It was 1996.... his story through my eyes

It was 1996 and I didn't have a "real" job yet. I had graduated college with a BS in Public Administration and I was applying to all of the local governments just to get my foot in the door. I was ready for a change - a change of scenery, for sure. My friend, Amy, and I were seriously thinking of moving to the panhandle of Florida.  She always wanted to go to Florida. I always loved the beach. It was a perfect opportunity to just get away from home for the first time in my life and take a chance on something new somewhere new!!

It was 1996 and my father went in for a routine hernia operation. Dr. Halmi didn't like something he saw in the blood work results and called Dr. Lou, Dad's urologist. Dad was 47 years old and his PSA was extremely high. At that time, men weren't supposed to even think about getting their PSA done until they were 50. Thankfully, Dad had two proactive doctors or he wouldn't be here right now.

Ok, wait a minute though. Isn't prostate cancer a disease of old men? Isn't that something that just happens when you are a man and you live to be over 85? After all, my dad's grandfather had prostate cancer and that was a long time ago and he was old, right? 
Wrong.



It was 1996 and I learned a lot in a short period of time... about prostate cancer.  The prostate-specific antigen, PSA, test measures the blood level of a protein that is produced by the prostate gland. The higher a man's PSA, the more likely he has prostate cancer. For all intents and purposes, it SHOULD be 0 or a negative number. However, there are other reasons for having a high PSA and some men who have prostate cancer don't even have an elevated PSA.  Still, the PSA test has been widely used to screen men for prostate cancer and used as a monitor for men who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer to see if their cancer has come back after initial treatment or to determine their response to therapy. Fortunately, for Dad, his PSA saved his life and it has always been an exceptionally accurate indicator for him.

It was 1996 and my life came to a crashing halt without a second thought. I forgot all about Florida. There was no way I was going anywhere. Dad's life flashed before his eyes. Mom was devastated because the love of her life had cancer. We were in shock because of the "C word".  Thankfully, the cancer was contained to the prostate and the prostate would be removed.

We were blessed.

 

It was 1996 and my dad had a prostatectomy; surgery to remove his prostate.
Dr. Lou didn't want to take any chances.
Dad was young and the cancer hadn't spread so let's get rid of this damn thing!
No messing around!

 

It was 1996.

Dad was cancer free and we were good to go, right?

Wrong.

 

Between the prostatectomy and 2015, Dad's cancer has recurred five times. Each recurrence was indicated by a rising PSA. Hormone therapy lasted a very long time and was accompanied by negative PSAs.  He got over the body hair loss and the emotional outbursts that came along with it because the hormones did the trick and got rid of the cancer. 

Then many years later, the hormone therapy stopped working and the cancer returned.

 

Radiating the tumor was next. The PSA dropped again and the cancer was gone. Radiation worked.

But then the cancer returned again.

 

Next was a med called Xtandi which caused horrible nausea but drinking ginger tea helped.

PSA dropped again. Getting a year and a half of use out of Xtandi was longer than most people had experienced.

 

But then his PSA started doubling again and he could "feel" the cancer coming back at the site of the tumor. The human body is an amazing thing when we listen to it. A ct scan revealed the tumor was back and this time it was in the same place but on the inside of the bladder. A biopsy revealed that it was indeed prostate cancer and not bladder cancer. Once again, we were relieved because we knew the demon we were dealing with instead of bringing a new one into the mix. 

 

Next up was a med called Zytiga and it's paired with prednisone.

For the first time in 19 years, Dad is uncomfortable and experiencing pain after a month of being on Zytiga. We agreed to give Zytiga time to work because we all knew it was the last possible treatment before resorting to chemotherapy.  Dad has a high pain tolerance but this time was different.

Back pain, hip pain, walking with a cane, anti-inflammatories, narcotics. However, he's strong and not complaining. Come on now, he's a Vietnam Vet. Cancer's not gonna kick his ass.

 

I'm not an idiot by any means. I also have delved head first into Dad's disease and treatment since the beginning. I like to arm myself with knowledge. I also learned enough from my miserable

ex-husband (who should have been a doctor) to be dangerous. When prostate cancer spreads it typically goes one of two places -  the bone being one of them. Our saving grace with each recurrence has always been a clean bone scan. My ultimate fear with this recurrence was the results of the bone scan because I knew this time was different.

Sometimes I hate when I'm right.

This is one of those times.

 

It was 1996 and things were devastating but so much different then.

It's not 1996 anymore.

 

But there are three things that haven't changed:

 our sense of hope

 our strong faith

our positive attitude

 

 We have kicked cancer's ass before and we'll do it again....

just like it was 1996.