A Full Time Job!

Wednesday, December 21

“So Mike, where have you been? What’s up? How’s it going?”

It’s been a long time since I felt like I’ve worked full time – you know, working for the man! Well, I guess that’s where I’ve been – working long and hard to help align the stars in my quest to deal with this dynamic disease.

The story starts a few months back, post-chemotherapy. My PSA readings were slowly, but steadily climbing. Simply stated, this meant an active cancer. So began my full time job.

The job description seems to include doctor appointments, information gathering, a blood test here, a CT scan there, an IV for another isotope, a 3-hour wait, fasting now, lots of water later, phone calls, understanding criteria for clinical trials, navigating insurance nuances, monitoring the body for ‘other’ changes, starting a new prescription drug and ultimately deciding on the next course of treatment given limited data. The unconditional support, concern, empathy and expertise of Susan and the polite, dedicated professionals at OHSU, UCSF, and Peace Heath has been invaluable. Nonetheless, I often found myself stressed and barely in control.

The weekend respite was marvelous! We spent all day with our dear friends, Tim and Pam. Furthermore, we did so in a chilly winter wonderland, surrounded by pristine forest and under blue, sunny skies.

The weekend was sandwiched between full workdays. Friday called for multiple body scans in Eugene. These scans were a requirement for enrollment in an OHSU clinical trial designed to understand how cancer cells mutate after treatment with enzalutamide, a powerful hormone therapy drug, which will probably be the centerpiece of my next treatment regime. Monday called for our sojourn to OHSU for a physical exam, blood tests and consent form signing– all of which were also requirements for this clinical trial. Tuesday was my killer 20-hour day – down to and back from San Francisco. I participated in another clinical trial designed to help evaluate a prostate cancer diagnostic tool. Today I spent endless phone hours dealing with the fact that our insurance company denied the claim for my next treatment drug. The repercussions of this could be serious, but the team at OHSU suggests I sit tight and let them work it out. They assure me that a few weeks of no treatment will be just fine – but I must admit I am a little rattled……….

I guess the long and short of it is that it’s a tough week at the office. We’ve all had them and probably will have them again. We survived them and moved on. So there you go…………Mike’s been struggling at work all week long!

But then again……………….

Do photos like this make it all worth it?