Week 7 comes to a close

Hard to believe, but I finished my seventh week of treatment today.  They have not all been full 5 day weeks though.  With the Internet outage Monday, Memorial Day and the 4th of July thrown in, I won't actually finish up until Wednesday, July 29th if everything stays on track until then.  I need a total of 45 treatments no matter what comes up.  I was informed that my time for treatment has been shifted, with my consent, to 11:30 am next week and then 11:40 after that.  I picked early afternoon to begin with to allow me to get a good nature hike or a cruise in my boat in at dawn each day for my mandated exercise.  I'll still be able to do that, but I'll need to be more mindful of the time and of staying fully hydrated, especially during the hikes as the weather becomes hotter.  We are expecting a string of 100 degree plus days for the next 10 days or more, with this Sunday being forecast at 107 degrees actual temperature by some models.  Wow!  I'm looking forward to the weekend to let my body recover a bit as I head into week number 8.

The picture for the day is from shortly after sunrise at Mills Pond in my Wells Branch neighborhood of Austin.

Thursday, let the last third of the sessions begin!

It's been an interesting week.  As I enter the home stretch of my treatment plan, I am still being blessed by other men reaching out to me to give me encouragement.  In turn, I've been working with several friends who are in the deciding what to do stage now that they've found out something MUST be done.  One has been in the active monitoring phase for a while and his PSA has spiked, while another is a good candidate for either the same treatment I am getting or surgery and is researching both thoroughly.  Each course of treatment has its pluses and minuses.  I've put him in touch with others that have taken one option or another and they have graciously shared the good, the bad and the ugly willingly.  I've also prayed over each of them and they for me.  It's very moving.

Today was my 31st session and it was also Doctor Day.  The radiation oncologist told me I'm doing well and am in the home stretch, a good thing to hear.  I showed him the picture of the day and told him he was getting shortchanged.  He will only get 9 pictures, one a week, while all the others in his practice are receiving 45 of them, one for each treatment.  He asked me to look at his phone to identify a bird picture that a friend of his had sent via email.  As soon as I saw it, I laughed, it was a Secretary Bird.  I've seen them in Kenya, they look like they have quill pens sticking out of their heads.  They are usually on the ground, but I have gotten pictures of them flying up into trees to perch.  They are usually found around herd animals.  What are the odds that he would show me an African bird and I would know instantly what it is?  Here's one of my images of one from the Masai Mara National Game Park in Kenya in 2018.

The picture for the day is of a female Mallard with interesting swirls surrounding her from one of my local ponds.  View it full screen if you can, I titled it Mallard Swirls in a recent photo competition.

Hump day treatment, 30 down, 15 to go

I scanned the parking lot carefully when I got to the clinic today and there were a lot of cars there.  Oh no!  It was a false alarm, things were running smoothly in the clinic, I was seen about 10 minutes late, but all was well.  I am now two thirds of the way through with my sessions and am thankful for how well things have gone so far. 

The picture for the day is a Painted Bunting singing up a storm at Commons Ford Ranch in Austin.

Got Week 7 started a day late but everything was smooth today

It turns out that the fiasco yesterday was caused by a construction crew cutting through a Spectrum fiber optic cable in the neighborhood where the radiation clinic is located.  The technicians that work for the radiation practice had been told that all of the computers and servers that were needed to do treatment were all contained in that one building.  And they were supposed to be.  This incident pointed out to them that there needs to be a fix made so that this doesn't happen again.  Some of the guys that stayed until the bitter end told me today they never did get treated, so I'm glad I left when I did.

I got some good news from the radiation therapists today, I am starting the second phase of my treatment.  The first phase included radiation to the seminal vesicles and to the prostate, from now on the target will only be the prostate.  They also said my 4 days off was a good thing for me, my body got a little extra time to heal at the cellular level.  No complaining from me, that's for sure!  Thank you, Jesus!

I told the girls at the reception desk that they were not getting a new picture until I got my next treatment, so they looked at the same one I showed them yesterday and remarked that they had heard and seen these little guys in their back yards.  This is a Carolina Wren, probably the loudest bird per ounce of anything else in nature.  Their tail is usually cocked up like a spoiler on a race car, which makes them look like they have a real attitude.  And they do!

Starting Week 7 today - some thoughts

I had a special blessing over the weekend.  As a result of this blog and of being public about my treatment at my church, I had the opportunity to encourage two other men that may be following in my footsteps.  I was able to answer a lot of questions about the procedures and steps that I have come through so far and was able to talk a bit about the reasons the course of treatment I am receiving was chosen as opposed to other options like surgery, chemo or hormone or radiation therapy alone rather than in combination like I am getting.  Over the years, I have learned that it is always easy to say "I'll pray for you" and then I can feel good about myself whether I follow through or not.  It's a much better thing to say, even on a phone or Zoom call, "Can I pray for you right now?" and then do it immediately.  In every case, it has been a profound experience and my close friends always tell me they covet being prayed over personally, as do I. 

