PSA 56.7 Gleason 8

Hi again

its almost 2:30 in the morning here but for some reason I can't sleep. Nothing significant happened since my last post, we are still trying to close an appointment for the radiation therapies. I expect that it will happened within the next few weeks. My dad looks good, he doesn't look ill at all. Sometimes I think this is nothing but a terrible nightmare and that when I wake up everything will be back to normal. At nights I get really scared sometimes. My mind wonders and I think of all the worse possibilities. What if hormone therapy doesn't work? Our doctor told me that it doesn't work for about a 2% percent of the patients, what if we are that 2%, what next?
I keep a positive attitude about this especially in front of my father and the rest of the family, but some times at nights I feel all the doubts and "what if" of the world.
Sorry for this guys, I just needed to get it out.

A happy new and healthy year to all of you and your families

love

Elena

Elena,

I am also dealing with my Dad going through all of this and it is hard.  My Dad is the rock in this family and to see him struggle to get up and be up all night long sitting in the living room in a chair instead of being asleep in bed is horrible.  I have called some of his Lion's Club friends and asked them to stop by their house to give him chat time, to keep him from sleeping all day.  I am going to keep reading advice on this site as they are giving me advice to get through this.  He has had his surgery and will take a radiation shot again soon.  I am always happy around him and I am a firm believer in a positive attitude is the only way to heal.  I am scared too, but I am here for you.

Tinker

Dads and their daughters. Me and mine. You and yours. I love my daughter and she loves me. Perfect.

Lena - I think we all have these thoughts in the wee hours. I do. It speaks well of you that you care so much for your father. As we say in Texas, yer doin' good girl!

Regards,

Bill

Hi again!

Its been quite a while since my last post but this last few months had been like hell at work. I did check the forum from time to time to see how you guys were doing but I had no time and no particular news to post.
Today however I got the results of my dad's 3month PSA (the first after he was diagnosed). I went alone to the medical center to get the results and it was one of the most difficult things I have ever done in my life. I caught my self praying all they way there. The moment they gave me the envelope with the results I couldn't decide what to do with it ... I closed my eyes , opened it and then i saw it: PSA 0,6 A long way down from the original 56,7 don't you think?
I know we are still at the beginning, I know my dad's cancer isn't curable but I also know that for the time being Hormone therapy WORKS!!!! And I feel great about it!

Lena,

Your father is responding beautifully to treatment:>) Got my fingers and toes crossed he always will! You are a pretty special daughter having taken such an active roll in his care. Take care.

Swim

Awesome progress Lena. Was just wondering how you/he were doing yesterday . . . and now we know. Continued prayers and good wishes.
;o) Linda & Bob

Hi!

I've missed you all very much but I needed a break . . .
Anyway I have some good news about my dad to share with you. Since my last post my dad had 38 sessions of radiotherapy treatments. They begun May 10th and the last treatment took place around July 10th. It was a difficult period for us especially for him. Thank God he suffered almost no side effects, only around the last week he was a bit tired and had diarrhoea for about 2 days and that was all. So one may wonder why was it so difficult? The answer is simple, he was always hungry . Along with the prostate problem we discovered that he also has diabetes type B which was no big problem till he started the radiotherapy treatments. Till then he was following the low fat-almost no redmeat and dairy products diet and he was eating a lot of vegetables and fruits. However when he started the treatments they gave us a special diet that prohibited all these foods. He ate so much chicken and fish that he ended up hating them.

Like I said by the end of July the treatments ended and we had to wait a month for his next PSA but he could eat again so he was happy!! He had his PSA in the beginning of August and the results were great 0.3. It kept dropping. We visited his doctor and he was very pleased. He examined him and said that the prostate has almost "vanished".
The plans for the future are as follows: he will not have another 3 month injection (he had his last one at the 24th of August), he will continue to take Casodex till this December and then he will be off it too. He will have a new PSA and a new MRI around January 15th 2008. No new bone scan is needed unless there is a significant elevation of the PSA.
Those were my news for now and I hope they will be always good.

There was another thing I wanted to share with you guys. I don't know how many of you have heard but for the last 6 days we have great wildfires in Greece. Almost half of the Peloponnese has burned and we count till now 64 dead among them children and young people. More than a hundred villages are totally destroyed, our forests and the animal in them are gone and the next day appears grim since the survivors have no home and jobs to return to. My father's problem seemed trivial compared to this situation. He has a chance to fight this battle, those people had no chance at all. I guess what I am trying to say is that we should cherish every day we spend with our loved ones no matter the problems and the difficulties, because we don't know what the next day may bring ...
Please say a prayer for those gone and for the ones that were left behind
thank you all
Elena

Very nice post Elena,
I have been following the fires as they remind me of my brother and his efforts in the fire department. California is a state abundant in large brush fires with fatalities every year. It sounds like arson is the cause there in Greece and it may have been backed by organized terrorists. That is a terrible development that makes those deaths sensless.

Your fathers story is a great one as well. As a patient with advanced disease, I cherish the stories of successful treatment. I hope your father continues his well being, and know he has a great supporter always by him. And that is obviously you.

Tony