The Enemy Within

Progress:

Radiation: 1 down; 27 to go.

I got introduced to the process. Very nice folks. The clinic where I get my radiation does 90 patients/day on 2 machines. No pain. Infact, I didn't feel anything. Just lie there and let the machine do its thing.

Medications: I started on oral antihormone drug, abiraterone (Abby). Also prednisone and some other stuff to counteract side effects. I'm making a list of what and when so I can keep it all straight.

 

Thoughts: 

It seems that I remember one of the old militant women's liberation warriors saying something like, "Testosterone should be declared a lethal substance." Keep in mind my memory, though pretty good, isn't perfect. If you do a bit of web-searching, you'll find that testosterone is a controlled substance. But, that's talking about the male hormone being given as a drug or suppliment. The late comedian George Carlin is reported to have said, "Testosterone: the most lethal drug on earth." Perhaps.

In my current prostate cancer (PC) situation, testostrone has become my enemy. The treatment regime that I am starting is two pronged:

1. (Warning: Star Trek nerdiness ahead) Prong one is like a Klingon attack on an unexpecting enemy space craft. Klingon weapons are often described as "disruptors." Unlike Federation weapons the disruptors have no stun setting. Klingons shoot to kill. Today I received the first of 28 radiation treatments. A little over a week ago, I was "mapped." I have three little dots tattooed on my lower abdomen. I call them targets. The goal is to disrupt the bad cells and have as few friendly-fire casualties among the good cells as possible.
2. PC feeds on testosterone. Some of you are aware that my wife recenly finished treatment for breast cancer. One of the things I've noticed is that PC is sort of the male mirror image of breast cancer, which feeds on estrogen. The oncologist who managed her chemotherapy is now managing my hormone blocking therapy. 

Estrogen is a large component of what makes a female a female, likewise testosterone with males. I'm convinced that if we had drawn blood from Eve and Adam, we would have found estrogen and testosterone respectively. Like the rest of the original creation, God said it was very good. Sin, though, distorted God's good things--I'm talking Adam and Eve's sin, what is often called "original sin."

This distortion of God's good has many expression. It is not only out there. It is in me, and dare I say, you too. The Great Healer has a cure for that--no disruptors or blockers involved.