External Beam Radiation Therepy Begins

In the clutches of the linear accelerator

It turns out that when a guy is said to have "positive margins," when they mean is that the cancer is in the tissue they leave behind, as well as the tissue they remove. Radiation affects both the good and bad tissue, but the bad tissue does not have the ability to repair itself, whereas the good tissue does. Over the course of 40 daily doses, the cancer dies. Last Monday, Dec 20, I went in for my first treatment, which happen daily at 3pm, and I am out in 20 minutes.

There is very little in the way of side effects from these treatments, the doc said I might be somewhat fatigued at the end of each week, although this varies from patient to patient.

The bit of good news is that my second post-op PSA test came back will all zeros (0.00), down from a value of 0.03 in September. For the first year, I will have quarterly tests.

Good News!

Ron had his first PSA test and follow-up visit with his docs on Wednesday. We were relieved, thrilled, and most thankful for the results. His PSA level was 0.03.. the docs seemed to be as pleased as we were. Additionally, they were thrilled with his healing and recovery progress. Ron doesn't need to see his docs until the end of December. At that time he will have another PSA test. PSA tests will be part of his life from now on!

The next step is for Ron to meet with a radiologist to discuss the pros and cons of radiation treatments. His doc recommends radiation for the following reasons:
1. Ron is YOUNG!! (so says the very young doctor!!)
2. The cancer was aggressive and there was a lot of it.
3. The cancer had migrated to the outside margin. Radiation will make sure none of the cancer cells "jumped the mother ship" to attach themselves to a new body part.

Obviously, the final decision is up to Ron. The radiologist the doc wants Ron to consult with is an expert on all things radiation related.

Our blog will be on vacation until we have any news! Or unless we get bored and decide to post non-cancer related family news.

Thank you again for your thoughts, prayers, cards, emails, phone calls and words of encouragement during this challenging time.

Cindy and Ron

«Early morning view of St. Al's, on the Gonzaga campus..

Next week, there are 2 major events (that I know about)--

Monday, it's back to work at GU, and Wednesday we're off to the doctor's office for my first post surgery PSA test!

The obvious objective here is for the test to come back with a value of ZERO. If the value is more than .1 or .2, it starts to look like not all of the cancerous tissue was removed. At any event, we will find out more about the next medical step... the surgeon already indicated that because of the pathology of the removed tissue, the fact that the diseased tissue was at the margins, radiation will be the advised follow up treatment. This will consist of daily office visits for several weeks of playing electromagnetic pincushion.

Most of the pain is a memory. I keep the Ibuprophen handy for incision pain (I'm off the 'hard' stuff.) The main work for me is retraining the bladder to empty all the way and not leave oil in the pipeline.

This past week I felt like I was in driver's ed, as Cindy allowed me to slip behind the steering wheel of her Subaru. Maybe next week she will let me start the car! (joke).

Those of you that have contacted me, I appreciate the kind words. In the case of a co-worker of Cindy, a plate of GYNORMOUS peanut butter cookies.

Until later, this has been the ronald.

Post op pathology

Wednesday was the day I returned to the doc’s office for removal of the catheter, and an update on the pathology on the materials removed during surgery.
Evidently the cancer was aggressive, and the concern now, is whether or not it has spread to regions outside the prostate; there might be a 50% chance that it has. He said the latest science would indicate the best course of action is to follow the surgery with a round of radiation in a few months.
I also scheduled my first post-op PSA test for September 30; It is the hope of every post op guy that their new PSA number will be close to zero; close monitoring of the PSA will continue for the next two years, I suspect.
There might be not much to report on this blog in the next couple of weeks, but if there is, this will be the place to read about it. Feel free to posts your own comments, and sign up for update notifications on the wiget in the right column.

What's next?

Ron is getting stronger by the day. He is feeling much better, sleeping better, and able to eat normal food.

We have an appointment with the docs on Wednesday (August 25th.) Ron will have a post-op check and they will remove the catheter. The pathology report should be back at that time as well. This will tell us what happens next. It is our hope and prayer that the cancer was fully contained inside the prostate gland so that radiation won't be necessary.

More later....

robotic surgery demonstration

First Full Day at Home after Surgery

The photo is one that I took at Mt Adams last week, it was from a series of shots early in the morning, and put together in Photoshop.
Last night was the first night at home post surgery. It was a difficult night, partly because I did not know what to expect from my body. But I am told that my experience is fairly typical. It is amazing how, for a normal person, the digestive system does "what it does" since birth, but in the traumatic changes brought about by surgery, some of these functions seem to be confused, and need to be retrained.
I have tried to talk to others that have been through the same procedure, to compare my experience so far with theirs, and to try to get a sense about what is ahead. I'm a little nervous, but given the fact that I am in God's hands, and I feel that I had the best care any person could have in the northwest, I am confident for an overall good outcome.

