E1

Cancer has reared it's ugly head again. Not for E. though (or at least not that we know of), but rather for E.'s dad . . . E1. While on our way home from Disneyland, we received the call that E1 was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Some quick googling and we discovered that if you've got to have cancer, prostate cancer is probably the one to have. Matter of fact, we read that the majority of men (like 90%) that die after age 70 have prostate cancer. That's not to say that they die of prostate cancer, but rather they die *with* prostate cancer.

We had little information to go on, but E1 indicated radiation treatment was in his near future. We quickly concluded that E1 would need to stay with us to obtain his radiation treatments in the big city and so, after a little bit of rearranging, E1 now has a bedroom at our house.

E. ran and picked up his dad from Podunk, Nevada for a doctor's appointment in Reno to presumably start the process. We were able to review his biopsy results and this is what we learned:

* You may recall from E.'s diagnosis, cancer staging is based on T, N and M scores. (T for the Tumor, N for the lymph Nodes and M for the Metastasis.) E1's T score is a T1. That is great news. But, he hasn't yet had any further testing to determine his N or M scores.

* E1's PSA level was 5.5. Again, great news.

* E1's Gleason score was 7. Scores under 6 are the best. Scores of 7 and above are considered aggressive cancers, but can go above 20. While E1's score of 7 indicates it has the potential to be an aggressive cancer, it is on the very low end of that.

Right now, based on this information we have, E1 is diagnosed with Stage I Prostate Cancer.

Had E1's biopsy results only tested positive in one area, he would have been eligible for surgery. But because he has three positive biopsies in different areas, surgery is not considered the best option.

The course of treatment recommended is radiation. Three copper flakes will be surgically inserted into the cancerous areas of the prostate, which will essentially be used as "targets" for the radiation (as we understand it). (One common treatment for prostate cancer consists of seed radiation . . . seeds are inserted in the prostate that emit radiation over a period of time. For whatever reason, this type of treatment has not been recommended for E1. We're actually a bit grateful for that, as patients undergoing seed radiation have to stay away from children.)

We got E1 settled into his new room and were ready for an onslaught of doctors' appointments followed up presumably by the start of radiation. Ummm, ya.

E1 is scheduled to have the copper targets inserted on April 8th.

He is then scheduled for a CT scan (and a simulation for the radiation) on April 15th. (This is also hopefully when we will get the N and M scores.)

And then, radiation can be scheduled to begin.

For NINE weeks. Radiation every day Monday through Friday, for nine weeks. Each radiation session supposedly takes a grand total of six minutes of actual radiation.

So, E1 is home again and will return in about a month. And then, like his son, he's going to kick some cancer butt.

S.