I once believed surgery might be the chapter where cancer treatment ended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My pathology told us otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With aggressive features\u2014including disease outside the prostate, seminal vesicle involvement, positive margins and lymph-node involvement\u2014the conversation shifted toward additional treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Radiation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hormone therapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Systemic treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Words like ADT, Eligard, abiraterone and prednisone became part of our vocabulary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once again, Sue and I found ourselves adjusting to a new reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is something emotionally difficult about finishing one major treatment only to discover that another treatment is waiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You want the surgery to have been enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You want someone to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe got it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, sometimes cancer requires layers of treatment designed to reduce the chances that microscopic disease gets another opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And treatment isn’t only about what happens in a radiation room or what medication you take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is another side to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hormones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sexual health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bone health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The mental burden of wondering whether treatment is working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those things matter too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’ve learned that being treated for cancer and living with cancer treatment<\/strong> are related, but they aren’t exactly the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One happens in the clinic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The other happens at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It happens when you wake up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you look in the mirror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you make plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you try to explain how you’re feeling to someone who loves you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you wonder what life will look like two years from now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are still uncertainties ahead for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But I’ve stopped believing I need to solve the entire future today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes the next right thing is simply the next appointment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next Mile Marker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We don’t know exactly where this road leads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But we’re still on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And we’re still moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Radiation, ADT and the Road Ahead I once believed surgery might be the chapter where cancer treatment ended. My pathology told us otherwise. With aggressive features\u2014including disease outside\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[26,29,23,20,15,18,16,19],"class_list":["post-165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mile-marker-journal","category-treatment-and-recovery","tag-ask-one-more-question","tag-cancer-journey","tag-cancer-treatment","tag-erectile-dysfunction","tag-prostate-cancer","tag-prostate-cancer-surgery","tag-radical-prostatectomy","tag-surgery-recovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165\/revisions\/166"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}