Dad's diagnisis

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this forum and desperatley need some help and advice. My dad has just this week been diagnosed with prostate cancer (although has to go for a biopsy to confirm on thurs) as I understand this is just a formality. As most of you will understand our lives have been turned upside down. It was picked up during scans and tests as dad was due to have hip replacement opp as he also suffers from osteogenisis imperfecta (brittle bone disease) since childhood. Docs have said it has spread outdide the prostate and is 'peppered' in his bone, some in adrenal gland and small amount in his liver.

We went to see uroligst yesterday and he was started in HT injections there and then (2 in his tummy). The nurses were absolutely lovely and done a fantastic job to comfort and keep us positive and inform us that lots can be done to help.

Looking on the internet can be both a good and bad thing as sometimes it's great to find info and othertimes it's so negative. We came away from the hospital feeling optomistic as having no previous info or warning with it, I think we were all expecting the worst. Having looked on the net last night I can only find info that says HT only works for a couple of years before it stops responding. I just wanted some help and advice, and if at all possible some positive stories. I cant bear the thought of loosing my dad as he is just the most wonderful man and the center of our family. I would be so grateful of any feedback.

Thanks

Lisa x

Lisa, I'm sorry you are here but glad you found us.

I just read that Michael Milliken, the wall street "financier" was diagnosed with advanced PC 17 years ago and given 12-18 months to live.

In all of life, we are nothing without hope.

Sounds like you got Zoladex for HT therapy, proper protocol should have been casodex prior to LHRH type drugs like Zoladex, Lupron, Precisis, Eligard, etc. Did he experience any pains after receiving this injection, like from bone areas or nausea and such??? My uro-doc did the same thing in error, which is very common and supposedly they down play 'flare' as no big deal...Dr. Strum and other say way differently and with reasons. Probably a good idea to learn all you can about various hormone therapies and what are options and choices to consider. You should find a PCa oncologists to treat you going forward, the uro-doc only knows the basics in this arena and is not schooled enough, it is like going to shade tree mechanic to fix your Ferrari. It varies alot as to future prognosis's, so keep hope alive and well.

www.yananow.net  
www.hrpca.org     (advanced treatments for cases like yours)

Lisa - very sorry to hear this news.  My dad died of prostate cancer, so I guess maybe I have some insight into what you are going through.  Don't be too focused on the "hormone treatments only work for a few years" stuff.  Results vary widely.  There are men who live a long time with hormone treatments and end up dying in old age from something else.  And these days there are also various "second line" treatments that can be used if and when the initial treatments fail.  The key here is to get a really excellent medical oncologist who specializes in prostate cancer.  There are fewer of these people than you might expect, but they are out there.  The real experts know about all the treatment options, the right tests to do to evaluate the disease, etc.   If you tell us where you are located, someone here can recommend an oncologist to consult with.  Best wishes, Medved

Lisa,
I was worried about the idea of you being online at 2.20 am, (where I am in Holland it's 9.30am local time), but then Google told me about a surgeon called David Chadwick at the James Cook in Middlesbrough commenting about a team from his hospital climbing Kilimanjaro to help raise money to buy a (da Vinci) keyhole machine, so I guess that tells me roughly where you are and that it's breakfast time on Sunday morning for you too. (I'm in Holland now, but originally from the West Country, so I'm afraid Teeside is like another country for me!)

I thought I'd chip in with the above observation in case you want some advice/help from closer to home as there are in fact a few folk at Healing Well from the UK, so you may be able to tap into them for help relating to UK methods, the NHS etc. (Though despite its US nature I still find that HW is the best place I've found on line.)

Alf