Posted 9/26/2009 11:27 AM (GMT 0)
Mal, I hear you ... and believe me, I have every intention of "encouraging" John to get treatment now. What I'm trying to get my head around is the fact that John's PSA hit 0.0 seven weeks after surgery and has stayed there for 17 months. I sure hope this is a good sign - that the PCa cells that might have been left behind are a bit sluggish and that the RT will hit them before they wake up and start partying!
Interestingly, last night we chatted about the situation. I told John that I learned that Memorial Sloan Kettering uses a PSA of 0.2 post surgery as the threshold to begin SRT. When I told him that, he got a little quiet but I think the doggie light went on in his wonderful brain. He said to me "listen, if the rad onc tells me I need to start treatment now, I will" and "I've come to terms with the fact that I will need radiation". I told John - God Bless him - that I was happy as long as I knew that he was approaching this with an open mind. Whew...was worried there that he would wait to hear what his urologist said.
So, my educated guess (and I've had more education about PCa than I ever wanted!) is that we will be arranging for SRT this week. Once I know this is under way, I think I'll relax a bit more. I gotta tell you guys - the waiting and not doing anything has been the worst in this journey. I'm not known for my patience and this whole experience has been a test for me.
John's words before I went to bed last night were "sweetheart, we will get through this and everything will be fine." And it will all work out, with God's grace.
Take care my friends.