Another trip to Med Onc

Another quarterly appointment...  Another trip across the city, and the 7am traffic report on the Northern Motorway was not encouraging. Another routine drag over the Bridge... Another Consultation with the dedicated specialists at Medical Oncology... But it was not quite routine. We had another change of consultant. And there was a little surprise to come.

I had to report a great increase in quality of life since the new meds early this year and that the side effects of these are quite manageable. My PSA had remained almost static for nearly four months. I commented that I’d had some weeks of a little more back pain than usual. My back has been a problem for half my life so we hadn’t paid a lot of attention to it. But Simon ran his fingers down my spine and when he got to L5 I jumped. No doubt about where the pain was coming from now. And a review of last month’s bone scan shows that the L5 and S1 vertebrae, the fundamental joint of the lower spine, are both now involved with the cancer.

So, another step on an interesting and challenging journey. It looks like I’ll be using some more consistent doses of Panadol from now on. No medication changes are being considered at this stage. It’s just a case of quarterly tests and watching and waiting while we get on with life. Plenty of that to do around here!