In Part One I began chronicling my 12-year journey with prostate cancer. The reader can refer to Part I for a refreshing of the mind. Suffice it to say that after being diagnosed in June of 2013, after 43 radiation treatments, life for the most part returned to normal and all was well. God was in the saddle, and all was right with the world. However, calm waters don’t stay calm forever. The stormy waves can become rather high and cause a sinking of the ship.After eight years of calm waters, the waves became without warning rather choppy.   

Fast forward eight years, which passed all too quickly into the vault of history. It was now 2021, and I was now 69 years old. When my PSA was checked in February 2021, it was elevated. The doctor was not concerned, but I was. Six weeks later, my PSA was checked once again, and it had gone up again. The doctor told me my numbers were not yet in the danger zone, and not to worry. However, I insisted on a scan. The doctor would later tell me he was thankful I insisted on having a scan.  Well, I knew my body, and I knew something was skewed.

To my dismay, the scan revealed some cancer cells had “escaped” from my prostate and settled in a couple of my lymph nodes. I was informed that because it was now outside the prostate it was categorized as Stage 4.  I was stunned.  “Stage 4” is not something you want to hear, because there is no “Stage 5.”  When I enquired about the solution, the doctor suggested radiation for the spots and to begin Lupron shots.  While I agreed to the radiation, I refused the Lupron shots as I had heard too many horror stories about the side effects.  Lupron would be an option when I had no more options.

Through the month of August 2021, I received 25 additional radiation treatments. My insides were now fried as counting my first radiation treatments of 43, I had now been zapped 68 times. I had to drink water consistently, if not I would start hurting. But drinking water is a small price to pay to keep hanging around.

Yes, that the cancer had spread was a bummer, but if possible I was not going to let it slow me down. To show one can be active and strong in the face of life’s potholes, I begin training for a half-marathon to be held that November. Even while undergoing radiation treatments, I trained every day to reach my goal. I refused to give in to my diagnosis. With the encouragement and help of great friends who trained with me and the Good Lord, I completed the half-marathon (13.1 miles) in 1:57:30…wearing a t-shirt that read, “Stronger than Cancer.”

I seemingly had no major problems and lingering side effects from the radiation and my PSA kept going down each time I had it checked. I was doing so well, I began training again to run road races. As 2022 dawned, I entered my 70^th year on planet earth. I was most thankful to be doing so well. During 2022, competing in the 70–75-year-old age group, I ran 18 races, mostly 5K races.  I won my age group sixteen times, including capturing a silver medal in the 10K (6.1 miles) at the North Carolina Senior Olympics State Games…which I was most proud. At the race I again toed the line wearing my “Stronger than Cancer” t-shirt.

As 2022 came to an end I was looking forward to continuing my competing in age group road racing.  But a prediction my doctor made in August of 2021 became a reality. Since the cancer cells had gotten outside the prostate, the doctor informed me the radiation treatments were probably only a temporary fix. His prediction hung over me like a dark shadow, and was always lurking in the back of my mind. Well, the doctor was right. In February of 2023, approaching my seventy-first birthday, my PSA started rising again. A scan revealed it had now spread to four places, and radiation was no longer an option.  The doctor insisted I begin taking Lupron shots immediately. It was mid-March.  

When I asked the doctor what would happen if I did not take the shots, he emphatically but calmly replied, “You will die.”  He went on to add, “You do not want it to advance into your bones, that would be a painful death.”  This time I had no other options. Now backed into a corner with no way of escape, I agreed to begin taking the shots. However, I had been training hard to run in a 10K road race at the end of March, only a week after my seventy-first birthday. I asked the doctor if it would be alright if I ran the race for which I had been training. He agreed a couple of weeks would not matter, so he gave me permission to run in the race.  I knew it would probably be the last road race I would ever run, so I cherished every step of the 10K race. I ran exceptionally well, and won the 70-75 age group easily.

Another chapter in my life was about to close, and another chapter open…and it would be a road covered with much-broken pavement. On the last day of March 2023 I took my first Lupron shot. I was given the choice to take them monthly, every three months, or every six months. Don’t know if it would make any difference, I chose to take them once a month. The three-month and six-month shots are said to be on time-release, but that “stuff” is still in your body.

I have been on monthly Lupron shots now for over two years. How has my journey on Lupron shots been?     

Stay tuned for Part III for the answer.

Blessings,

Dr. Dan