Hello and welcome to the podcast. Sometimes I may try to be more clever than my own good and I think that may have happened with Episode 5 – Good ol’ Boys Were Drinking Whisky and Rye…..I see the analytics for the downloads and I can see people listening to episodes 1,2,3,4,and then they jump to 6 skipping 5. I think I know why….it’s the title. Because the next line in American Pie after Whiskey and Rye is singin this will be the day that I die. No one dies in Episode 5. I assure you of that. The episode is all about leading up to surgery day and the morning of surgery I couldn’t shake the song American Pie out of my head. Actually, Episode 5 is kind of an important episode moving the story forward. Some of this episode may not make much sense if you skipped Episode 5. Please go back and listen to it if you skipped it.
As I mentioned in the last episode my surgery was on September 24th, my catheter came out two weeks later and I returned to my office on October 11th. In between all that came conversations with the doctor regarding the pathology report. After surgery my doctor felt the cancer was “encapsulated” his words not mine within the prostate. The pathology report would later show that there was one little area almost like a tentacle that extended beyond the margin. Tentacle is my word not the doctors so please no cards or letters. Dammit, I thought…this might not be over just yet.
When I went back to work Team Chuck was there to greet me, outside of my office was this huge “W” flag with the light blue Prostate Cancer Awareness ribbon in the middle and Team Chuck a across the top and “No one Fights Alone” across the bottom. For those of you unfamiliar with the “W” flag, it’s very well-known in Chicago. At Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs when the Cubs won they would hoist a white flag up the flagpole in the outfield with the letter “W” so that everyone on their way home from work either driving by or riding the elevated train knew the Cubs won. They also had a blue flag with a white “L” but we don’t talk about that one.
My coworkers greeted me with the light blue hats and well-wishes….it was quite the moving experience and one I’ll never forget. I am truly blessed to have worked with these people. Of course Mike and Bill, especially Bill greeted me with huge bear hugs. He and his wife made the flag…I’m guessing more his wife than him. We sat down and talked for a while recounting what all I had gone through and how much I really appreciated all of their support. It really helped me to get through some tough days.
November 6th was my next follow-up visit with my doctor. Everything at this point is progressing well. Incontinence is not too big of an issue, erections seem to be ok…they could use some help so Viagra was prescribed. As the doctor explained, blood flow is crucial to that part of your body. You need to exercise it just like any other muscle in your body. Even if that means without a partner. So for the Seinfeld fans out there you need to become “Master of your own Domain” or for the non-Seinfeld people out there….use it like a 12 year old with a Playboy.
I head to the pharmacy to get my prescription for Viagra filled. There is a young girl behind the counter taking care of me. She grabs my prescription and sheepishly comes up to the counter. “Mr Schmidt, I’m sorry to say that your insurance only covers six of these pills per month”. I laughed, I said “Sweetie I’ve been married for 35 years that’s a two year supply at this point.” The actual Pharmacist who is a bit older was in the back and heard me and she was laughing but this little girl was dumbstruck.
With that the next visit will be in 3 months, early February 2019, my next PSA test will occur in late January prior to the visit. That’s great, I can enjoy the holidays during this period.
During this period my youngest son had gotten engaged and moved out taking his dog Jack with him. Jack is an English Cream Long-haired Dachshund that my wife was quite fond of. He was born with only one eye thus the name One Eyed Jack. Jack is the Bob Marley of the dog world, the most laid back little dog you’ve ever met. Jack had lived with us since he was a puppy. My wife was crushed when he left and so was Scooter. So I made the decision and added a puppy to the mix. A Beagle/Labrador we named Winston. He’s a great dog and he and Scooter became thick as thieves.
Let’s fast forward to the holidays, after all I had been through this was an especially satisfying holiday season seeing all of the family. Toasting to good health and togetherness. Facing cancer really helps you to put little petty differences into perspective. I was relishing this time as a family.
