I finished my radiation treatments six months ago. The blood test results showed that the prostate cancer is undetectable. Great news. But what does it really mean?
My prostate cancer is undetectable six months after radiation is article #31 in the series: Do not waste your cancer. Click button to view titles for entire series
red circle-slash to indicate none detected,
as designed by Bing Chat / DALL-E 3
per my request.
- My prostate cancer is undetectable six months after radiation – This is my personal experience of dealing with prostate cancer and the good news of having no detectable cancer cells in the blood test six months after radiation treatment completed.
- Who do you trust?3 – Reflects on the importance of trusting God, my doctor, and friends for my physical and spiritual health. I look at some of the misconceptions and false hopes that people may have when they hand over their problems to God.
- What does spiritual health have to do with my cancer status? – Explores the connection between my spiritual health and cancer status. I submit that the only real guaranteed miracle that God offers us is inner peace, the peace of Christ, which transcends our circumstances and helps us to accept God’s will and comfort.
- References – The web page contains many references to other articles and Bible passages that further explain points.
Apparently “remission” and “no evidence of disease” can mean different things to different people, so I chose to stick with the diagnosis I was given – undetectable.
In my case, it means that as of the day of the test, no cancer was found in the blood sample.
Let me fine-tune/correct that. Not found doesn’t mean there wasn’t any. It means none was detected.
In order to be detected, a certain amount needs to be present. So what it really means is that if there was any evidence of prostate cancer in the blood, it wasn’t enough to be detected by the equipment/test methods they used.
These results were far more accurate than what you’re likely to get from a blood lab used for an annual physical. So it really is good news.
The catch is that issue of whether or not cancer ever truly goes away. It only takes a microscopic cell to exist, and then some time to have to reproduce.
In fact, that’s how I ended up with radiation treatment. After surgery, there was no visible evidence of cancer. However, the biopsy showed microscopic cells on the edges of what was removed.
Since it was an aggressive form of prostate cancer, it didn’t take long for it to be detectable after surgery. Radiation treatment began after PSA crossed over 0.1.
Six months after radiation – my prostate cancer is undetectable
After two months of treatment and six months of waiting, it’s not undetectable. Now there’ll be at least another two years of surveillance to see what, if anything, happens.
If you’ve been following along the entire series, you know things moved along very quickly.
My PSA numbers were far below what other guys I know had. And yet, my doctor told me he’s never lost a patient to prostate cancer and I wasn’t going to be the first. “So go get a biopsy!” I did.
You have to realize, I was one of his first patients when he started up his practice. That was about 40 years ago. So we’ve known each other for a long time. He’s gotten me through some other medical emergencies, so I listen.
Who do you trust?
The first time I saw him, it’s because my blood pressure was 180/110. More than a little high. Back then, blood pressure meds weren’t what they are today. It was hard to find one that didn’t have huge side effects – for instance stopping your heart from beating. I had one that made my head feel like it was going to literally explode. Another where I felt like I drank 20 cups of coffee. And one that made me out of breath just walking across the living room at home.
So I trust him to take care of me. Physically.
But when I ask, who do you trust, I have something else in mind.
You should expect that. After all, this is a site about God, right?
I meant, of course, you do you trust spiritually?
God – Is It Time For Me To Go Home?
I asked this question a couple of weeks ago. For those that don’t know what it means, it’s like “Christianese” for “Am I dying”, with an assumption that death will be followed by going to Heaven.
I was in the hospital – got admitted through emergency when they found a 7 cm area of infection.
One of the main reasons I’m still alive today is that when things weren’t going right, physically, I got them taken care of right away.
Of course, that does exclude one time. The one time I almost waited too long.
I thought I ate something bad, and would get over it in a few days, so I did nothing.
It didn’t go away, so I went to urgent care. They misdiagnosed it.
Finally, I got in to see my regular doctor. He knew within a couple minutes I was in trouble. And what was wrong.
Even better, he knew one of the doctors working the ER that morning, so he called over and got everything set up for me. After a week in the hospital and five weeks with a portable battery operated I/V going to a tube in my arm, I was able to start to get back to normal.
Trust. Urgency. Timing. Someone watching over you. It’s all important.
Physically, mentally, and spiritually.
So – who do you trust?
The problem of “Handing it over to God”
What does “handing it over to God” even mean, and how do we do it? It’s something Christians often say. But what do we think will happen when we say it? What do we do after we say it? An even harder question is – what about the outcome? How do we deal with the outcome after God “takes it from us”?
It was more than seven years ago, That I wrote something called The problem of “Handing it over to God”. I updated it in 2017.
Now, I just reviewed it before putting in this link and decided to include it – but also put in a note that I’m going to update it. Back then, it was based on some experiences I had then.
After more than for years dealing with prostate cancer, I can add more real-life experience to it.
If you’d like to read it, you can either keep checking back here, or subscribe to this site at Subscribe to godversusreligion.com.
Do you trust God?
As Christians, we often talk about handing things over to God.