I would also encourage you to post responses to any of these notes, as you think of encouragements or personal experiences others can benefit from.

Home at last!

Ron was able to come home this morning. He is a bit exhausted from all the excitement that goes along with checking out of the hospital. He is eating regular food and we just took a short stroll in the sunshine. Now he is resting. You will hear from him soon!

One more day....

The nurses are enjoying the Mahan sense of humor SO much they decided to keep Ron around for another day. Hopefully, he will be able to come home tomorrow. He is doing well considering they still won't let him eat anything other than funny looking soup, cream of wheat, oatmeal, jello and pudding. He was allowed juice and coffee! Yippee!!

He was up and around quite a bit today. In fact, another patient was quite impressed when Ron "lapped" her on the hospital race course.

That's today's news. Soon Ron will be able to give you his perspective of this adventure.

Surgery Day

Ron had surgery yesterday. (Tuesday, August 17th) According to the doc, all went well. He was able to use the robot for the entire surgery. The doc was able to remove the prostate gland while preserving the nerve bundles that surround the gland. His only concern was the left side of the prostate gland looked "a little ragged on the margins." The left side was the side that showed 70% cancer cells in the biopsy. We will wait for the pathology report to come back next week for the results.

Ron was up walking about the hospital last evening. No rest for the weary!! One of his complaints is he can't eat until noon today. And then he can only have yummy stuff like jello!

Our long-time friend Kathleen came to the hospital and waited with us for the better part of the day. Aly arrived yesterday around noon. Aaron is here... Drew was sent to Medford, Oregon on Monday to fight a fire in that region. It's great having at least 2 of the kids home.

Ron is scheduled to come home tomorrow. We appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers during the recovery phase of this adventure!

2010 Mt Adams

"I am not remarkable."

The doctor's office called today with the news that nothing in my scans last week was remarkable. As far as they can tell, the cancer has not spread to the bones, and the surgery can proceed as planned. From the explanation I received, the CT and abdominal scans were needed, because if something hideous was found, it would have meant a higher stage of progression, and a different course of treatment.

So it is good today, medically speaking, to be normal.. unremarkable.

Last weekend we travelled to Mt Adams, for a couple days away, and a fun time with the boys and my bro and his lovely wife. I took a boatload of pics of the mountain, now I get to process them. I will post some of the better ones.

Hurry up and WAIT!!

Ron had his scans last Wednesday, August 4. We are still waiting to hear from the doc for the results. Rather than wait around and be totally frustrated, we packed up the car and took a little trip to the lovely communities of Glenwood, WA and Trout Lake, WA. (Both towns are in the shadow of Mt. Adams.) Seems a bit random but really, we had a purpose. Our son Drew is working for the Forest Service in Trout Lake for the summer. We really went to see him! Ron's brother Wes and his wife Jane drove up from Portland. We stayed in a quaint log cabin surrounded by forests and streams and mostly friendly critters. It was lovely to have the peace and quiet of nature and NO television, Internet, or cell phone service. As a bonus we all drove to Hood River Saturday evening for a lovely dinner. Drew doesn't seem to have enough to keep him busy so he also works at a wonderful restaurant on the weekends. Fortunately, he wasn't working so we all enjoyed incredibly amazing food prepared by Drew's friend and the chef, Nathan.  (The restaurant is Nora's Table... check it out if you are ever in Hood River!)  http://www.norastable.com/

Now that we are back in Spokane, we are once again in wait-mode. Ron called his doc's office today but wasn't able to actually talk to anyone. When they finally called him back they told him the only one who can discuss the results of his tests is his doctor. Hurry up and wait some more.

We are planning for the surgery to be August 17.... one of us will update the blog when we get the results from the scans. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

*Ron took many pictures of Mt. Adams and the area. Hopefully he will have time to post some of them here.... while he's waiting!

Monday Aug 02- Today I went to the doctor's office for a quick EKG, blood draw, and chest xray. Wednesday I go in for a CT and bone scan, this will verify the health of my bones and abdomen to proceed to surgery in a couple weeks.

Can you identify the location of this photo?

Going off the cancer grid....

