Drove the Electric Blue over to Medical Oncology at Greenlane today. Quite a big trip for all three of us, but a short fast charge and a hamburger at McDonalds set us all up for a lengthy, leisurely return home via Sylvia Park shopping centre and then along the best waterfront drive in the world on a really gorgeous day.
Once again, we are amazed at the professionalism of the consultants we meet. Their blend of technical competence and personal empathy impresses us every time. This one had done her homework thoroughly: she was even aware of my struggles with my conscience over the decision to go onto Abiraterone and she had a printed copy of notes I optimistically emailed to the staff secretary only last night.
We had a really helpful conversation as she went over my few concerns and we discussed changes in a couple of meds. We are going try a different steroid instead of Prednisol and she has agreed to my suggestion that we reduce the amount of anti-depressant we use to control the incessant hot flushes that were so much a part of my life up until a couple of years ago. There's no way I would want to return to that lifestyle but Venlafaxine seems to be bringing some other unwanted side effects.
For the first time in fifteen years my weight is down a little, with no apparent explanation. Most of the meds would be more likely to add weight than take it off. But my PSA is pretty stable at 56, though that is also just about as high as it has ever been.
However, if we made the decision on Abiraterone for the sake of quality of life there's no absolutely doubt that that objective has been achieved. It's being a terrific year.
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