I wasn't always like this.  I grew up Lutheran and my idea of public prayer was saying the Lord's Prayer with the rest of the congregation at the appointed time in the church service while I was thinking about what I was going to have for lunch.  I was the Prodigal Son for 25 years and not long after I came back to the church when I was 45 years old, I was asked to do the Scripture readings during one of our Sunday services.  I was comfortably sitting behind the altar with my Bible when our Pastor, upon finishing weekly announcements, declared "And now Dave will open our worship with prayer!"  Talk about sheer terror!  I approached the microphone and the most beautiful prayer came out, supplied of course by the Holy Spirit.  That was one of my first lessons in the fact that when we are doing the Lord's will, He supplies everything we need.  You can't fail, no matter how badly you mess up, because it's being used for His purposes anyway.  That's a very liberating thought.  Since then, on each of my 19 mission trips to Kenya, I have had that lesson reinforced over and over again.  On one trip in particular, to a rural community called Kiambu where we were serving because of security concerns in Nairobi after the Westgate Mall attack, I REALLY learned to pray.  One day, I had to split the prayer duties with one of my Pastors.  We saw 439 people that day and I know I prayed over more than 200 of them, one on one for needs ranging from abusive spouses to alcoholism to children with university degrees that were jobless.  It was pretty humbling.  It also taught me that it wasn't me doing it, all of the right words at the right time came from above.  What an amazing thing to have happen to you! It is probably the closest I will come to having an out of body experience, I felt as though I was watching someone else laying hands on all of these people who were hurting or in some cases just wanted a prayer said over them to praise God for all of His daily mercies.  So what's the lesson in all of this after rambling on?  I would say be quick to listen, you will hear the joys and the pains of others if you only do that one simple thing.  If you listen, people will think you are a great conversationalist!  Next, be quick to pray and offer to do it gently, getting the person's permission.  I can't tell you how many times people have said "Not just now" only to return to me at a later date when they were ready or their circumstances had changed and they remembered my offer.  And even if you're turned down, you can pray for them anyway after you've parted company.  It's all good.  Thank you Jesus for giving me some insight into the power of prayer!  And to those of you that have read this, I hope my words have found open hearts.

My appointment today was supposed to mark the beginning of my 7th week and was to be my 29th treatment.  I drank a 20 ounce bottle of water on my way to the radiation center, I wanted to be sure I was fully hydrated.  When I got there, nearly every parking space was full. Uh oh!  I knew what that means.  They're backed up.  There was a problem last Monday when they had some technical difficulties with the radiation machine itself.  Everything has got to be right on the money with the radiation machines and with the computer network, off site servers and the Internet connection.  If any key sub-system is having issues, they won't perform treatments and I am thankful for that.  I waited for over an hour past my scheduled appointment.  As time went on, I had to partially empty my bladder a couple of times, something that takes a lot of practice and which requires exercises to strengthen certain muscles.  When you need to do this, you are glad you took their advice and did the exercises!  You must have a full bladder during the actual treatment to protect surrounding tissue, organs and the bladder itself from the radiation.  This would have been funny if I wasn't so uncomfortable.  Looking around the room, I could tell even with masks on that the other guys were in distress: crossing their legs, dancing around, taking turns with the bathroom, etc.  An hour can be an eternity under the right conditions!  Eventually, they gave each of us the option of going home, which I did because even though the radiation machine itself was in working order, the supporting computerized equipment was not communicating with the server.  Being a computer guy myself, I know you can't predict how long these things will take.  An extra day will be added on to the end of my original treatment schedule, meaning if all goes well, I'll finish up on Wednesday July 22nd.  On the bright side, I got yet another lesson in self control!

No picture of the day today since I didn't get my treatment.  I'm going to make an album of the 45 pictures, one for each treatment, and give everybody at the center a link to it as a thank you when I've completed everything to remind them of that Dave guy that just made every day into a party!  And I will publish the link here as well so you can see the images all in one place.

6 Weeks down, 3 plus change to go!

Today was my 6th Doctor Day.  This week is shortened due to the July 4th holiday, and I started the Tuesday after Memorial day, so I've now had 28 sessions with 17 to go.  I can honestly say that so far my side effects have not been unmanageable or particularly painful.

I re-read the literature I was given at the beginning of my treatment plan and it says that weeks 7, 8 and 9 should not be much different than week 6 in terms of any incontinence, problems with being able to urinate or defecate or pain in any of those vital areas that are involved.  I've been blessed compared to some of the other patients that I talk to that have had a week or two less under their belts (ha ha!) than I have.  I'm the veteran in the group and now a new guy just started this week that's right after me, so I've been telling him what he might expect.  It's kind of a brotherhood the guys I meet have.

The doctor was happy with all of my appointments this week, I've been concentrating on being well hydrated after slipping up one day last week.  Another Green Check Mark for Dave!

I am fatigued from the hormone therapy, but managed an hour hike around Mills Pond early this morning.  I am a little concerned that I won't have any natural setting to photograph this weekend since Austin and the surrounding cities are closing the parks to discourage large gatherings during the 3 day weekend.  I'm hoping solitary pursuits like hiking, jogging or biking will be allowed, it's a little unclear at this point whether that will be the case or not.

The picture for the day is from a sunrise over Lake Travis last week, the same day as the fish picture I posted was taken.

Wednesday is done, only one more day this week!

I got to the clinic about 20 minutes early and just like yesterday, I was in and out in no time.  I have my regular Thursday Doctor Day tomorrow to figure out how things are going and then I get a 3 day weekend to recover.  I'm looking forward to that because the treatments do begin to add up after a while.  So far, I've lost a couple of pounds, which is good, because the Lupron can cause many to have a rapid weight gain.  So, I've continued to be diligent about staying active as much as possible and monitoring my weight every morning.  Everyone at the clinic was in a good mood, I think they were just glad they had not had a repeat of Monday.

The picture of the day is not a bird for a change.  It's a butterfly called an American Lady.