot" spot in upper hip/back area that would shoot spasms to knee and even around the lower back. Sometimes even my left shoulder area felt the effects.

I let it go too long before getting treatment. At first it didnt feel like the pains I experienced before. Pretty darn quickly the pain ramped up. As the appointment for radiation was set, I was given morphine in pill form. Wow I needed that. Pain was solid 6 to 8 at all times. Radiation for 10 days early March and now I am a few days past last treatment and can walk again, but there are some nerves that still complain rather loudly.

I still need morphine (long acting version) for day and nightime comfort. 15 MG slow acting. I am now on a pill form of chemo called Zytiga. 250 MG each and up to 4 pills daily. I need Prednisone twice a day to counteract the side effects which for me are aching muscles/bones/joints which I feel mostly in shoulder area.

Yesterday was my Zometa infusion and so far no side effects! this being the 3rd dose now. Maybe I am growing used to it.

Summary;
This round of my personal adventure with cancer brought me a new level of pain and a realization I would not enjoy quality of life under that kind of constant duress, which brought new thoughts of shortened longevity, which, by the way, made me depend more on Him. I now feel much comforted once again. And so far, things seem to be slightly in check.

PSA is 25 down from 45 before radiation. I see that PSA is no longer as accurate as an indicator of my progression. I once had a PSA of 155 with few bone mets, now I have a 25 with many mets. Touch and go I guess. Onc visits should be every 6 weeks if you ask me from now on. I am 135 miles from primary ONC.

I am getting spring fever. Thoughts of classic cars and home improvements swirl though my head lately. I wish each of you a very blessed day today.

Still winter in New England. Went skiing in VT on Monday. Plenty of snow and mid 20's during the day. Although. I suspect it will be warming up soon.

Thanks for the update. Good to hear your PSA is down.

Here in California we've skipped most of winter and spring - it's a nice summer day here, highs in the mid 70's and sunny as far as the eye can see.

Andrew

Grettinz,
Thanks for the update since I like to keep track of all our VN vets who have done so much. I believe that I mentioned previously that you were in my unit at a later date. I hope that your wife is well since to me "love" is the primary reason for existence. I regret that I couldn't express my love to my wife during the years that I can now. You expressed this phenomenon very well--wow!
You are in my thoughts and prayers and never forget "the red dirt of Pleiku".
Bill

SpecialLady said...
in most of Europe we had an unusually mild winter, so it was nice for a change...in the last week I have seen so many bees and bumble bees around the buds, the nature is waking...

p.s. always good to put extra emotional stuff to some creative use, great outlet. hang in there.

but you've had flooding :)

I'll wager the extreme emotion is coming from the Morphine, rather than lack of testosterone. Though low T is also a culprit, so I hear. I cry every day at least once, due to Joy, I like those feelings.. As a kid I remember asking my mother how come Allan Ladd could sit down and cross his legs like a girl[this was late 40'to early50's. She came right back and said," only a real man can get away with that".

My mother is on a morphine cocktail, it doesn't make her emotional, it makes her sleep and destroy the configurations on the Mac Book and iPad we set her up with to Skype with us and to watch moviews. For "fun" try troubleshooting simple computer problems with someone who doesn't remember what they did 5 min before and who is juiced up on Oxy-Contin and then some.

I've heard of HT treatments rendering men overly emotional, but never on morphine.