Month 25 - Sleeping through the night

Not long ago, I was comparing notes with a fellow radical prostatectomy patient, and the discussion led to sleeping through the night.

This particular gentleman said that, while he had nearly 100% control over incontinence, the one thing that plagued him was the need to run to the bathroom multiple times through the night.  Obviously, that makes for a very fitful sleep pattern.

My own experience has been much better.  In the first few months after my surgery, I was running to the bathroom 2-4 times through the night.  I suspect, though, that was me being overly cautious, not wanting to have an accident in the bed.  I would also curtail my fluid intake after dinner with the thought that, if there's nothing in me, there's nothing that will have to come out.

Today, I can pretty much sleep through the entire night without a problem, even with late night fluid intake (I gave up on the nothing-to-drink-after-dinner notion long ago).  Still, there's probably one night every six weeks or so where I find myself making two or three trips for whatever reason.  But it's happened the last few nights, but I suspect that may be something related to recovering from my first overseas trip since the surgery.

I just came back from a trip to Germany and Austria to check out the Christmas markets and to visit family and a friend.  I think my body clock is still somewhere between Vienna and here, and that's why I've had to run to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  Pure speculation.

The flights over and back went just fine.  No problems with being cooped up for 9 hours or so, at least as far as bladder control was concerned.  I did pack a couple of pads for insurance, but all they did was take up a little suitcase space.  They weren't needed at all.

Special Update - PSA Undetectable

Another round of good news: My PSA results were undetectable at the 21-month mark, so I remain cancer-free. 

The next go around will be in May 2013--back to a six month monitoring schedule.

Two Years

It was two years ago today that the word "cancer" officially became part of my personal vocabulary.

It certainly was an emotional day, and the ensuing treatment option research and selection was one of the largest emotional roller coaster rides I've been on.  Still, the surgery has been a success in eradicating the cancer, but not without some costs.

I don't think there's a day that's gone by where I haven't thought about having had cancer, but it's not always in a bad way.  In other words, I don't dwell on it.  Instead, my thoughts around cancer are focused more on increasng awareness and sharing my experience.  Yes, there are practical thoughts about stress incontinence and sexual function, but those are minor and part of every day life now.

The other thing that I really don't give much thought to at all is the chance of recurrence.  Yes, it's a little cloud that follows me around, but I certainly don't lose sleep thinking about the possibility.  I'd much rather focus on doing the fun things in life now, on the off chance that the cancer does return later.

None of us would have chosen this path for ourselves.  But we can choose to educate ourselves after the initial diagnosis; evaluate all of our treatment options and select the one that best fits our own personal situation; understand and accept the risks; and then live with the outcome knowing that we made the best possible decision with the information we had at the time, and with the support of our families and friends. 

The operative word, of course, being "live."

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Wow.  Hard to believe, too, that this little ol' blog that I started initially to keep friends and family informed, has had over 7,000 views in those two years.  Mind-boggling.

 

That said, however, the reason I kept the blog going was to share my experience with others diagnosed with prostate cancer, so I guess I've succeeded with that.

 

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I go for my next PSA screening this week, with the results given to me early next week.  Keep your fingers crossed.