Hi Folks,
My dad was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer November 2011, at 77 years of age. At that time, his psa was 3,500 and he was in renal failure as a result of a tumor blocking his urethra. He was stareted on Lupron in the hospital.
The lowest his psa went was 14, and by November 2012 his psa was on the rise. Right after Thanksgiving, after burying my mom who died from liver cancer, my dad's scan showed a tumor on the thoracic portion of his spine, and he underwent radiation therapy.
My dad is in his third month of Zytiga. When he started his PSA was 80, end of month 1 it was 265, and at the end of month 2 it was 461. His oncologist is not very confident that he's going to have a positive response to it because of his doubling rate.
My dad's biggest complaint is the bone pain, especially his hips and back. My dad became psychotic from dexamethasone, so other than the 5mgx2 of prednisone with the zytiga, my dad is not a candidate for steroids. He currently takes 8 tablets daily of Ultram (I don't know the dosage), and voltarin topical, with no significant improvement.
I have a call into his oncologist about moving up the date of his next set of scans, and see if there are any hot spots that might benefit from radiation.
Has anyone out there had a good outcome with other pain meds? I should mention that my dad is petrified of narcotics and anything he knows to be addictive.
Thanks for your help!
caregiver daughter