The Final Stretch

If all goes according to plan, then my final radiation treatment will take place this coming Tuesday. Since I have been having my regular review with my radiologist after my treatment on Wednesday, this means that yesterday was my final review. However, these weekly meetings have involved little more than monitoring for adverse side effects; and my experiences never seemed to descend from the merely uncomfortable to the seriously adverse. Nevertheless, Tuesday will be far from the end of my relationship with the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center, where my treatment (initiated by my urologist and implemented by my radiologist) has been taking place. As was explained to me (many times?), the positive effects of radiation therapy cannot be observed immediately (even with that regular monitoring for side effects). So I shall basically go back to the situation I was in after my prostate removal: A test for PSA level every three months for the next two years. Curiously enough, I had a scheduled PSA test at the beginning of May, a couple of weeks after my first radiation dose; and the level was 0.15, down from the 0.17 at the beginning of February, when my urologist first recommended the radiation therapy. As Dante is alleged to have said, "Go figure it!" Whether any of us will ever be better informed about why the PSA went up in the first place (or whether it is now on a statistically meaningful descent), walking over to the Cancer Center every three months will definitely be easier on my personal schedule than going over there every day!