Wednesday, 20 February 2008

Finally some Answers

Today, I took myself off to the Radiologist's surgery; armed with a page full of questions - the same questions that the Urologist (Dr J) avoided (for the most part). The questions looked something like this:


  • What if anything, can be done about the fatigue?

  • Should I be concerned about the 'shortness of breath'?

  • What about the dizziness?

  • Should we consider addressing the cholesterol level at this time?

  • What about the ... 'blood in the ejaculate'?

  • What can I do about the 'hot flushes'?

  • Um ... ah ... what about ... um ... 'breast tenderness'?

  • Is the weight gain something to concern myself about at this time?

  • And the blood in the ejaculate?

Well here are the answers - hot off the press!


  • What if anything, can be done about the fatigue? Hopefully I will learn to tolerate this unwanted side effect otherwise medication can be used.

  • Should I be concerned about the 'shortness of breath'? Worst case, this could point to 'heart related issues' but having 'pretty much' ruled that out, and since this side effect seems to be waning ... we'll press on.

  • What about the dizziness? This can be caused by any number of things and will be monitored.

  • Should we consider addressing the cholesterol level at this time? Yes.

  • What about the ... 'blood in the ejaculate'? This is possibly the result of the 16 core samples taken during the TRUS, 3 and a half months ago, or is related the the tumour itself. Either way it doesn't affect the treatment under consideration.

  • What can I do about the 'hot flushes'? Again, I should be able to tolerate these, particularly with winter around the corner! However, there are medications that can help with this also.

  • Um ... ah ... what about ... um ... 'breast tenderness'? If this becomes too bothersome, we can 'zap it' with some radiation and 'VOILA' problem solved (fried?).

  • Is the weight gain something to concern myself about at this time? It could be ... but we'll see how things go. Diet, exercise and perhaps some weight training offer the best outcomes. [Currently all the above apart from 'weight training' are in play!]

  • And the blood in the ejaculate? This is to be expected, but again will not affect the proposed treatment.

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