Hi amazing friends and family,
I thought is was time for a quick update now that my Radium 223 treatment has finished and I had an appointment with my Consultant Oncologist earlier this week. The service from the Beatson Glasgow was excellent, caring and extremely professional.
My spinal pain has subsided a bit following the treatment but most days it is still very uncomfortable. My biggest challenge at the moment is tiredness and exhaustion, caused by the medication, the pain relief and the cancer itself. On the brighter side, I am still able to do most things as long as they are not too strenuous and I can get a wee lie down afterwards :>)
My appetite is now very poor ( even for hot curries ! ) and I have lost around 2 stones since the start of the treatment, maybe not a bad thing !!
My PSA blood count has also risen quite sharply to 227 and has 'doubled' in the past three months. Good news is that my bone profile blood counts have improved and they are now within the 'normal' ranges.
So what next ? ......................................
A nuclear bone scan and a CT scan have been ordered. This will enable a comparison from the scans taken before the Radium 223 started and will determine if the bone metastasis has improved or deteriorated.
As far as treatments are concerned, it is only chemotherapy that is available to me now as I have had every other available treatment that is on offer for the stage of the disease that I am at now !
However, there is a possibility that I could be invited to take part in a clinical trial and have an appointment at the Beatson in a couple of weeks to discuss options and determine if I would meet the trial criteria. Watch this space.
There was a recent documentary on BBC called the Cancer Hospital. This was an excellent and very informative documentary where episode 2 ( of 3 ) concentrated on different stages of Prostate Cancer .
Very close to home for me as all the experts / presenters are the team that directly look after me, and what a team they are.
Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to launch my acting career, but hey ho, the men that took part were all very open and brave.
Definately worth a watch on BBC iPlayer or via the Youtube link I have added below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH1AW-GHjHo
Its not all been doom and gloom, Marydoll and myself have managed short breaks in Tenerife and Spain and hoping to go back up to the North of Scotland in the van in the next few weeks.
We have a Roger Waters concert to look forward to on Saturday night at the Hydro in Glasgow, can't wait.
As always family and friends help keep the spirits up and all my 'wee people' constantly keep a smile on my face :>)
As always, huge thanks for all your support and especially to Marydoll who watches over me 24 x 7.
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Comments (12)
Hope you get onto that trial - sounds interesting, and glad to hear you are getting out and about - you are always welcome to a quick flip over here - but the 100 degrees we had last week would have put anyone off!
Keep the updates coming - think about you a lot. Good to see your sense of humo(u)r is holding up - speaking of which - I didn't mention the World Cup even once.
Oops.....
Grahame : Hi John, great to hear from you and hope you are holding up in the heat. Pretty warm here too, unusual for Scotland !
Great concert, music and set amazing but a wee bitty too political for me this time. Musicians should keep to music and leave politics to the untalented :>)
Great show by England by the way.
Love to the family, take care an catch up soon
Grahame : Hi Bob, means a lot, thanks pal. Hope to get down to London in the next month or so, will give you a shout for a beer if you are free. Love to Linda xxx
Glad to see your becoming an expert with all the medical names and processes.
I did the same during the time leading up to and after my liver transplant. I signed up for all the trials going, felt a bit like a lab rat. Hopefully someone will benefit. Keep strong and enjoy life. To get boring for a second I used to do Kendo (Jap Sword Fighting) in my youth and the chief instructor was from Hong Kong and taught me how to deal with pain. He said embrace it, know it and when it's coming. Then think of someone you don't like and see yourself dumping that pain on them. Weird thing is it seems to work, it must be the pleasure you gain from picking someone that overrides the real pain, your brain can't do both to take the pleasurable route drowning the pain. Good Luck
Grahame : Hi Pete, pain not too bad just now and manageable but certainly something I could look at further down the line, thanks for that. Hope you are keeping well and that we can catch up before too long, maybe November reunion ? Love to family x
Grahame : Thanks Jean and same to you and family x
Grahame : Thanks Jeannie, really looking forward to seeing you and Lesley in August.
Take care and love to all xxx
Grahame : Huge thanks Caroline, lovely to see you guys when Kerrie was home xxx
Grahame : Thanks cuz, hopefully catch up again soon ( Vicky's house in Arran booked up all summer, but could maybe get a slot in late Sept / Oct ? ) xxx
Grahame : Cheers Den, please come up anytime, would be brilliant to see you guys. Take care and love to family x
Grahame : Huge thanks guys and hopefully we will get a chance to catch up soon ( maybe Nov reunion ? ). Love to family xxx
Grahame : Cheers pal, gutted I missed the June get together but will try and get down for November, all going well. Love to Jan and family xxx
Love yu
See ye soon
Grahame : Hehe, being nuts certainly helps :>) Take care and catch up soon.
Luv you xxx
But I’m sure you are probably already aware of what you can take. I just find it helps me keep my energy up along with my vital greens supplements. Glad to hear you have both managed to get some break time in the sun!
We are all rooting for you and think you have been doing amazingly well despite everything that has been thrown at you.
Love from all the Maltby ‘s
Grahame : Huge thanks Elaine, Saw Jenna briefy the other day and she is looking fantastic.
I do the juicing every day ( sometimes twice ) and certainly helps me get all the goodness and vitamins etc to help keep me going.
Hope you are keeping well and positvive.
Love to all the family xxx