Time is ticking

When your oncologist tells you that you have a year of reasonable health left before the dreaded decline........what to do???? Get on your bike!!

The brief story so far

I am a 56 year old restauranteur based in Rye UK, and throughout the process boringly listed below I have continued to work with my amazing teams at The Union Steakhouse and The Plough, but now I am prompted to plan a bucket list trip, and to raise as much money as I can for Prostate Cancer UK.

Having discovered a slightly elevated PSA during late 2012 in my 50th year, I went onto have a radical prostectomy in October 2013.

My surgeon proudly announced to me that the disease was "encapsulated" within the removed gland and that it all looked good.........

In January of 2014 the dreaded PSA had not reduced to an acceptable level, worse still, by March it was rising. A pet choline scan showed metastatic disease on the illeal lymph nodes, here we go then!

Hormone treatment (Bicalutimide) was started and the long process of what I call "Hurry up and wait!" commenced. Regular 3 monthly PSA checks were continued, and the scores continued to rise.

2015 saw 2 months of radiotherapy, if you can't kill it cook it! It also saw a spate of clips, used during the surgery, migrating through the bladder wall and the anastomosys, various hospital visits to have the bladder fixed. The radiotherapy slightly reduced the PSA count and nuked the offending lymph nodes! More hurrying up and waiting.

2016 saw the PSA climbing again which activated 18 weeks of chemo therapy (Docetaxyl), which was mildly inconvenient, and a change to Zoladex as a hormone treatment.

A month or so later the PSA was undetectable, hoorah!

2 months of undetectable PSA, heavenly!

2017 started well, but soon the dreaded PSA score started to rise, as the cancer had learned to grow despite the Zoladex, slowly at first but by the end of the year PSA had climbed from 0.01 to 4.43, a low score, but the same score it was at the time of surgery when they discovered two tumours, one 18mm and one 8mm in diameter.

I commence writing this blog in March 2018. The PSA is now at 15, and seems to be increasing at 50% every 4 weeks. We will soon be adding Enzalutimide to the hormone treatment (Aberaterone's associated steroids make me eat too much and I am already enormous).

So what to do...........

GET ON YER BIKE, not quite in the context meant by Mr Tebbit

“So while I still have reasonable health, I am planning an epic "e-bike" ride from Rye UK to Syracuse in Sicily, some 2,000 miles. I will be towing a light weight aluminium tear drop "caravan" to live in. And health permitting I plan to be living in this contraption for 6 weeks! All monies raised on and by this ludicrous venture will go to Prostate Cancer UK, please give generously! ”