A full afternoon at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance today: the daily radiation treatment, the weekly visit with the radiation oncologist, the quarterly check-in with my oncologist. PSA test results came in at “undetectable,” which you’d largely expect, given my hormone-suppression therapy. Prior reading, in July, which was pre-hormone therapy, was 0.11. So that means […]
Continue readingIn the Rearview Mirror, Two Weeks
October 3, 2011 
7 Comments
Today was treatment #10 (26 to go) — so two weeks of salvage radiation are now in the rearview mirror. All’s gone well, but… It’s a bit early for side effects to set in, and exactly what they’ll be, how severe they’ll be and how long they’ll last — well, those are the uncertainties, all […]
Continue readingAn Uneventful Event
September 20, 2011 6 Comments
I had radiation treatment #1 today, with 35 more in queue each weekday afternoon through Nov 8. No side effects expected for the nonce. It was easy and uneventful — well, uneventful to my eye. We’ll hope some little prostate cancer cells met an invisible and violent death, but that was nothing for me to […]
Continue readingSurgery + 4 (and More)
September 11, 2011 3 Comments
It was four years ago today that I had surgery for prostate cancer, and in nine days I’ll begin “salvage” radiation for prostate cancer. Surgery, hormone therapy, now radiation. This strikes me as a lot of treatment in a relatively short period of time — and I spent more than half of the past four […]
Continue readingCancer Park
September 1, 2011 7 Comments
Truth be told, my prostate cancer journey has thus far been a relative walk in the park compared to the medically invasive and dramatic, life-altering experiences of others. In the time since my diagnosis, the most disruptive event has been surgery, my radical prostatectomy, and that was only two nights in the hospital, plus recovery. […]
Continue readingThis Week in Cancer
July 29, 2011 4 Comments
Monday, July 25, 2011. Lots of cancer doings this week, starting today with a full day at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. I’m writing this in the infusion waiting room on the fifth floor, soon to be summoned to resume hormone therapy (officially: androgen deprivation therapy). It’s my second round of ADT; the first time, […]
Continue readingToday: Cancer 1, Bill 0
June 17, 2011 3 Comments
First off: This is not a complaint. It’s a simple illustration, a sketch — maybe even just a scratchpad doodle — of the ways in which cancer is always a companion, calling attention to its unwanted self. A reminder that cancer is a grift that keeps on grifting. It’s a warm, sunny day here in […]
Continue readingThe Commentariat
 | Bob Miller on 18 years — and Coun… |
 | Cynthia Goodwin on 18 years — and Coun… |
 | Ling H. on 18 years — and Coun… |
 | Hazel Goldberg on 18 years — and Coun… |
 | Bob Grindeland on 18 years — and Coun… |
 | craigpynn335430590 on 18 years — and Coun… |
 | Jennifer Cast on 18 years — and Coun… |
 | tncolmd on 18 years — and Coun… |
My First Cancer 
What’s wrong with me(n)?
Since poking my head up into the cancer blogosphere, I’ve been looking about a bit, reading blog posts here, there and everywhere. It’s been a grim revelation to see and hear the emotional pain that can accompany cancer. And, I’m sorry to report, how often men are the wellspring of much of that pain. No, […]
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