PSA 209

Hi Geop!

My stats are somewhat similar to yours. The lupron and casodex have worked great for me thus far. If I had a larger volume of Mets, I would have started taxotere right away as well. The ht hasn't been bad so far. Better than the alternative. Keep up the positive attitude and welcome to the reluctant brotherhood!

Tony

I am not surprised your URO didn't know. They aren't oncologists even though they often treat PC. I suggest that you find a good medical oncologist who specializes in PC. The folks here can make plenty of recommendations. Once you get past needing the basic PC treatments you need a good team of doctors.

Often your URO will work with the oncologist during the treatment phase.

Hang in there and keep us updated on your progress.
Andrew

Travling_guy, you said your urologist said...
some approach this with "throw everything at it" and he believes we should see how the HT works first.

I'm pretty much a "throw everything at it" guy but I can see his point. The recent study showed a benefit to using chemo early but "early" in that context means before the cancer becomes castrate resistant -- a period that usually lasts from one to many years -- and not a couple of weeks after diagnosis. It's not an either/or proposition. You can see what the first shot or two does for you -- get a feeling for how dependent your cancer is on androgens -- and still have plenty of time to do "early" chemo.

Hello !

I am in the first wave of patients being treated with both ADT (Lupron shots) and also chemotherapy (Taxotere) treatments.

I was diagnosed a year ago with an initial PSA score of over 100, with multiple nodules discovered in both of my lungs. I was initially started on ADT (Lupron shots) which reduced my PSA down to a relatively low level. The Lupron shots also cleared up all evidence of the nodules in both of my lungs, within a few months.

Since then, I underwent the standard series of six chemotherapy (Taxotere) treatments, given every three weeks, over the course of eighteen weeks. It's important to state that the chemotherapy treatments lowered my PSA to an even lower score than the ADT treatments did on their own. The ADT treatments were given concurrently with the chemotherapy treatments. My side effects from chemotherapy treatments were relatively mild, for which I am thankful. I was able to go to work every day. It's important to state that side effects from these treatments can vary widely from patient to patient.

My current PSA is less than 0.10, for which I am thankful, after an initial PSA score of over 100 a year ago when I was first diagnosed.

If you are diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer, it's important to get an oncologist on your medical team, early in the game. I had to directly ASK my urologist for a referral for an oncologist to be added to my medical team. In my case, my urologist oversees the administration of the ADT (Lupron hormone shots), while my oncologist oversaw the administration of the chemotherapy (Taxotere) treatments. Each time I have lab work, both doctors receive copies of my medical tests, so BOTH of them are involved in my medical care, going forward.

I hope my story is helpful to others who might be in a similar situation or facing the decisions that I encountered in my case.

Keep fighting the good fight !
Cyclone

3rd day after mega dose of 2 bullets to the gut of Firmagon. I have a bit of annoying soreness on both injection sites, but other than that not so bad. After 3 days of Firmagon and Cosodex the SE are very minimal. I actually feel less fatigued now than before treatment while the PC was raging. Fatigue is minimal and the Hot Flashes are starting but since I live in Florida, they feel more like I am encountering a summer day for a few moments even though it's a winter night. My energy level has increased so far and I was able to power walk 4 miles effortlessly today which was a first since DX.

I am currently treating an upper respiratory infection that I hope to clear up by the time I start Chemo on 12-17-14. If not then it will be delayed a few weeks until I am 100% healthy.

I will keep you updated and to you all my Brothers, please stay well.

Geop,
Congrats on finding the right MO and starting your treatment with such a great attitude. As you can see my husbands stats are very similar. He started ADT 9/2014 and just received his 2nd Lupron Thursday. He actually left for Florida on Friday to our house down there, didn't know if we would get there this winter with the diagnosis and all. He is considering chemo at this point and when I head down on the 17th we will be searching out one to consult with. Just wondering who you are seeing since it sounds like you were impressed and he has a handle on this.
Keep up the fight!
Dawn

It is possible to do low dose chemo (weekly like 3 weeks and a week off or similar), lesser side effects would be the benefit to you, read up on the side effects and especially if adding ADT2 like you are doing. You should get scans on your body and/or MRI to baseline where your mets are happening, pay attention to bone pains they can radiate and rid the pain area or prevent fractures or perhaps even worse. I just experienced the worse even being vigelant on watching mets with scans, spinal cord compression via a tumor, surgery with kyhoplasty at T9-T7 but a couple days later lost all feelings in legs now and face parapalygia as I fight PCa, into 12.8 years on this with lousy diagnosis high risk stats from 2002. You do need an oncologist for your treatments. Best to you and checkout www.yananow.org on patient histories and see what others are doing or have done.