This morning when I was walking, I was reminded of a funny exchange I had with one of my second graders at the end of the year. This little guy was busily working on a research project about George Washington. He brought his note cards to me with a puzzled look on his face. He said, "I can't figure this out. It says that George never had any children. But then it says that George and Martha had two children. I know it takes a sperm and an egg to make a baby so how did they have two children without any sperm from George?"
Ummm okay.... this is the exciting challenge of working with children. You just never know what they might say. And as Art Linkletter said...."Kids say the darndest things!"
I decided to skip the biology lesson... after all, this child's dad is a doctor and it sounded to me like he knew the science. Rather, I launched into a lenghty explanation of George and Martha's life.... Martha had been married before, her husband died, she had two children, George raised the kids as though they were his own. He patiently waited until I was finished explaining the George and Martha Washington family tree, looked at me and said...."Well. I guess Martha didn't have any more eggs!" He smiled, shrugged and went back to work.

And people wonder why we become elementary school teachers!

What Cancer Cannot Do.....

Cancer is so limited...

It cannot cripple love

It cannot shatter hope

It cannot corrode faith

It cannot eat away peace

It cannot destroy confidence

It cannot kill friendships

It cannot shut out memories

It cannot silence courage

It cannot reduce eternal life

It cannot quench the Spirit.

Unknown

I get it now....

kind of.

Ron came upon a very informative piece online from Johns Hopkins Medicine called 7 Keys to Treating Prostate Cancer. (www.hopkinsreport.com/prostate/) It is a PDF file that is quite lengthy but it covers 7 important things to know and consider about prostate cancer. The info in the following paragraph would have been most helpful to have the day we met with the first doctor and the word cancer was thrust upon us.

The good news is that reliable diagnostic tests and numerous treatment options are available for prostate cancer, and death rates from prostate cancer are on the decline. Moreover, most prostate cancer is slow growing, so usually you can give yourself time to learn about and carefully weigh all the options available to treat prostate cancer. And it's important that you take the time to do so. Of all the cancers, cancer of the prostate is unusual in that there is no consensus among doctors about the best treatment-or whether any type of treatment is absolutely necessary.

I added the bold type to the sentences above. I have been trying to figure out why the docs have been in no rush to do anything. My thinking has been: You have cancer in your body. You get it out. NOW! Not so with this cancer.       Now I know.

Tomorrow (Wednesday, July 21) we meet with Doctor #2. This time we are prepared with our list of questions, pencil, and paper. My prayer is that we will leave this meeting with a clear direction and peace in our hearts.

You will hear from one or both of us! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

My Turn:


The Blog was Aly's idea. I was looking for a relatively easy way to communicate with our friends and family (YOU!) without having to spend hours emailing everyone. She suggested a blog. Being a person of finely-tuned computer skills, Aly assured me it would be simple! And she was correct. Setting up the Blog was simple. The difficult part is what to say and how to say it.

We have more than enough technical data to share with you. Lots of numbers and scales and percentages. Not very interesting stuff.


Most people want to know how we are doing. That's not so easy to put in words. Some days I look at Ron as he is getting ready to go to work and think, "He looks normal. He's doing normal things. But things are NOT normal." How weird is that? I am not a person who does well with waiting around to make a plan. If I were in charge of this cancer, we would have a plan, execute the plan, and we would be on to the next adventure in life. But of course... this path in our lives does not work that way. Sigh....


I have been encouraged, blessed, and overwhelmed (in a good way!) by the response from our family and friends. It is my hope that this blog will be a way we can communicate with you and keep you informed as we make a plan and move forward. Please feel free to add your comments. We appreciate your prayers . And we love hearing from you!

A few words of introduction..
I am a 60 year old father of three, husband of one elementary school teacher. Days are spent at Gonzaga University, designing, installing and maintaining A/V equipment in classrooms. Most of my "spare" time is given to running a volunteer ski patrol.
Last week, on July 9, Cindy and I showed up for an appointment at the surgical urologists' office for the results of a biopsy. It went something like this:
Doctor: I've got your test results and some bad news. You have cancer and Alzheimer's.
Man: Boy, am I lucky! I was afraid I had cancer!
Fortunately, he didn't say anything about Alzheimer's, but the next hour was filled with strange terms such as "risk grade," "stage," "brachytherapy," and "photomicrograph." Suggested available treatments were offered: Surveillance, Hormonal therapy, surgery (open or Laparoscopic), radiation (external beam or brachytherapy), cryotherapy, and a shopping list of cutting edge therapies.
In the days since, I have read many anecdotal accounts of others having been through treatment, have watched fascinating videos of actual surgeries, and have received great advice from others that have first and second-hand experience.
What's next? Next Wednesday (7/21) we have a consultation with the DaVinci-certified surgeon (laparoscopic), then another meeting Friday with the oncologist that we had the initial meeting with a week ago. Hopefully a game plan can be put in place at the Friday meeting that I can live with.
I will be posting links that I have found helpful, if you have someone close that could use the information, these are resources that have helped me understand the disease and formulate a stategy to fight it.