I read an article today about somebody in my town who has been and is being treated for prostate cancer. I went back to my blog and realized that I hadn't posted since February - about 3 months. So I thought an update was in order.

Our month long Myrtle Beach vacation in February was affected by my condition - incontinence (see Feb post)- though I tried be as much fun as I could, I had good days and bad days. This was our first month long vacation since my wife & I retired, and I was pissed. I wanted to blame somebody for my condition, but in hindsight it was nobody's fault but my own.

I had always gotten up to pee once or twice a night since my initial treatments in 2011-2012. I had a stricture, but I could still pee. This past December, when I learned I had advanced prostate cancer, I wasn't sleeping very soundly. I heard terms like metastasized and ocologogist. I worried that the prostate cancer had exploded in my bones (though I was in no pain, except for those that I felt because I am a certified hypochondriac!)

And what about the Lupron hormone? What if it had nasty side effects? What if it doesn't work and I need chemo? How much friggin' time do I have?

In hindsight, I believe now that with all the thoughts floating around in my head, no wonder I couldn't sleep. And when I lie there awake, I would have to pee (a little) so I'd get up so I could (hopefully) sleep for a few hours before I had to pee again.

I told my doctor that I seem to be peeing more, so he gave me a cystoscopy when he gave me my Lupron shot. Then I went home and couldn't pee at all , had a catheter put in, then developed a UTI. All before our Myrtle Beach vacation.

In S.C. I did what I thought were Kegels, which I learned 5 years ago. The incontinence continued through our month long vacation. When we got home, I had an appointment with the same office that had done the cystoscopy, which I cancelled. My reason? They want to measure volume, which made no sense to me because I was leaking so much.

I came to my senses, and scheduled another appointment, which the office had to cancel. I finally had an apt, where  I saw that they had procedures to follow during their assessment.  I finally saw a physician's assistant who referred me to a Physical Therapist. Yes, there is such a thing as physical therapy for incontinence!

This is getting long - I'll continue in another post.