Well, we have another update for you. As usual this blog will include some health news and a few pictures from our latest holiday travels, this time to the West coast of Scotland.
There’s quite a bit to tell you about my health and the last two meetings we had with our oncology consultant, so I will start with that.
For regular readers you will know that we are very focused on my PSA level, which is a good indication of how well the cancer is being controlled. For a long time the consultant has said that when the PSA reaches double figures I will go onto an extra hormone treatment – Enzalutamide. This has fatigue as one of the main side effects. The PSA typically rises quite slowly, with a small increase every three months. In March the level had risen more than it has done before and reached 9.92.
We discussed with the doctor whether I should start the Enzalutamide then, but as we were planning a walking holiday in Scotland at the beginning of May, she suggested waiting until our next appointment in June before making any changes to my treatment regime. The next drug will only be effective for a limited amount of time, so we were happy to put it off for another three months.
After our appointment we decided to see if there were any lifestyle and dietary changes we could make that might influence the outcome of the next blood test. I have been taking a food supplement – Pomi-T, since I was diagnosed. This contains pomegranate, broccoli, green tea and turmeric. There was some research that suggests that these ingredients have an impact on prostate cancer growth. It’s not possible to know whether it has helped up to now, but as I have already outlived my initial prognosis of four to five years, just maybe it has. We decided that we would try an experiment with our diet, mainly by adding fresh pomegranate daily, drinking green tea and drastically reducing alcohol intake.
I had my three monthly blood test last week and the results were great. The PSA had fallen by 8% to 9.11. This was a very exciting result. The level has fallen before, but never anywhere near this amount. Our oncology consultant was equally pleased with the figures.
As a result I will not need the next treatment at this stage, which we are happy about. The consultant did ask what we had done, so we discussed the changes we had made. She was very supportive and made some extra suggestions to try. She recommended eating more brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower etc) and tomatoes. Apparently brassicas help break down Oestrogen which can promote prostate cancer growth. Tomatoes are a good source of Lycopene which again may have beneficial properties in fighting cancer.
I believe we already have a healthy diet, so making these extra changes will not be a problem. Reducing my wine intake is the main challenge, but I do actually feel better for not drinking so much, so I will carry on with that, and just have a glass of wine (or two) on special occasions.
The consultant did also suggest trying to eat organic produce if possible, and something we had not heard of before which was to try and avoid food coming into contact with plastics. Plastics can shed compounds that are similar to synthetic Oestrogens, which, again may promote the cancer growth. We will do some more research on this and see how we can achieve this aim.
One of the early warning signs of potential prostate cancer is difficulty urinating. This can be a slow flow, getting up several times during the night, a sudden urge to go and not being able to fully empty your bladder. I have experienced these symptoms and they have been becoming gradually more pronounced. I had to get up seven times one night recently, which as you can imagine leaves you feeling very tired the next day and not really able to function normally. I explained all this to the Doctor and she prescribed me a drug called Tamsulosin, which I will need to take daily. It’s amazing! After two days I am pretty much back to normal and I only got up once last night. The drug is marketed as Contiflo, but Bim has rather crudely renamed it ‘Turbopiss’. Which I have to say is pretty accurate.
I think that’s all we have to tell you about my health for now. Thank you for reading this far. As a reward I have included an up to date PSA graph.
Now, as promised, holiday news.
In May we made a return trip to the West Coast of Scotland, staying at the Net Store again. We were delighted to be able to take Dan, Ellie and Connor with us this time, which is the first family holiday we have had together in a long time.
We enjoyed some beautiful scenic walks through the hills and around the Lochs. If you haven’t had the chance to visit this area, I really recommend you try to fit it in. You won’t be disappointed.
As you can see, I have added a few of our favourite photos from the trip.
