Two down – four to go….. February 14, 2018

Hubby did round two of Chemo on Monday – he is tolerating it pretty darn well this time.  That said the hair is starting to go.  I guess it is fortunate that it just looks like it is thinning so it doesn’t look too patchy yet.  He hasn’t been a hat wearer for some time – so trying to find hats that he can wear at work and that will be comfortable is a bit tough.  Mainly he tends to run warm anyway – so most knit stocking caps are out – I did find some made of t-shirt material – but they are slouchy and score a no go on the wear at work front.

I was actually thinking it wouldn’t bug him to be bald – I mean a lot of guys are bald and he wears his hair really short anyway.  But when you start to think of it – it is really one of the first really outside visible signs that he has cancer.  In fact, the sudden hair loss is kind of like waving a flag and shouting it from the rooftops.  For him, this is worse than any vanity about hair – it is inviting people to question – and that is very much not his style.  Honestly – this blog is not his style – but he realizes it is mine and that we are mutually coping – so he puts up with it.

There is still some minor swelling in his lower abdomen – but it is shrinking by the day – and for that we are thankful – but I still wish beyond wishing there was someone out there who could tell me this would all be OK.

I had counted on them running his PSA levels again this week before Chemo – but the Dr. didn’t want to run them again until he has another chemo session under his belt.    I am so torn about this – in terms of husband’s anxiety – I see the point – we have physical signs this is all working – and his number was so high to begin with – I think that it may still be higher than he will be comfortable with.  Me?  I just want to see the number.  But to a large extent – while this affects both of us in huge unforeseeable ways that we discover every day – this is his – he owns it in a way that I don’t. So I find myself needing to defer and think more deeply about respecting his choices and not pushing my will onto him.  In the long run I fear I will really need this skill – and it terrifies me.  I beg the universe every single day to not let that time come ever.

In the mean time I am going to try sewing a couple of hats this weekend – and maybe look for a light weight cotton to knit something out of.  At the same time I don’t want to make these things, only because making them signifies something to me.  In a way I am only starting to accept this – and I don’t want to accept this.

Rolling like a ring ding… February 9, 2018

So on we go – if not mindlessly at least obediently.

Hubby has started Chemotherapy – round one down, round two next week – four to go after that.

I have started a more unique game of torture for myself – one where I sort through medical stuff that varies from “I get that” to “This is so far over my head it has an orbit”. The goal of this game is to know what our outcome will be.  To KNOW the answer to the big question – will my husband be OK?  The torture part is that there just isn’t an answer.  You can’t know.  There is no medical miracle that can give you the answer.  There is no belief system that can give you an answer.  It is just a question hanging over life as you know it.   Oddly enough life keeps on – pretty much just as you know with – with a little more chemo and a little darker humor – it just keeps on.

So – here is what I think I know:

This whole stage IV metastatic prostate cancer is scary no matter how you slice it. The fact that it is his lymph nodes seems to indicate that it may be kept in check over a longer term of time.  We are treating it aggressively.  And I think I have to be satisfied with that.

He tolerated his first dose of Chemo pretty darn well – the second is next week – I am hoping very much that we keep just rolling along –

For any who still give a rat’s rear end about what I am making – currently about 1/2 done with a chunky long cardigan – something that looked ridiculously comfortable.  Since my stress levels shoot through the roof at random moments – I find that I have been gravitating towards comfortable things – comfortable clothes, comfortable foods, and comfortable people.