On to January. January 26th 2019….one of the worst days of my life….was my next PSA test. I got up early and headed to the clinic to get my blood draw for my PSA test. I headed over to grab a coffee at Dunkin Donuts and then over to Home Depot to grab a battery for my drill, While standing in front of the Ryobi power tools my phone rang….it was a co-worker Joe who would never call me early on a Saturday morning….”Where are you? Can you talk?” I said I was at Home Depot and yeah I could talk….”Chuck I have bad news….there was a long pause….Bill Kappel was killed by a drunk driver while on vacation in South Carolina”. I was speechless. This was a true Big Chill moment if you ever saw the movie. I loved this guy. He was like a son to me. A huge supporter during my cancer fight. He had gotten married a year earlier, just bought a house, got a big promotion at work…all snuffed out by a drunk on a late night bender who blew a red light and hit the car Bill was in so hard it was driven into a building. Bill died at the scene. I then had to call Bill’s friends because I had a closer relationship to them. All the calls were made from the Home Depot parking lot. Home Depot will never be the same for me.
Back to my story….
The results came back two days later in the MyChart app and my PSA was 0.16. At first, I was happy I had gone from an adjusted PSA of 5.20 down to 0.16…then it sank in….my PSA should be zero. How can I have PSA without a prostate? Crap, the monster is on the loose.
So back into see Doctor D on Feb 8th and he explained again about that one little area of concern from pathology but also explained it’s not uncommon to still have some trace PSA after the surgery. Let’s continue to test the PSA at shorter interval to see where it goes. From January 2019 to September 2019 my PSA was test 4 times and it rose from 0.16 to 0.24. We’re not going in the right direction.
This right here is why I chose the treatment path that I did. Start with surgery and send in the cavalry via radiation if anything was left over. Unfortunately, that’s how it looks as if I have to proceed. I met with Dr. D in September we had discussions about next steps…we could wait and see how this goes or we could go to radiation next. I didn’t want to wait in my mind what am I waiting for? I don’t want to be in a woulda, coulda, shoulda situation. I made the decision to go ahead with radiation.
The next step were explained. Make an appointment with Dr. C who I had met during my round-robin interviews earlier and determine the course of treatment. If radiation is recommended, I needed to come back to Dr. D and receive a hormone shot first before the radiation starts. The hormone shot lowers your testosterone levels, prostate cancer feeds off the testosterone. If you remove the testosterone there is nothing to feed off so you weaken the cancer and the radiation is more effective.
So I go to Dr. D for the shot and in no uncertain terms he explains the possible side effects….
Possible side effects from lower levels of hormones such as testosterone. These side effects can include:
Reduced or absent sexual desire
Erectile dysfunction (impotence)
Shrinkage of testicles and penis
Hot flashes, which may get better or go away with time
Breast tenderness and growth of breast tissue (gynecomastia)
Osteoporosis (bone thinning), which can lead to broken bones
Anemia (low red blood cell counts)
Decreased mental sharpness
Loss of muscle mass
Weight gain
Fatigue
Increased cholesterol levels
Depression
One more in my case which is not on that list was arthritis flares.
That’s quite a list right? I will say I experienced more than a few of these but I’ll talk about that a bit later.
When I ok’d the treatment I had to sign off on the forms and in came the nurse with two syringes. Dr D explained the first shot will be to numb the area so we can give you the second shot…..WHAT THE F……..where do I get this shot? You’ll be getting this in your stomach. WHAT??????? Not into your stomach, into the fatty area around your stomach…..like that’s better???
The shots proceed, again this sounds much worse than it actually was….
Back to see Dr. C. My treatment plan will be 39 doses of radiation…they will go from Monday through Friday with the weekends off….you will need to come in for a preliminary meeting to prep you for the machine and then we move on to the treatment plan…..and so my fight with prostate cancer continues.
Next time on Prostate Cancer Sucks but there is Always hope…..well this is a good look….time to meet the Whopper….manopause, it’s a thing.
Prostate Cancer Sucks 