We saw Dr P on Monday (22 November). The PSA was 1.29, which he described as a “very minor increase” on the previous figure of 1.01. The good doctor added that

• Enzalutamide is known to give such increases, so this one was “not unexpected”
• the PSA could come down
• he thought the PSA was “just grumbling along”.

Most importantly, I still feel fine. After the consultation I walked up to Epworth Eastern to have my Zolodex implant, which was delivered as usual.

The preceding week we had finally gotten away for our mini-break in Daylesford (two nights in a self-contained villa near the lake). We had booked this originally in August for September, I think, and it was deferred three times with various lockdowns. The holiday was lovely, but its conclusion was a tad stressful. On the morning of Friday 19th, while I was getting all our stuff together before checking out of the villa, I got an SMS alerting me that we had a message on our landline. (We seldom use this number, and consequently don’t often check the message bank attached to it.) I thought I could play back these messages remotely, and found out how to do so after a bit of Googling. The message directed me to call Epworth Eastern, where I was booked in to have the Zolodex the following Monday.

I rang the number that had been left on the message, and got through to the day oncology ward at Epworth Eastern. I had to have a Covid-19 test before I could have the implant on Monday. (They apologised for the short notice — apparently this is a new hospital policy.) I didn’t have to get the results back in order to have the implant — I just had to have had the test.

My beloved was taking the waters at the Hepburn Springs bath house at the time, and had the car. I tried to figure out what to do. Should I try to have the Covid test in Daylesford? Or should we cancel our lunch booking and drive straight back to Melbourne? I decided we should go to lunch as planned and drive straight home. I would then have a Covid test at a drive-in centre at Deakin University a short distance away. If I could get the result back in time, well and good; if not, it wouldn’t matter. This all worked out as anticipated. I had the test on Friday afternoon, and got the result the next morning via SMS — no Covid discovered. I just showed the SMS to the oncology centre when I booked in on Monday. (I also asked them to remove our landline number from their records.) It looks as if I will have to have this test at three monthly intervals, before every Zolodex implant, or before any other hospital admission. Touch wood there won’t be too many of the latter!