Andrews Organ Recital

Organ Recital: a tale of woe, my organs and cancer

(As you get older conversations drift into a comparison of ailments, organs and illnesses. In our family this is called an Organ Recital.)

Or: are you over 45yrs and male? Please monitor your PSA annually

I didn't. I didn't do sick.
Until it was too late. PSA>45, stage 3 prostate cancer with very bad histology, inoperable.

You can do different (as the UEA motto says) and monitor your PSA. With PSA<10 what matters most is the doubling time. Doubling times of years might need attention. Doubling times of months are dangerous.

Unexpectedly, I have survived 5.5 years on hormone therapy. Physically it has not been a comfortable period. I shed my academic activities (Head of School, etc.) and focused on the research for which I had grant support, and therefore post-docs (and I had no energy for anything else such as computer vision).

It has been doubling in one month now however, (October 2013) chemotherapy is holding it back, not reducing it. Unpleasant side effects of both cancer and the therapy make work harder and I've just survived the consequences of a pulmonary embolism (just another side effect).