2020 Wednesday — Triggering a Memory

This shirt — I had changed from my day clothes to my jammies and as I was placing my t-shirt on a hanger to put in my closet, I saw the tag the Kaiser Permanente Medical worker had put on me as Mr.Fun and I entered the medical facility. That tiny little sticker sparked volumes of thought.

My first thought was “If I leave that on the shirt, the next time I pull it from the closet all the memories from this day will come tumbling out with it.”

My second thought “I ought to take a picture and write this into today’s story.” I am quite sure this is a day we will never forget; writing about it will secure the memory. We were at Kaiser to learn the verdict on his prostate cancer.
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The journey to this day started at least back in February, maybe early March, when Mr.Fun asked our family physician for an appointment because of some issues in his body he was dealing with. Dr. Santos’ first response was to send him for lab tests. One item in all that lab work was a PSA test. I’m always amazed at the amount of “findings” (for lack of a better definition) that one vile of blood can reveal. Mr. Fun’s PSA was elevated. The two of us know that is a red flag for prostate cancer.

We had a scare or maybe I could call it a brush with the world of prostate cancer in late 2014 when a blood test reveal an elevated PSA and the urologist told Mr. Fun in no uncertain terms that he needed to transition to a “plant based diet.” We immediately stopped eating all meat, all eggs, butter, milk, cheese, and everything dairy. Then 4-months later the PSA was retested and a prostate biopsy reveal no cancer. It was July 16, 2015. Our celebration was huge and our relief was enormous.

We stayed on that diet for 2 1/2 years, while I watched Mr. Fun growing larger and larger. Why? Because he is a food-oholic; raised by a mom who lived as a kid thru the Great Depression and was always hungry. So her first-born, Mr. Fun, was always given food and unlike his younger brother, Mr. Fun was born with the family propensity toward being over-weight. Ugh!

When the plant-based diet started Mr. Fun was already retired. I was not. His pastime as he spent hours at home alone was “grazing thru” the kitchen pantry (it’s been a life-long habit that occasionally he has conquered by turning his attention toward bicycle riding or jogging). So he started eating a lot of bread and a lot of peanut butter for snacks during our “vegan” diet episode. At the 2 1/2 year marker (roughly summer 2017), I quit. I just flat-out gave-up. I was tired of not eating meat, but more than anything I was tired of no eggs for breakfast and all the fake “meat” contained soy, which caused hot-flashes for me. Good grief! And I was disappointed that my spouse was getting more and more over-weight.
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So, the recent elevated PSA led to another prostate biopsy this past April 15. The result was learning that of the 12 specimens, 2 are cancerous. It’s not the most aggressive type of cancer cells, but also not the least aggressive.

The problem, though, came after further testing (an MRI, a CT Scan, and a bone scan). The results reveals that one lymph node outside of the prostate area looks suspicious — it might be cancerous; it might not. The urologist/oncologist said that the lymph node is in the pelvis right next to the spine and next to where the aorta artery divides and goes down each leg. So a biopsy of that lymph node is not an option. Instead, Mr. Fun was given a hormone injection on May 15; this type of therapy would be rechecked the end of summer (in August). Then if the lymph node is not cancerous surgery to remove the prostate would be the likely option.

So today we finally met face-to-face with Dr. Williams, the urologist/oncologist for the report on the “suspect” lymph node. He told us there is no change in the lymph node and therefore he believes it is just an “enlarged” lymph node and that we should proceed with treatment to abolish the prostate cancer. We thought surgery was going to be the choice. NO! Dr. Williams believes Mr. Fun is not a good candidate for surgery for several reasons: he’s over-weight, he has mesh in his belly from a previous hernia surgery, and his age. Radiation would be the best choice because it has less chance of complications. So it was a true switch of plans for us. We left the doctor’s office on this Wednesday afternoon with confusion swirling in our heads.

That little date sticker on my tshirt will be a reminder, a trail marker, of all that is happening in our lives at this moment.

In Southern California,
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol