We saw Dr P on 11th of this month. This consult followed what has become the pattern of late. The PSA, as expected, continued to rise, reaching 145. However, the scans I had done the preceding Monday showed that there was no detectable new activity. I asked how many spots the scans revealed. The answer was 3 or 4 — one of these may or may not be a new one. Either way, this is fewer than I have had previously. All fortunately continue to be in bone, with no visceral involvement. My interpretation of this is that I am living with the condition successfully, insofar as I’m not experiencing pain, and the spots aren’t spreading to any organs. Sometimes I am still pretty tired from the radiation treatment; otherwise, though, I can do pretty much what I want to do.

As before, Dr P declared himself “very happy” with how I’m going, and thought I was looking “fantastic”. He reminded us that the next treatment was another course of chemotherapy. Given that my scores weren’t doubling, he didn’t think this was required. Déjà vu all over again!

Following another visit to my GP, the sciatica is less troublesome. The strategy is to bump up the Lyrica, so that it better controls the pain, and makes me less dependent on anti-inflammatories. To this end, as well as 150 mg in the morning and the same at night, I can have a further 75 mg if there are any “breakouts”. I have had to resort to this a few times, and it is definitely effective. I will continue seeing a chiropractor and medical masseuse in 2024, and having a daily going-over with the massage gun from my beloved. I have also gone back to exercise class, just once a week for the time being. Further accentuating the positive, the strain I had acquired in the intercostal muscle seems to have disappeared. (At one stage I had the intercostal, a back strain, including the SI joint, and the sciatica!) Hooray for modern drugs.