We saw Dr P on Monday, and the PSA is now measuring 2.1. I was a little unsettled at this continuing trend upwards. Dr P has been saying things like “the cancer is just grumbling along”, “scores go up and down”, and “at this rate it’ll take forever to get to 2”. I pointed out that the scores had only been moving in one direction, and I was now at 2. He said, again, that the significant thing was the rate of increase, which remains small. (He is always careful, however, not to minimise or brush aside my concerns.) he pointed out also that there is a number of treatments I can have after this one has outlived its usefulness.

One of these, about which I had heard, is lutetium . Apparently this is several thousand dollars each dose. There is another new treatment, which has only just become free, and is something for which I may be eligible. (It sounded something like alaporip.) It is only suitable for patients with a DNA target, in the same way that many breast cancer patients have the BRCA 1 and 2 genes. He asked if I would like to participate in a genetic analysis to see if I have the DNA target (to which I said “Yes”). I didn’t have to give any new samples; they will examine the pathology samples from my operation in 2017. The analysis will take a couple of months to complete. Given that my father had cancer, I think it is likely that mine has a hereditary component. Anyway, we will see how that turns out. I’m still feeling fine, and am somewhat heartened by the number of options that exist in this obviously very dynamic field of medicine. For a bit of light relief, we are off to see House of Gucci. (I saw Belfast last weekend, which I enjoyed.)