{"id":81,"date":"2024-08-28T19:00:11","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T19:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iloweredmypsa.com\/?p=81"},"modified":"2024-11-28T12:57:07","modified_gmt":"2024-11-28T12:57:07","slug":"month-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iloweredmypsa.com\/?p=81","title":{"rendered":"Month 8"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Following-Up with My Care Team Part One<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Month 8 starts with my Urologist Video-conference. We have upgraded to face-to-face grainy video.  He had to admit that a drop from 6.4 to 4.7 to 3.3 was highly unusual, especially since I experienced no other drops in 8 years. Again he speculates, \u201cCould it be that drastic a drop owing to stopping testosterone supplements? \u201c I tell him some details of my diet and other supplements, but he remains largely unresponsive. \u201cCongratulations. Keep doing what you are doing. You get another MRI and biopsy in 4 months, and you should take another PSA test in 3 and a half months.\u201d, He advises. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can I possibly drive my PSA down to 2.5 or below by mid November? That would be a similar PSA percentage drop. What will the MRI show? Unless the tumor is growing, there is no way I am considering another biopsy. That was a $#17-show. At the end of the month I have the PCP appointment. My PCP will at least discuss some aspects of the Alternative Medicine I am doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cranberry juice I started last month may be working well. Stream interruptions are less frequent as are my urges to go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I expect to return to work next month, subbing for a math teacher on leave for 3 months, and I know this pill-counting out as well as the secondary mixing of ursolic acid, black pepper, and rapeseed oil takes time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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More time is used as I rinse out the cranberry juice with my pomegranate drenched flaxseed mixture. So for the dry pills, I decided to set out 14 small paper cups, two for each day of the week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It is different from what I was used to doing, and I discover during the counting and picking of bottles, I am making mistakes. So I take my box of pill bottles and empty the bottles out on the counter, and place the box on the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a0I take each bottle one at a time, and drop a bunch of pills into one hand and use the other to pick one out for each cup.\u00a0 I count, 1, 2, 3 \u2026 14 as I complete it. When I am done with a bottle, I put it back into the box. No more mistakes seem to be happening, and a week of pills are ready to go. I also get an early warning if I am running low on something by counting out 14 doses at the beginning of the week. I constructed the box by cutting off the foldable tops, notching them half way in opposite directions, interlacing them, and placing them back inside the box to make 8 nice compartments. How could I live almost 70 years and not think of this before? What the What?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Following-Up with My Care Team Part Two<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Month 8 ends with a  PCP visit. He congratulates me on my 3.3 PSA score, and remarks he has never seen another PC patient in his care do this, so I am excited.  He recalls I am following the Alternative Medicine forward-looking university research approach, and calls out a few of those medical schedules.  I discuss what I have learned lately and how my supplements now include piperine and 4000 mg of PSO a day along with increases in ursolic acid in several forms as well as rapeseed oil to improve bioavailability. My PCP shakes his head with a somewhat puzzled look on his face, and he says, \u201cWell, keep doing what you are doing.\u201d I respond by telling him that my experiment where N=1 continues ( N=1 means I am the only experimental subject), and that no university research can be like it since I am doing seven different methods of fighting PC at the same time, and no researcher would do that since if it were successful, they would have no way of knowing which combination of treatments were the effective ones. My PCP nods that he understands, and says hopefully, I will get what I am looking for, a reduction in my tumor size in the December MRI, and then perhaps not even need a second biopsy. He reschedules me for mid January to discuss the results of my round three PSA results and the second MRI. I tell him thanks, and that my conversations with him are so uplifting and confidence building. He smiles broadly, and reminds me to call him anytime to discuss whatever I have on my mind. I recall last time, he called me from his personal cell phone, so I have his number, but I only used it once, maybe 4 months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Closing Thoughts<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

In summary:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • My Urologist is extremely happy about another drop in PSA to 3.3.  He used the \u2018WoW\u2019 word.  My PCP extended a hearty congratulations and says he has never seen a patient do this before. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Cranberry Juice may be helping my stream, and it is high in ursolic acid<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Organization and once a week pill-counting streamlines this effort<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Everything I\u2019ve been doing so far is working\n
      \n
    • In 7 months, my PSA decreased from 6.4 to 3.3 !<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Stay the course: I can avoid surgery and radiation if the current trend continues. This next PSA and the MRI will be a huge deal.  If my PSA starts rising again, or my tumor on the MRI is actually larger, that could throw a huge wrench in the works.  Let\u2019s not even let my mind wander there for now.  I’ll deal with this only if and when that occurs.  Stay positive !<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Following-Up with My Care Team Part One Month 8 starts with my Urologist Video-conference. We have upgraded to face-to-face grainy video.  He had to admit that a drop from 6.4 to 4.7 to 3.3 was highly unusual, especially since I experienced no other drops in 8 years. Again he speculates, \u201cCould it be that drastic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-psa-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iloweredmypsa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iloweredmypsa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iloweredmypsa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iloweredmypsa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iloweredmypsa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/iloweredmypsa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":199,"href":"https:\/\/iloweredmypsa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions\/199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iloweredmypsa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iloweredmypsa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iloweredmypsa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}