Jim McLennan shares how routine PSA screening led to the diagnosis of metastatic prostate cancer and describes his treatment with hormone therapy, radiation, and ongoing systemic therapy. He discusses managing treatment-related side effects while maintaining an active lifestyle, highlighting the benefits of exercise through the YMCA's LiveStrong program. Jim encourages others to stay current with PSA testing, remain engaged in their care, and continue living life while navigating prostate cancer.

My name's Jim McLennan. Retired several years ago. My career involved being a partner at Ernst & Young. I left public accounting after 30 some years in it and became chief financial officer for a couple of real estate development companies. Retired four years ago and planned on doing a lot of traveling and did some traveling. Then found out about this and the prostate cancer issue, but we still try and travel as much as we can. I've got two granddaughters that live up ... I'm sorry, a granddaughter and a grandson that live up on Orcas Island in the San Juans. We go up there several times a year. And two step sons that live in Nevada.

I had a next door neighbor who had prostate cancer and he got seeds put in. This was many, many years ago. That was my only real contact with prostate cancer. But through him, I was encouraged heavily to get my PSA tested regularly, notwithstanding the fact that the medical profession decided we didn't need to have it tested. And I insisted with my doctor, and I kept getting PSA tests. In August of 2024, I believe it was, I had my annual physical, and my PSA level was at... Probably 2023.

My PSA level was at just under four, about 3.9 or so. And my doctor recommended I get retested again in six months. I failed to see his recommendation six months later and forgot about it. Went back for my annual physical in August of 24, and my PSA level had jumped from that four to 11. He recommended that I go see a urological oncologist, recommended a couple of different places, one of which was UCSD.

I met with Dr. Begrodia and he said, "Well, let's just test that PSA again one more time, make sure there's no problem." Unfortunately, one month after the 11, my PSA count came in at 22. He said, "Well, let's go do an MRI." We had the MRI, and he saw some suspicious things. Went in, had my biopsy, which for those who are scared of biopsies, it was not that big a deal. They took 12 or 15 samples. And at the end of the biopsy, Dr. Begrodia told me that he thought, although wasn't sure, that I did in fact have prostate cancer, and that it looked like it had probably breached the prostate wall. And so he wanted me to go into some further testing where I went in to have my PET CT scan.

And sure enough, I had spots presenting on my spine, my pelvis, my lymph nodes, and my prostate, obviously. And there was when my treatment started.

Well, I obviously shared it with my wife because she was with me at all those meetings. I had not shared it with my kids. I knew that they would be very upset. I got my daughters and my stepsons on a conference call, and we shared it with them. And after a lot of tears, I told them that Dr. Begrodia had assured me that this was not necessarily a death sentence and that there was treatments available and that it was time to step into it and deal with it. And they calmed down a little bit, and we proceeded with treatment.

Well, I met with Dr. Chen, Dr. Siebert, and Dr. Hiss. The meeting with Dr. Hiss was very brief. He told me I was not a candidate for surgery given that it had breached the prostate wall and was presenting in stage four metastatic elsewhere.

I began drug therapies with Dr. Chen, and about three months later I started radiation with Dr. Siebert, had 20 sessions of radiation over the course of a month, which was not that big a deal to me. Others, I heard I had trouble with it, but it was no big deal to me. And I started getting my Lupron injections, which that's the worst part of the treatment I've had so far is the Lupron. I took Xtandi for about 12 months.

And then Dr. Chen took me off the Xtandi for a month and then just put me back on a new drug, the one from Bayer. I'm doing that one now. I just started back up on it two weeks ago. And I, like others, have my share of hot flashes and my share of confusion at times, my share of getting very tired, but I'm dealing with it.

And hopefully it'll all come to an end. I did have another PET CT scan about a month, month and a half ago. I met with Dr. Chen about two weeks ago. And fortunately for me, no indication of cancer cells anywhere in my body, but I continue my drug therapy, Lupron injections and Nubeqa. And I'm having my share of side effects still.

I take five different pills to counter the side effects. They work to some degree, but they're not perfect. And I just tolerate it and go on with my life. I will have my last Lupron injection, my number eight of eight in September of this year, I believe it is. And we will be deciding whether or not to continue the drugs through the end of the year at that time. We may stop the drugs at that point also. I carry a fan with me except for today.

I didn't bring it, but I have a nice fan that my wife got me. I've got another fan that my daughter's bought me. I've got another fan that I keep in my car. And the fans work for me. They help significantly with the hot flashes. With the getting tired, I take naps almost every day.

My wife tries to wake me up after half an hour. I tell her to go away, and she wakes me up after an hour and a half. And other than that, I just deal with it. I'm still very active in things. I'm involved with the Ecke YMCA where I've been on the board of management for 22 years. I've taken a LiveStrong program there.

I just continue doing. My wife and I continue to travel. We're going on a trip to Europe in about three weeks for three weeks, and we just keep doing what we want to do. And I try and exercise. My wife tries to push me to exercise more often than I succeed in doing. I go to the Y a couple of times a week, and I go through what they call their E-gym there in the Encinitas Y.

And I ride the stationary bike for a while. I've got a stationary bike at home, and I've got other equipment at home, which I don't use as often as I should, but I try and do it at least once in a while. This is a plug for the YMCA, but LiveStrong is a program that is provided to anyone going through cancer, cancer treatment. It's free of charge for three months for both the cancer patient and their family, where you go into a group setting with about 12 other cancer patients. Not just prostate, but any cancers.

And the first meeting is a tough one because everybody sits and talks about their cancers. There's a few tears and stuff. It's not a group therapy session. It's a getting back into working out session. And I highly recommend all those people who watch this video later, I highly recommend that you take advantage of that program. It's an excellent program.

If you have not had your PSA tested lately, go get it tested. I actually spoke at our ... We have a thing called the Poinsettia Ball at the YMCA, and I was a keynote speaker this year. We have it right around Christmastime. And my speech was about the LiveStrong program. I talked about my cancer journey, and I had probably five or six wives come up to me afterwards thanking me for that and telling me that they were going to be encouraging their husbands to make sure they get their PSA tested.

I have a good friend who just recently got a PSA test result of three, and so he's now panicking because he knows what I've been going through. And I'm trying to get him to smarten up and get in to see his doctor and ultimately, if need be, come down to UCSD because the program here is phenomenal.