Notes from the Cafe Fiasco

Tests

Hate 'em, hate 'em, hate 'em. It is a legacy of my upright Protestant upbringing that I hate tests. They have always symbolized large opportunities for failure and disappointment. I blame this for the fact that it took me 17 years to get a bachelor's degree and that, after years of practice, I'm only a 4th kyu in Aikido. I avoid tests whenever and wherever I can.

Well, it seems that you can run, but you can't hide. Sat down to talk with Dr. Loughlin this morning and he was in a somber mood. He didn't like the increase in the PSA numbers over the past six months and, since he's a very careful man, before recommending anything drastic, he wants some tests. More blood tests. Another biopsy (fun one, that). And a endo-colonic MRI (another fun procedure done in a tube).

So, next week is going to be fun, but maybe not as much fun as the week after when we get the results. Stay tuned.

Fall Number - 8.0

It's always a time of great interest and amusement when the Prostate Specific Antigen number comes around again on the guitar.This happens every three months and it tracks the progress/regress of the little bit of death that I carry around with me. Since a higher number means a similar progression of the disease, we like low and stable numbers over time.

Didn't get that this time. This season we're looking at an 8.0, up from 6.6 - not a particularly good trend since the number before that was a 5.3. I'm beginning to sense a momentum here that I don't like.

Well, anyway, I get to hash this over with the Doc on Monday. He didn't seem to be phased too much about the jump last time around, noting that the number goes up as men get older anyway. The good news last time is that there was no evidence of an organized tumor - we'll see if this is still the case next week.