December 12, 2010

Go west, young man

Dr V called Friday night with the results of my CT scan. That's right, my doctor calls patients at home on a Friday night! His news was for the most part good.
1) No, the cancer has not spread to any organs.
2) The radiologist noted a new tumor in the T5/6 vertebrae. This was new compared to the CT scan from 12 months ago, but we were made aware of this new tumor when he communicated to me the results of my last bone scan, which was last month.
3) There are three areas with enlarged lymph nodes, two nodes above my prostate, two below and two in my neck. The largest being approximately 3cm or a little more than an inch, this was near my prostate. The other areas were smaller.  He recommended for now we keep an eye on these and they should go down as we treat the disease in total. In other words, get my PSA down and these could go away as well.

This news is good in the sense it just eliminated one option and made my next treatment decision a choice of two Provenge (immunotherapy - vaccine) or Abiraterone (oral - pill). Both are going to require travel, the former to the east coast, the other to the west. I'll wait and see how things evolve but there's a little voice saying, 'Go west, young man'.

2 comments:

GeldingDan said...

Abitaterone will likely do a great job. Go for it!

pattersson said...

I am glad that you still have choices, and more are hopefully appearing soon!

I think it is a tough call. No scientific evidence one way or another. Abiraterone somehow appeals more. On the other hand Provenge would get the immune system fighting the cancer.

Great blog:)