MY CANCER & I

B.RAMAN

I completed my quarterly anti-cancer evaluation on May 18,2011, after undergoing a series of lab tests ---blood, urine, ultrasound of the entire abdomen, chest X-ray etc--- since May12. At the end of them all, I had my seventh quarterly shot.

2. The progress is encouraging. My body has been responding well to the therapy and tolerating it without any major side effects. Twenty months after the cancer was detected, it has remained confined to the urinary tract and is showing no tendency to spread outside. Even in the urinary tract, it is showing signs of shrinking. My prostate, where the roots initially appeared, is free of them now. My doc told me today that the big-size, high-grade cancer in my prostate has miraculously disappeared.The lab had mentioned in the report that there is a lesion in my bladder, which needed investigation. The doc feels that it could be the scar left by the diagnostic procedure which he had done in October 2009. He would wait for a few months more before coming to any conclusion. My next hospital visit will be on August 18. I have been advised to continue with the hormonal therapy as before.

3. I feel happy. I feel good. But I am avoiding any feelings of exaltation. As one reaches the age of 75, the health gets into a zig-zag mode, whatever be the illness. One can never say when a zig can turn into a zag and vice versa.

4. Keep going so long as the going is good. I have been leading a normal life from the day the cancer was detected 20 months ago. The only two changes I have made are to drastically cut down my drinking ---only on social occasions now --- and to avoid foreign travels. The doc has been encouraging me for over a year now to resume my foreign travels. He has repeated the recommendation. Will decide in July.

5. Let me thank all of you in the real world of flesh and blood as well as in the world of tweets who have held my hand in these months. God bless all of you. (18-5-11)