Not the results we wanted at Mayo, cancer no longer “sleeping,” but grateful journey is proceeding and it could have been worse!

When cancer is stage 4, you logically know that eventually you will hear news you do not want to hear.  Even so your heart does not really ever accept that the cancer will rear its ugly head. This is particularly true for Scott and me, when Scott is so healthy, so fit and performing so well on his 11,000-mile cycle trip! This just confirms the story that has always been the case for Scott – he has never had symptoms from the cancer! He only gets sick from the treatment. He has been through radical prostatectomy, radiation, chemo and lupron- but still we do not ever think of Scott as sick and we do not focus on the outcome of this disease, just stick to being grateful for each day.   Some days are harder than others to stay focused on gratitude for the gift of the day and avoid the what if's and when's of the future. 

Before the testing  at mayo we had an opportunity to spread the early detection message. Wednesday October 4^th  on our drive to Rochester we heard that Rochester ABC news wanted to do an interview with us. We snuck in the interview before the testing appointments (thank you, Spencer Furman!). Anytime we get media coverage we are grateful as it means more people will hear the message about early testing, or donate which will help more patients, families with education, support, and more new research! (Link to Story) https://www.kaaltv.com/news/minnesota-man-riding-11000-miles-around-the-country-on-a-bicycle-while-battling-cancer/?mibextid=Zxz2cZ  

Tests on Wednesday were the usual blood tests and choline pet scan. Both tests indicated Scott’s cancer is no longer “sleeping.”   Scott’s PSA was slightly elevated to a reoccurrence level. We are often asked “how can you have a PSA reading when the prostate was removed?” Scott’s cancer escaped the prostate before it was removed, so little prostate cells with cancer cells moved through to other parts of his body- and metastasis occurred. (My layman’s description).

The cancer was previously found in multiple bones and lymph nodes by both a PSMA pet scan and CHOLINE pet scan. It is not “bone cancer” it is prostate cancer that has metastasized. Chemotherapy had beat back those areas of metastasis and Scott has remained on Lupron to this day. Well, the cancer figured out how to grow without testosterone. Wednesday’s pet scan found a new spot on his clavicle – his shoulder. We felt it as a gut punch. Scott is feeling terrific, and we did not expect to see/hear these test results. But it could have been worse as this was just a slight increase in PSA and only one visible, treatable spot.  So while we wanted to hear "undetectable" and nothing visible on pet scan... it's manageable.

We are so grateful to Dr. Eugene Kwon and his team, (pictured with Scott, and NP Lee-Wiener). Dr. Kwon and team has been extraordinary from day one and continues to be so. We saw Dr. Kwon at 7:45 am Thursday, and he already had a plan in place that he immediately executed so we would not have to make a return trip. Thank you Dr. Kwon and team! Scott had another 6-month Lupron shot ( pictured with Nurse Danielle,) and had radiation to the new metastasis in the shoulder.   Big thanks also to Dr. Sean Park, radiation oncologist, also in a picture, who designed the radiation and got Scott in  for treatment all in the same day. We cannot say enough about the Mayo doctors! If you want to learn more about advanced prostate cancer, follow Dr Kwon’s lectures at the prostate cancer institute. https://www.youtube.com/live/eq9PscmTaSU?si=jm17UPYaSCvu-Bhl . He is easy to follow, a fantastic teacher, and provides timely information. Plus, we enjoy his humor. Best of all you can tell that Dr Kwon really cares about his patients and their families.

We are grateful Scott is still healthy enough to continue this dream and important mission. To date we have raised about $107,000 for Zero Prostate Cancer and we are not done! We are about to head back to the East Coast to continue the 11,000-mile cycle trip, and the mission to raise awareness and funds. The big change is simply that we will be back for more tests in 3 months – rather than 6 months as we had hoped for initially.  Thank you to all! Milesformoney.org to follow the journey, as well as Katy's fb page.