Where to begin? Initially my cancer journey started on a weekend laying in bed watching TV. I went to urinate and nothing was coming out. So the next morning in pain I went to an urgent care. They said take these pills and go home. Well, it got worse. So I managed to drive to the E.R. and within 15 minutes or I had a catheter installed and major relief. Which I had to continue wearing until an appointment with a doctor. The next day was a holiday and no one was open. Finally, I was able to get one later in the week. Well, the doc said, "you may have bph...or a tumour".

So the tests began and sure enough, it was a tumour that pushing closed my urine flap. I kept thinking ok, just take it out and then I'll be able to pee on my own again. That was the beginning of a whirlwind of learning what it means to have prostate cancer. Nothing was as simple as it looked.

I eventually had a biopsy which showed 12 of 12 positive and from a 9 to 10 on the gleason score. What to do? As it turned out my options were limited and my doctor went on vacation. Thankfully, I found another urologist. He convinced me to start Lupron as the best choice forward. Well, I did. And after 2 months I was able to remove the catheter and pee on my own. Yay!

We tried to get on a few trials but I squeaked over the earnings requirement and was turned down for both xtandi and zytiga. Since I belong to a healthcare sharing ministry, drugs are not paid for. Although they would pay for an expensive surgery. Didn't know that at the time. I do now. (smile) After a bone scan which came up clean, and a pet scan which might be showing inflamed lymph nodes - I settled into a three month routine of Lupron.

It turned out that when I was first diagnosed (the first doctor) I panicked and pretty much stopped eating. Well, not everything. But all dairy, all meat, all sugar and sugar products. Which probably saved me at the time because before the Lupron shot my PSA went down to 20. Of course my weight dropped by about 70lbs as well. Who knew that rocky road ice cream and egg muffins could pack the pounds on? Well, not me. Until that moment.

The lupron started working after that and my PSA eventually dropped to 1.0 and kept going down to settle at 0.1 for almost a year. Currently, it's starting to trend back up. With all the supplements and healthy diet which most likely helped to drive a Gleason 9 down to point zero one, it is time to change. Again.

Hopefully, I will be able to present my story and what I did along with test results as time goes on. For now, I'm not sure what I can stop eating as everything that was bad for me is long gone.

I will update soon.

Turan's e-mail address is: turan.h AT aol.com (replace "AT" with "@")