Holy High Blood Pressure!

Well, today was the quarterly check in with my Oncologist, oh happy day.

the usual blood test/PSA results should come back tomorrow or Thursday. What was interesting today was not the beginning of the appointment where they take vitals and my BP came in at 142/88, a little high but nothing alarming. It was the second part of the appointment where I got the shot of Lupron where things got interesting.

Not sure why but they decided to take my blood pressure again and just for context, I was now in what they call the 'infusion room'. So when i entered, there must have been 10-12 people sitting in recliners and hooked up to their chemotherapy treatments. I'm not afraid to admit that the anxiety goes up a bit thinking about what may or may not lie ahead for me.

So they take the first reading and it's 172/104....yeah, a bit high.
Second reading 167/102....making progress but the nurse was still kind of wigged out.
Third reading 168/104. This time she talked to my Oncologist and he said "go ahead with the Lupron shot, he's must be a little nervous".

The only thing that changed from 3 months ago was that last time Doc said he wasn't sure keeping me on hormone therapy more than 1 year would do me any good.....today he said he definitely wants to try to keep me on for 2 years. It sucks. Muscle atrophy, fatigue, hot flashes...all the side effects that aren't fun. BUT, if it keep the cancer in check, I'll put up with it.

PSA update coming soon.

Be Well

Happy Father's Day

Here's a Happy Father's Day wish for all you dads out there, enjoy and make today great !

I personally have a lot to be thankful for with an awesome spouse, great kids and good health.
Enjoy one of the best Father's day traditions by watching the US Open Golf Championship.
Savor the incredible scenery of the Monterey Peninsula and Pebble Beach Golf Course.

One day I'm going to play it:)

Be well

Bob

Father's Day, an opportunity to raise awareness

we're less than a week away from Father's Day and I can't think of a better time to raise awareness about prostate cancer. It's time to get the 'light blue' as prevalent as 'pink'.

I encourage you to tell a friend that 1 in 6 men will get prostate cancer and if someone you know is 40 or older, encourage them to get a simple PSA test done.

This year is particularly exciting due to the FDA approving a new drug, Provenge for late stage prostate cancer. more about Provenge

April 29, 2010 -- The FDA today approved Provenge, Dendreon Corp.'s individualized "vaccine" for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer.

The action comes more than three years after an FDA advisory panel recommended approval, declaring the immune therapy safe and effective. But FDA concerns over efficacy led the FDA to delay a decision until more data became available.

Provenge doesn't cure prostate cancer or prevent it from getting worse over time. But it does extend survival -- by months for most patients, by years for some.

Provenge isn't your everyday vaccine. It's an immune therapy created by harvesting immune cells from a patient, genetically engineering them to fight prostate cancer, and then infusing them back into the patient.

For me what's exciting is this will give new energy to finding a cure for Prostate Cancer, hopefully in my lifetime.

Spread the word this Father's Day.

Be well

New design....tell me what you think

I had the opportunity to jazz up the look of the blog (no guarantees the content will get any jazzier :))

let me know what you think.