We saw Dr P this morning. The news wasn’t great, on the face of it: the PSA is up from 2.3 to 3.7. However, Dr P continues to be happy with where I’m at. He referred to the scans I had had in December, which showed neither “clear evidence of bony metastatic disease”, nor indication of “local soft tissue recurrence”. He said while the PSA scores showed that there was something going on biologically, I was still in remission radiologically. He wants me to have scans now every three months, adding “I’m probably just being paranoid”. (He can be as paranoid as he likes as far as we’re concerned!) He doesn’t intend to change the treatment I’m on until something shows up on the scans.

As Dr P pointed out, we have been coming to see him for three years now, something that surprised us. During this period I have had adjunct chemotherapy and hormone treatment — the latter of which is continuing — and spent two years in remission, i.e. with an undetectable PSA score. It was welcome news to me also that I remained in any kind of remission — I thought this had finished when my PSA score started climbing. Being in remission doesn’t change anything, of course, it just makes me feel that bit better. Physically I still feel fine, thanks to the exercise classes and lots of walking.

The last lot of scans was bulk billed, so the only drawback of having more is the time required. There is a gap of an hour or two between the two scans. By the time you arrive, get prepped, have scan #1, then wait until you can have scan #2, the day has a fair sized hole in it. Last time I came home for lunch during the gap. Next time, however, I will just walk up to Whitehorse Road, buy a sandwich, and go and sit in the park across the road from the hospital. If it is a hot day I will renew my community membership in the RSL and have lunch there — the food is pretty good, and they even have a senior special menu!