Two weeks since starting treatment

     Today it has been two weeks since I restarted cancer treatment for my stage IV prostate cancer. There’s really not much to say. I feel really good but I attribute all of that to the prednisone. My oncologist believes that for the last 10 months I had been  suffering from adrenal insufficiency. Zytiga shuts down the adrenal gland. Patients taking Zytiga supplement with prednisone. Often, patients who stop taking Zytiga find that their adrenal system never fully restarts. This was true in my case.  Once I resumed the prednisone my body was getting the steroid it needed to repair itself. 

     Prior to re-starting treatment I had received a referral to the local orthopedic clinic for the chronic pain I have been suffering in my shoulder. I had already received two Cortizone shots to try and relieve the pain. The first shot worked pretty good. It seemed  to relieve the pain for several months. The second shot lasted only a few weeks before pain returned. Two years ago  I was leaving work and slipped on a patch of wet moss. I fell hard and absorbed weight of a full body impact onto my left forearm driving my shoulder straight up. It has been problematic ever since. Friday last my shoulder was X-rayed. Next Monday I will have an MRI. I am no longer certain the MRI is necessary. Since restarting prednisone much of the pain has dissipated. There is still mild discomfort however I am not so sure the MRI will detect anything that can be repaired by arthroscopic surgery. Time will tell.

   I am finding it somewhat easier to urinate this week. I take that as a sign that treatment is once again putting cancer to sleep. Chronic diarrhea has returned since starting Lupron. Huge bummer. My libido is waning. Worse bummer! Oh well, Mandy and I have worked through this before and know how to keep intimacy alive.

   On a positive note, we broke down and purchased a hot tub last month. It arrived a week ago and we have been using it every day since. That may also have something to do with the absence of shoulder pain. 

   That is about all I have for this update. Life is good. If you have been diagnosed with late stage cancer and have not heard it from anyone else, I want you to know there is hope. A diagnosis of this disease does not mean you have been given a death sentence. Thee is hope. There is hope! THERE IS HOPE!!!!