But then, after we turn them over, what do we do? Below is a summary of the referenced article above.
- In this web page, I explore the meaning and implications of handing it over to God, a common expression among Christians who want to rely on God’s guidance and provision in their lives.
- I challenge some of the misconceptions and false hopes that people may have when they hand over their problems to God, such as expecting a miracle, a perfect outcome, or an instant calm.
- I share some of the stories from my own journey of handing over my problems to God, such as how I dealt with my dog’s cancer, my own infection, and my struggle with faith and doubt.
- I suggest that the only real guaranteed miracle that God offers us is inner peace, the peace of Christ, which transcends our circumstances and helps us to accept God’s will and comfort.
What does our spiritual health have to do with my cancer status?
Here’s why I mentioned that piece here in My prostate cancer is undetectable six months after radiation.
I mentioned how I trust my doctor to care for my physical health. Of course, along with that go the prayers when something does come up. Included in those prayers is for God to watch over the doctors, nurses, and other members of the care team(s).
My question is – do we take that kind of care with our spiritual health?
Do we have someone to help us that we trust to watch over our spiritual health? And who will keep us accountable? Someone who’ll ask questions and knows us well enough to tell if we’re not doing as good as we claim we are?
What does God think of us? Do we care?
I’ve written about Psalm 139 many times. Usually it’s about using the first verse and the last two verses as a prayer. It’s something we, as Christians, should do on a regular basis. Not because it’s required. It’s not. Rather we should do it because we want to do it. We should want to know what God thinks of us!
Yes, we can and should pray to God for this. I’m a big proponent of praying Psalm 129.
I wrote about that in What does God think of us? Do we care?
We should ask God what He thinks of us.
But what if we do, but don’t like what He said?
The Holy Spirit isn’t going to be on us constantly, bugging us about it. We can, and do, ignore Him. Hopefully not too much. And really hopefully, not all the time.
A good friend can maybe help. But then, will eventually tell the friend to go away and leave us alone? Or will the friend get tired of us, and just walk away?
Conclusion – My prostate cancer is undetectable six months after radiation
We can ignore our physical health. I used to do that. When I was in my twenties, some friends told me I’d never see my 30th birthday. If I didn’t finally go to the doctor, they would’ve been right. Continuing to burn the candle at both ends can’t be done for too long.
There’s a downside there too though. With a good doctor and the right medication, I could still burn the candle at both ends.
Earlier, I said we could ignore the Holy Spirit. We can ignore God, even walk away from God, and He’ll let us.
But – if/when we’re ready to return to Him (or turn to Him for the first time), He’ll be there with open arms, waiting for us.
Maybe your friends are better than the ones I had in the past. I hope so. I even had one Christian friend, I thought, who knew I was going through some problems. When I eventually came back to church, the only comment from him was, “I thought you were my friend”.
Funny, I thought he was my friend. And I thought friends would reach out when you were in trouble. I never knew there could be an expectation that you reach out to someone if you’re having problems. I thought it was the friend who would reach out to the one going through a problem.
So God is really the only one we can trust with our spiritual health.
Consider the parable below.
The Parable of the Lost Sheep – Matthew
18:12-14 pp — Lk 15:4-7
Mt 18:10 “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.
The NIV does not include verse 11. Those translations that have it use something along the lines of the words below from the AMP.
Mt 18:11 For the Son of man came to save [ from the penalty of eternal death] that which was lost.
Mt 18:12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.”
If we get lost, walk away, or even run away, Jesus will be there to bring us back. If and when we’re ready. Yes, there will be prompting from the Holy Spirit. But as I said, we can ignore Him. That’s an essential characteristic of love – it must be a choice. Love cannot be forced, or it isn’t love.
When our spiritual health gets so bad that we end up as one of the lost, there is still hope.
But, isn’t it better if we don’t allow it to get that bad? Have friends that are willing to help us, and whose help we’re willing to accept, before it gets to the point where we’re no longer friends?
And isn’t it better to pray to God, listen to God, and respond to what He has to tell us, before we get to the point where we don’t want to hear from Him anymore?
If I didn’t listen to friends, listen to my doctor, get things taken care of and follow the doctor’s instructions to the letter, I probably wouldn’t be alive today.
If I had people in my life who helped with my spiritual health, maybe I wouldn’t have gone through much of what I did in this life. But I can’t complain to God about that. The choices were mine. The good thing is that now He’s able to guide me through writing, teaching, and the like to be able to do what I’m doing now with the things that happened.
No, some of those things weren’t because of my choices. Bad things happen to everyone. But some were. However, now God can use all of them.
So we shouldn’t get down on ourselves, even though I did, and think God won’t want us anymore. He does.
But unlike health problems that maybe can be solved and maybe can’t be – God can find us and help us with our spiritual health. We won’t be perfect in this life. But who was, outside of Jesus? And yet, as long as we try to follow Him, as long as we love Him, we all end up spending eternity with Him.
Isn’t that word caring about and caring for?
Isn’t that worth trusting God?