New Person Nervous

Traveling Guy,
Very sorry to hear about your scans. It's hard to take and with the insurance thing, it must be difficult to deal with right now. I don't know how your government works in Canada but I would like to raise some ideas. If you have a government disability plan, you may want to begin looking into that. I know in the US, once someone has been deemed disabled they qualify for medicare. Does your government have something similar. It well could be worth looking into. Best wishes.

You might want to start a new thread to inquire about Canadian healthcare coverage for HT for younger guys. We have a couple of Canadian members with similar diagnoses who are fairly active on the forum.

Oh, and welcome to the Gleason 9 Club. I've added your name to our roster. It is worth your time to check it out, by the way. There are actually quite a lot of us on the list, many diagnosed quite a long time ago, and reassuringly few are deceased.

Hello Traveling Guy,

I want to send you a note of hope and encouragement based on your test results. A year ago, I had a PSA of over 100 with a diagnosis of prostate cancer, which also included nodules in both of my lungs.

They started me immediately on Lupron and Casodex and the lung nodules have since completely disappeared.

This summer, my oncologist then recommended we try the new approach of adding chemotherapy (Taxotere) to the Lupron hormone shots. This is based on the newly released research that recommends adding chemotherapy to hormone therapy, soon after diagnosis for metastatic prostate cancer. Typically, it is 6 rounds of chemotherapy, given 3 weeks apart, for a total of 18 weeks.

The immediate use of hormone shots decreased my high PSA to less than 1.0 and since then, the additional chemotherapy treatments have reduced my PSA even lower. Not all doctors know about the new approach of adding chemotherapy to the hormone shots, as this is a relatively new approach. My original urologist had to refer me on to an oncologist so that we could begin the chemotherapy treatments. Since we seem to have some common symptoms, I would strongly recommend that you talk to your doctor about pursuing chemotherapy treatments in addition to the Lupron hormone shots. Taking on the idea of chemotherapy seemed daunting to me at first, but now that I am just finishing up the treatments, I would recommend them to you in your situation because the chemotherapy treatments can help attack the cancer in some ways that the Lupron shots can not.

I know how you are feeling right now, because I have walked down that same road that you are now walking on with the high PSA number and diagnosis of cancer. I want you to know that these treatments have really helped me a great deal --- I am at work every day and my PSA is now closer to ZERO than ever before. Keep in touch on this forum and let us know what decisions you make with your doctor. Your story matched mine in many ways, and I wanted to send you a message of encouragement and hope this evening because the doctors and treatments I have received have really helped me a great deal over the course of the past year.

Sent with caring thoughts,
ISU Cyclone Fan

Thanks for all the posts today - all great help. Will comment on a few of them. "Adjust" - in a page 1 post he provided a link to a study of combining Chemo with HT - this goes along with "ISU". Looks promising for guys like me. My Oncologist talked about that possibility today, and when the lung CT gets done, it may be the way they recommend going. Thanks for that. In regards to Lupron - I already have the script for Casodex if I choose Lupron. Just waiting for the insurance to respond if they pay for Firmagon - if so I may start with Firmagon for first 3 months then they switch to Lupron.
Geop - best of luck to you in your results - hope you draw a better hand then me and have no mets. Be prepared - the bone scan will also reveal the arthritis we have from all that crazy running! But I don't regret a mile of it, and am still running today, just less miles so I don't aggravate the hip so much. Darn cancer is all around the femur insertion area, so running cause more pain after a while.
Thanks for the link to the Gleason 9 club.....didn't want to make that club, but a lot of good reads there too.
Most of all - thanks to all for caring so much! Great group of fighters we have here!

Redwing57 - the plan for treatment is incomplete at this time, except it appears I will start hormone therapy next week. I have an appointment with my urologist on Wednesday - not sure if that will be changed until I get CT of lungs done or not. For radiation - truthfully, no one actually stated to me that they will radiate my prostate - I think its an assumption I made, so it may be inaccurate information. Perhaps the radiation Oncologist I met this week was in preparation for the time when I may need it for the bone mets? So I am not sure but thanks for the input and if in fact they plan to radiate the prostate, I will ask for the rational to better understand and pass it back to you.
It's morning here - 7am....best time of my day as I always wake up feeling great, like nothing is going on. That will change in the next few hours....have a great weekend all!

Thanks Moon. My private insurance only covers 80% to a maximum of $750 per year. So I will get part of my first double dose of Firmagon covered but on my own after that unfortunately. Still looking for other solutions.
I noticed your hubby had Cosadex plus Firmagon? It was explained to me that Firmagon does not need Cosadex but if I use Lupron I need Cosadex? Why did your hubby get it?
Thanks for the comments.