Hi Jack,
It is great to hear from you, I was just thinking about Eric and how he was doing. I entered a phase that things moved fairly slowly and I communicated far less to my local support group. It sounds like he is pretty much on track compared to how I responded. There is lots of room for improvements yet to come.
I too am a nice svelt 140 lbs and liking it - People pay big bucks to get to this weight! I might even write a book
The Dr. A. rad/chemo diet!
Eric must be doing pretty good to be on a 3 month cycle - I am still on 2 and will be through December.
Getting back into the old interactions is great! Making fun of yourself is OK too.
Didn't Eric have IMRT? If so it can take 18 months or more for full salivary gland recovery (at least the ones that weren't fried). I am getting more saliva output all the time.
Prostate cancer is reportedly found in about 80% of all males who reach the age of 80. Typically it is a very slow growing cancer and never goes beyond the prostate capsule and most people outlive it. Non-typically it can pass beyond the prostate capsule and have serious consequences. Interesting, IMRT was originally developed for treating prostate cancer. The jury is still out on screening techniques. In the late eighties they were proposing a ultrasound exam with a transrectal probe (ouch). The death rate from this screening went up because they were operating on some who probably didin't really need the surgery. They are trying sort this out - they went from having very little data to a ton of data.
There has been a lot of pressure on the FDA and congress to regulate mammmography quality assurance because of the concern for unneccessary procedures and their associated risks. They are still working this through with prostate screening.
There is NOTHING to like about cancer but the life experience can be priceless.