ADT and SRT Journey Part 2

Hardlyrob said...


As SkyPilot said - everyone is different. I've been on ADT since December - I have hot flashes, night sweats and pain in my hands and feet. The Lupron also seems to have made my arthritis pain in my knees worse than before Lupron - an unusual effect, but not unheard of.

Rob

Rob,
I am experiencing the same issues since starting Lupron. Hot flashes, chills, weight gain. But the hardest for me to deal with right now is the pain in my hands and feet, and also the arthritis pain in my knees and other areas. I didn't realize these issues could be a side effect of the Lupron. The pain in my hands feels like a sharp stabbing pain, not as bad in my feet though. They just seem to hurt all the time. The arthritis in my hands has worsened so that I am having a hard time gripping things, like jars or tools. Guess I better talk to my MO during my visit next month for my next shot.
I am just coming up on my 12 month out of 18 Lupron festival. It's been a struggle, but nothing I can't get through.

Dog days - I had the pain in my hands and feet after a couple of months but it kinda went away but now it's coming back big time like you said I couldn't get a cover off a pickle jar no strength in my hands and the pain in my feet makes it hard to walk some days don't we just love Lupron Hey?

Larry

Gary,

I saw your post on another thread that your PSA is way down. Great news! Otherwise, how’s the ADT experience been for you?
I’m on day 26 (out of 30) of Casodex and day 19 of Eligard. No hot flashes or other SEs yet. Figuring they’ll start as soon as I hit the Submit button.
Good luck with your RT starting next week.

Richard.

garyi said...
...Finally starting radiation on Monday. Evading the possible rectal and urinary toxicities will be a challenge, and hopefully a blessing.
How is your radiation going? Next time 👀 I meet you, I’m expecting a buff, six pack, gym rat....with a .000 PSA.

So far RT's been a snap. My RO Dr Ko says the vast majority of his PCa patients come through it without SEs. I'm hoping he's not blowing smoke and I'm not in the insignificant minority. I can understand your concern given your ulcerative colitis. Also, I don't know if targeting your tumor will mean more or less exposure of the rectum to radiation than I'm getting.
BTW, while Dr Ko's original recommendation was for me to get whole pelvic 75.2 Gy, based on suspected LN involvement in last November's CT scan, he changed it to prostate bed 72.0 Gy because there was no sign of LNs in my late January 3T MRI. Probably Dr Patel was right that it was a reducing lymphocele.
Six pack of Sapporo, definitely. Or four pack of Guinness.
I don't think I can get a 3-digit uPSA out here. I'd be happy with a series of <0.05.
How do you do googly eyes?

I have no googly idea. Another ADT side effect is getting up to pee, being more irritable than usual, and of course, checking HW, for the latest controversial topic.

Way to go garyi and SP, pulling for you both. Larry, may the mind win after dawn.

On a more serious note, I’ve been having trouble sleeping the past week and started wondering if it might be an ADT SE. But it could also be that I’m in a hotel, away from my home and my wife and our bed. Hard to isolate out the cause.
Testing question: my RO isn’t planning on running any blood tests during these two months of treatment. Says T level is bound to crash from the Casodex and Eligard, doesn’t need to check it. Isn’t concerned about liver enzymes, doesn’t want to see a PSA till after treatment. Is this SOP in your experience?

SP, pretty much my story although I never got checked for testosterone maybe they figured after 2 yrs what difference would it make? Go on April 25 for psa test and meeting with my mayo team.

Larry with no googly eyes after 6 months on ADT!

Good luck with your remaining treatments Rob, and Richard... and Gary, good luck next week.
We'll be back in the Big O twice in May, so will txt you soon.

Sleeplessness can be a side effect of Lupron, generally tossing and turning from night sweats. My PSA was checked every three months until I started ART, then not again until three months after RT ended. Testosterone tested before and after RT but only at my request. Next PSA test in two weeks. Hopefully it will be another 0.00 Wish me luck guys!

about the googly eyes, those are emoji's that can be seen on a tablet or smart phone, but not on a PC (AFAIK). Message board software replaces emoji's with diamonds or some such character. Sometimes it may preserve the actual code so it can be viewed on a phone, or maybe not. I only know what I see and try to figure out.

Hardlyrob said...
I'm a little surprised they are running 3 month PSA while you are on Lupron - I don't really see the point.

I'm guessing that the protocol is to test every three months following RP, so if medicare pays for it then no harm in just checking. But what I think may be the real reason is that my PSA on Lupron bounced up and down a bit, sometimes <.03 and sometimes =.03 ... And probably since .03 is the "new" threshold for BR, my Uro/RO wanted to be sure the Lupron was being effective. Not that there was any chance of becoming castrate resistant during the first year, but I suppose anything is possible.

Thanks for the well wishes. I was totally surprised by the 0.00, and my Uro said it "may" go up to .01 and I shouldn't panic. Pleased as punch to see it so low, but slightly worried that there is only one direction for it to go from there. Only time will tell, but I probably won't pop open the bubbly until after a few more tests.

Good luck over the coming weeks. Just around the time you get settled into the routine, then it starts to become more tiring.

RobLee said...

Hardlyrob said...
Good luck over the coming weeks. Just around the time you get settled into the routine, then it starts to become more tiring.

Bingo. I’m sick of it already. Keep those zeros humming along, RobLee.
HardlyRob, we’re almost exactly on the same schedule. Today I get #10 of 40.

garyi said...

RobLee said...
PS: As predicted, didn't take long for a certain yankee lawyer to start whining

Them’s fightin’ words. You can call me a whiner, you can call me a lawyer... but don’t call me a yankee! I’m a displaced Baltimoron, and proud of it!