08/13/2026
People always ask how Marty is doing. So on a day where we begin some new treatments I figure why not do an update.
Marty has been dealing with chronic radiation proctitis for a year or so. He was referred to hyperbaric chamber therapy months ago and went through all of the preliminary steps only to then decide that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to do it because it’s such a big commitment. 8 weeks. 5 days a week. 2 hours in the chamber and travel time to and from the hospital means 3 hours a day away from work. Huge strain time wise, financially and no guarantees. However his symptoms continue to get progressively worse, affecting his quality of life in big ways. So hyperbaric chamber therapy begins today. They’re hoping that this will promote healing from the inside out by healing damaged tissue and blood vessels that were severely damaged during radiation. Unfortunately, his tumor was up against his bladder and his colon/rectum (tmi but why not just be transparent for educational purposes) and they could not put a spacer in between in order to protect those areas. He went from having issues only when he was really active and lifting things to now having bad days even during a weeklong vacation. Months ago during a colonoscopy the doctor cauterized many areas that were bleeding, but there were so many of them that she said he would have to come back multiple times. Which basically means doing colonoscopy prep multiple times - yuck. We are praying that hyperbaric chamber therapy will help heal things so that his symptoms improve. Fingers crossed!
In regard to his cancer, the (awful) medicine is still doing its job and his recent bloodwork showed that his testosterone is still extremely low, which is what we want and his PSA is .02 which again is right where they want it to be. Remember, his type of cancer is not curable, but it is being held back from growing by basically eliminating his testosterone, which is what this cancer feeds on. How long this will last is anyone’s guess. Hopefully for years! Each time we go for bloodwork we hold our breath until the results come in and we see the numbers. 
In addition to all of this, he’s been having major issues with his hands for years. He is a machinist and he works with his hands all the time and has developed pretty bad arthritis. I have said for a very long time that his hands look like my grandmother’s who had rheumatoid arthritis. He started seeing a rheumatologist over a year ago and they’ve tried a couple of different drugs with not much improvement. He will begin Methotrexate once a week to try and get the inflammation down. Methotrexate comes with a lot of side effects, especially at first. Ironically his current medication for his cancer makes him feel like he has the flu 24/7 and experience extreme fatigue on a daily basis so this will be interesting since the side effects at the beginning are flu symptoms for the first day or two after taking the medication. They also prescribe folic acid to try and minimize the side effects so he will start that today. 
Through all of this he remains working at his job, busting his butt with the maple sugaring business where we are working every weekend this summer to try to stay afloat financially during these crazy times where everything is so expensive. You do what you have to and as he says “head down, ass up, keep going”.
At least for the next 8 weeks he gets to go take a two hour nap in the oxygen chamber every weekday 😁
Prayers that these new treatments give him some improvement so that he can enjoy life a little more. It’s been a rough summer with how he feels but you’d never know it. I know it 🤪 as I’m the sounding board and I get the truth from him! Some days I really miss “normal” but then again, this IS our new normal. We continue to believe every day is a blessing and there are many dealing with much worse! It doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck. It does. We are tired. But then again, aren’t we all right now? 💙
-Amy
