Great News for this Christmas Season

The first great news is that my prostate cancer numbers (PSA) have all settled down to a very acceptable level (0.04). In September my urologist tested and the number was going up (0.09) and he siad I might have to start thinking about radiation. Karen and I went to our family doctor who recommended I get retested by a different lab. We did and the number came back lower (0.04). That took off a lot of pressure, but I still needed a recheck in December. I was checked by two labs again and both the numbers this time were 0.04. Praise God.

I'll be checked every every 6 months for the next 4 years and then yearly after that. That one 0.09 reading just didn't add up with the biopsy and didn't make sense. Things are making sense and confirmed for now.

I'm describing where I'm at now as being on the good side of the equation.

The other great news is that Christmas is coming and right after our oldest daughter, Katherine, will be married to a great guy, Nate Leach. My daughter Hilary came home from a 6 months stint as a nanny in North Africa 2 days ago and Heather turned 18 on Monday. It is busy and exciting times for the Dials.

Merry Christmas to all of you. Jeff

And the Better News is...

I should have posted a long time ago.

At the moment things are not as bad as it seemed in September. Karen and I went to our family doctor a few days after I posted just to talk and get a global perspective on what to expect. He suggested pumping up on anti-oxidants and getting big doses of Vitamin D (something recommended to all of us in the cloudy Northwest.)

He also suggested having the blood work done at a different lab just to confirm the accuracy of the results. Our appointment was on Monday and my doctor called on Friday before he went home for the weekend to let me know that the lab results were very encouraging. The PSA came back at .04 which is now moving in the good direction.

I stll need to be rechecked in Deceber (I am going to have both labs check it) and will be monitoring for the rest of my life, but at present raditaion is "on the back burner."

Guess I was so relived that I didn't want to think about it for awhile so I didn't blog it. Sorry for allyou folks out there worried about me.

I'm looking forward to a big December. Hilary is home and Katherine is getting married. Lots to live for. ;-)

The Bad News is ...

I had a follow up call with my urologist yesterday. The news was not the best.

My PSA number went up from 0.06 four months ago to 0.09. With the biopsy results after surgery the PSA number should have been zero. So the number is going in the wrong direction. Diagnosis at this point is that there still is junk in there.

They are going to recheck my PSA numbers in 3 months, but radiation treatment is highly likely.

Not news I was really expecting, but when I was first diagnosed I always wondered if it might come back. I just thought it would be a bit more than 6 months before it reoccurred. The doctor is pretty positive that radiation will beat this back and “you won’t die of this.”

I’m playing the waiting game now, which was some of the hardest parts leading up to surgery. God is good. Cancer stinks.

Milestone

If this is my journal in addition to my blog I have to leave myself a note that for the past week I have been able to use zippers for the purpose they were intended.
[Don't ask.]

A New Desigantion

A week from today I will have a new title - Father-in-law. Ben will be getting married this coming Sunday to Shannon McLemore. We are all excited about having her in our family and she says she is too. We feel so blessed that they have found each other.

Busy week ahead, but looking forward to a great day.

Nothing New in a Month?

Really nothing much new on the medical front. Had my 8 week follow up a couple weeks back and things are progressing fine. The doctor was not completely satisfied with where I was at, but I think he took it personally that I was not healing as quickly as he wanted. That's the kind of doctor to have.

Last weekend we went camping with our longtime friends the Jacobsens. It got a little wet at the end.

Upcoming events of note:

Tomorrow morning I will be sharing this journey of mine with the Men of Faith at the monthly breakfast.

Ben's Wedding in two weeks. I have my yellow vest on order so that the two dads will match. The reservation is in at the motel. I have my instructions for the rehearsal dinner. Things are moving along. Looking forward to that premium seat at the wedding.

I'll be performing at Magic Monday June 14th at Third Place Books Ravenna Seattle. Show starts at 7:00. Join us. It is mucho fun.

No Excuses Now

My six weeks of recovery are over and I'm back to normal activity. That means I can pick up my tool box again and get back to a normal work schedule. I have a good week of work lined up this week, but as the economy is slow and it is the seasonally slow time of year anyway I won' t be over stressing myself as I get back into the swing of work.

Looking forward to the next big event, Ben and Shannon's wedding in June. (Congrats Shannon on your college graduation this past weekend.)