My dad's prostate cancer diagnosis

My dad was trying to get a prescription re-filled and it was one that required him to see his Urologist before he could get a refill.  He contacted Dr. Singleton for an appointment and what came out of that appointment was an elevated PSA (7....normal is under 3.0 in a man my dad's age) and a slightly enlarged prostate.  A biopsy was scheduled and because I was 99.9% sure that the biopsy would come back negative I was definitely thrown for a loop when it came back positive.

It was lunch time when my mom called me.  Ben happened to be home which I think God planned that perfectly.   Finding out that my dad had "prostate" cancer wasn't the sad or shocking part for me.  It was just knowing that my dad had to feel the emotions that come with hearing "you have cancer" and the process he would have to go through to be cured.  We knew that his urologist was pretty confidant in the fact it had not spread but he would still order a bone scan to make sure.   The stage is a 2 and his bone scan negative.  That was a huge relief.  I didn't think his biopsy was going to come back positive so I wasn't waging any bets on his bone scan.

My dad has to have 45 radiation treatments.  That means that for 9 weeks he will have to drive to the medical center for treatment.   It will be about 2.5-3 hours out of their day.   His oncologist and staff are very nice and my dad is comfortable with them.  He has to consume a lot of water before each treatment in an effort to keep his bladder full for better access to the prostate.  That will be hard for him just with respect to bladder control.

In all of this I just pray for him to have patience throughout the process, to heal, to not have many side effects and most of all to come out the other end without considerable aging.