G
Guest
Had the mail brought home today from the post office box; my more recent labs were there (unfortunate they hadn't arrived this last Thursday, for the Zoom mtg. with the Doc I met more recently).
Some minor successes therein, in addition to a sense of defeat and concern, knowing only enough about this to worry myself at times.
On the positive side, my A1C score is down to a 6.1, as of the 02/09 draw, from a 6.3 in mid-December, 2020. The A1C had been higher than I had seen it, the end of this last August, 2020.
The disconcerting news was that my PSA is up to an 11.1; higher than I have seen it. It had been an 8 during the end of August 2020, then it was a 5.9 December 14, 2020. Now, a mere 2 months later, it's an 11.1. (***Any opinions to offer, Weez??).
My creatinine is now very slightly lower than normal range, but we believe we've figured that one out; loss of muscle mass and weight loss can result in low/lower creatinine. If it were high, it would be a greater concern, as that might mean loss or lessening of kidney function.
Obviously the many paths toward trying to get healthy again, abruptly, have contributed to positive and negative outcomes to some degree. "Shit happens." But the list is now getting longer, re. things I need to monitor.
And in the mail was a '2nd strike' for a radiological service billing me full fare for services my insurance company has already paid them for, for which I only owe less than 20% of what their bill says. And again, we have the electronic money transfer codes, dates, etc., for the payments these cretins received already. So they'll get a call tomorrow morning, early, telling them that I'm not certain if this is an effort toward fraud, or incompetence, but that I WILL be making a call to my insurance providers to bring it to their attention no matter what the reason for the repeated sub-par service, and next time they do similar, the '3rd strike rule' kicks in, and they get back-charged $50/hour plus materials for any time I or my wife have to put into fixing a job they got paid to do the first time.
Sometimes a curt reminder that "I'm the fucking patient, not your back-up book-keeper" goes a long way. Other times it seems to fall on deaf ears.
------------------------------------------------
We had a fairly intense family mtg. with my younger son and wife this evening, and again hashed out the details, risks, variables, numbers etc., of radiation versus surgery.
Aside form the medical factors in outcome probabilities, there are issues that OUGHT to weigh less in this decision, but that still matter... maybe a lot, in their own ways.
3 trips down for radiation, minimum, with the first 2 of those being 2-4 days each, and the third trip would be for about 38 days. That adds about $4,000 to $5,000 to the out-of-pocket expenses in this.
If I'm gone for over a month for the external beam radiation, then someone else would have to tend my garden, and everything else I normally take care of.
Radiation potentially leaves me with greater quality of life functions initially, or shortly there after, however, that can become worse as radiation-damaged tissue degrades over time, as well as other causes for things not going as well as possible.
Surgery is 1 trip down and back, less quality of life function coming out of surgery initially, and that may or may not improve over time.
Follow-up for recurring cancer after surgery allows more options. After radiation, it would either be the use of Cyber-Knife, or hormone suppression.
Either treatment path can involve hormone suppression as a control for the prostate cancer if it returns.
I need to write a message tonight to schedule one or the other, and at this time I think I need to lay down, again recycle the factors and thoughts, and find something in a dimly lit room, with quiet, where I again bring myself to the place of committing to something, do it, then try and put it on hold in my mind until something occurs to further our progress toward getting rid of this shit.
I really don't know at this second, and I am admittedly timid, if not frightened, re. making permanent decisions when I can't see around the metaphorical corner. But I can't afford to delay this any more, either.
So, meditation time...
--------------------------------------------------
Leonard Cohen
'Everybody Knows'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lin-a2lTelg
----------------------
'Hallelujah', Live in London
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrLk4vdY28Q
Some minor successes therein, in addition to a sense of defeat and concern, knowing only enough about this to worry myself at times.
On the positive side, my A1C score is down to a 6.1, as of the 02/09 draw, from a 6.3 in mid-December, 2020. The A1C had been higher than I had seen it, the end of this last August, 2020.
The disconcerting news was that my PSA is up to an 11.1; higher than I have seen it. It had been an 8 during the end of August 2020, then it was a 5.9 December 14, 2020. Now, a mere 2 months later, it's an 11.1. (***Any opinions to offer, Weez??).
My creatinine is now very slightly lower than normal range, but we believe we've figured that one out; loss of muscle mass and weight loss can result in low/lower creatinine. If it were high, it would be a greater concern, as that might mean loss or lessening of kidney function.
Obviously the many paths toward trying to get healthy again, abruptly, have contributed to positive and negative outcomes to some degree. "Shit happens." But the list is now getting longer, re. things I need to monitor.
And in the mail was a '2nd strike' for a radiological service billing me full fare for services my insurance company has already paid them for, for which I only owe less than 20% of what their bill says. And again, we have the electronic money transfer codes, dates, etc., for the payments these cretins received already. So they'll get a call tomorrow morning, early, telling them that I'm not certain if this is an effort toward fraud, or incompetence, but that I WILL be making a call to my insurance providers to bring it to their attention no matter what the reason for the repeated sub-par service, and next time they do similar, the '3rd strike rule' kicks in, and they get back-charged $50/hour plus materials for any time I or my wife have to put into fixing a job they got paid to do the first time.
Sometimes a curt reminder that "I'm the fucking patient, not your back-up book-keeper" goes a long way. Other times it seems to fall on deaf ears.
------------------------------------------------
We had a fairly intense family mtg. with my younger son and wife this evening, and again hashed out the details, risks, variables, numbers etc., of radiation versus surgery.
Aside form the medical factors in outcome probabilities, there are issues that OUGHT to weigh less in this decision, but that still matter... maybe a lot, in their own ways.
3 trips down for radiation, minimum, with the first 2 of those being 2-4 days each, and the third trip would be for about 38 days. That adds about $4,000 to $5,000 to the out-of-pocket expenses in this.
If I'm gone for over a month for the external beam radiation, then someone else would have to tend my garden, and everything else I normally take care of.
Radiation potentially leaves me with greater quality of life functions initially, or shortly there after, however, that can become worse as radiation-damaged tissue degrades over time, as well as other causes for things not going as well as possible.
Surgery is 1 trip down and back, less quality of life function coming out of surgery initially, and that may or may not improve over time.
Follow-up for recurring cancer after surgery allows more options. After radiation, it would either be the use of Cyber-Knife, or hormone suppression.
Either treatment path can involve hormone suppression as a control for the prostate cancer if it returns.
I need to write a message tonight to schedule one or the other, and at this time I think I need to lay down, again recycle the factors and thoughts, and find something in a dimly lit room, with quiet, where I again bring myself to the place of committing to something, do it, then try and put it on hold in my mind until something occurs to further our progress toward getting rid of this shit.
I really don't know at this second, and I am admittedly timid, if not frightened, re. making permanent decisions when I can't see around the metaphorical corner. But I can't afford to delay this any more, either.
So, meditation time...
--------------------------------------------------
Leonard Cohen
'Everybody Knows'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lin-a2lTelg
----------------------
'Hallelujah', Live in London
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrLk4vdY28Q
Last edited: