i joined this group on July 7, 2002. Then there were guys like Burky the
Warrior, Robert Young, Larry Preuss, and others. Later came Steve
Jordan, John Preston, and more. They're all dead now and I owe them a
debt that I can never repay. Of course not all my mentors have died. The
longest of them, Curtis Palmer, is still kicking. And how can I ever
remember all the Rons, Ralphs, Steves, Daves, Alans, Mikes, and on and
on and on and on? I thank you all for my life as it exists; for surely
if it were not for you, it would not.
===> congrats steve - your writings sure brought back powerful memories.
berky and robert young were probably the two most galant warriors that i
recall.... leading the way - to show that there was indeed hope beyond
the death sentence of hearing the news that you have prostate cancer.
back then, there wasn't that much information about pca and stories of
survival and robert young created phoenix 5, which is still in existence
today.
the web address is:
Phoenix5 Main Menu - men fighting prostate cancer
http://www.phoenix5.org/
speaking of still alive and kicking... i just had the appointment with
uro doctor yesterday. it's been 9.5 years since my surgery and my
latest psa is 0.015.
i'm really impressed with dr. palagiri. he is the only doctor that has
ever sat down with me and took his time to go over my Ct scan and
ultra-sounds on the screen and we would go through layer by layer of
what they were displaying. he didn't rush through as he explained not
only what was being shown, but analyzed what he was seeing. i saw the
noncancerous tumor on my kidney. the good news is that there were no
stones in the kidneys. that's always nice to know. the same was true
for my gall bladder - no stones. when we got to the ultra-sounds, he
showed me where all the cysts were and how large they were.
unfortunately, number of these cysts would fill up and over flow the
size of your hand. the good news is that they are noncancerous.
i'm planning on having surgery later this year to remove these cysts as
they are causing a lot of pain and discomfort. seems one thing is for
sure in life. if it's not one thing, it will probably be another thing
to occupy your mind on something.
again, congrats to you and all the other survivors out there. we may
be a d,s;; group but one thing is for sure. we are all true survivors
and warriors in every sense of the word.
and speaking of survivors and warriors., i just spoke with my step
uncle yesterday who has had pca for over 25 years now.
he said that the x rays and scans show that he has advanced pca mets on
his bones from his skull to his feet but he said that he's not in that
much pain. in fact, the only thing that he's getting in the lupron
shot. they even took him off the casodex. his psa was over 300 but
now is down to 14 on his last psa. he will be 88 on his next birthday.
he now uses a cane to steady himself to get around, but how many people
that age don't use some kind of walk aid?
other survivors that were regular contributors here in the olden days at
the newsgroup were mike h, and david s. (buttercup's dad).
i want to wish everyone low psa's for many, many years. life is good
and keep kicking that can down the road.
~ curtis palmer, ret. navy vietnam vet,