Hello All,
My name is Steve and I'm writing in hopes I can get some answers for myself and my father who was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 Prostrate Cancer. It has Metastasized to his bones.
Dad is 82 years old and I believe the cancer was first picked up in his annual PSA testing which normally was around 1.0 or less I think and came back at 7.5. Somehow this elevated reading fell thru the cracks and was not acted upon in a timely manner so the cancer went un treated for over a year. After being very fatigued and light headed Dad was admitted and his PSA tested at 195 and subsequent testing confirmed it had moved into his bones.
Dad's cancer is currently undergoing hormone shot treatments to remove the testosterone and also a pill and shot every 4 months to help repair the bone damage. This I understand is the standard first line of defense against this disease.
Dad has already indicated he has no desire to pursue any additional treatments like chemo, radiation and anything else that would just prolong the inevitable a few months to a year. I suppose if he were to get a high percentage prognosis that a treatment would give him 2-5 or maybe even more years then his mind could possibly be changed but he has no will or desire to go thru the cure is worse than the disease scenario.
So far Dad is responding well to his treatments. His PSA is down < 1.0 I think and he seems pretty much normal other than being tired. Has lost a few pounds but not much more than 5 lbs. or so I think.
Question I have today is can someone tell me how long we could expect the current hormone treatments to keep the cancer under control. We know it's not a cure because it's moved on to his bones and probably only chemo, radiation or ?? can fight it back further.
I know there cannot be one pat answer for this but is there and average based on what I've told you so far we could expect? Are we looking at months or maybe 2-3 or more years?
Thanks and God Bless to all,
Steve
Post Edited (samert111) : 4/23/2013 3:32:41 AM (GMT-6)