Fighting Stage 4

It’s my last day of locoregional modulated electro-hyperthermia (150W modulated bioelectromagnetism for 90 minutes to the pelvis) today.

Quite the mouthful.

I’ve been exploring this as part of my mission to make radiotherapy more effective and to help recovery afterwards. Heating the tumour is thought to increase radiosensitisation and reduce long-term side effects.

It’s a strange one though. Lying under a plate for 90 minutes while dealing with bowel issues is mentally challenging, especially when there’s little sensation to reassure you the machine is actually doing anything.

It doesn’t feel like much is happening. There’s no real warmth, no pain, just the occasional flush and, often, an afternoon nap in front of Netflix. The projector on the ceiling helps.

And patiently waiting. There’s a lot of patient waiting involved in cancer treatment. It is a prolonged conflict, not something won by a single ambush.

But hopefully powerful things are happening without fanfare, beneath the surface.

And my PSA is now stable at 0.03 (down from 186) so something is working. I don’t care what, as long as it stays that way.

Another step ticked off in the fight.

Onward.