Radiation & Hormones After Surgery

Hi everyone. I took a leave of absence so I could stop thinking about Pca for awhile.

My PSA has gone from .08 six weeks post surgery to .22. I am sure when I see my oncologist in June he is going to suggest --- strongly ---- Radiation and hormone therapy. For men who have gone through this,
I would greatly appreciate some info on your experience. I am very afraid of the hormone treatment. My plumbing is just starting to tingle a bit and I lost almost 2 inches after surgery. I have read that your penis can shrink even more while taking female hormones. I am a cyclist and just getting back into my routine and I understand that I will lose muscle mass. Are there men who have refused to go through this?

This is seeming more and more like a big dark hole that is swallowing my life.

Hi!   I am going to put a link in to someone else's thread on this board.  I don't have any advice for you-- I'm here to learn more to keep informed because my father has recently had a prostatectomy, post-op was a gleason 9 but it appeared to be contained within the prostate with a little spread to the seminal vesicles but it didn't appear to have spread beyond them either.  He gets his first psa results next week. 

Anyway, this thread is about hormone therapy and I found it very informative and bookmarked it "in case" my dad needs to go that route in the near or distant future.

https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=35&m=2714502

 

While your stats and mine are pretty different, I have undergone both things you are asking about. I suppose my biggest fear with hormone treatment at the time was that my mind would be greatly affected in a negative way. Not so.

In my case I was told my libido would go out the window and desire for sex would quickly follow. This was true. Its been a year and I can deal with it no problem. My cancer was/is dangerous enough that changes had to come. My family jewels are almost half the size as before, but since they are no longer in use,...meh.

about fatigue, My health was pretty good the year before treatment, but had been failing up to the point of diagnoses. (see my sig) So one of the side effects named fatigue became fairly prominent for me.

Hot flashes. I had em pretty bad for about 6 months, but like all things they subsided to a point where its not a problem. I have bigger breasts now,...small price to pay for fighting cancer.

The strangest and most interesting side effect for me on hormone was my greatly increased empathy. I can now cry at any St Jude commercial or even those spots about mistreated animals. I consider this to be a kind of enhancement in its own way.

Radiation;

For kicking the hienie of cancer itself I found it works wonders and quickly. I had severe pain from metastisis in my right hip that was basically cured within one week of treatment.

BUT, for a man in only fair health at the time the fatigue was immense for about 4 weeks. I would say that good health and a good eating regimen would greatly reduce the fatigue factor there.

I am losing muscle mass. Im 62 and have gone from about 225 a year and a half ago to now 195 and though the "pinch an inch" is about gone now, so is much of that beautiful Arnold physique :) But Im still alive!

Your mileage will vary! And dont forget, Prostate cancer is a life changer, yet so many have survived way past what once was a death sentence.

Hi Fred508NYC,

I had surgery at Weill Cornell in Jan 2011, started ADT in May 2011, completed RT in March 2012 (at MSKCC NYC) and my last Lupron shot was in June 2012. I am T3b, SVI, margins -. PSA continues to be undetectable (0.003)
I am doing fine, side effects of HT (muscle, body hair, libido loss) all gone. My penis shrank a bit but I can have erections and intercourse.
So be positive, relax and have your treatments that you believe necessary.
Good luck, all the best

My PSA has gone from .08 six weeks post surgery to .22.

if radiation is in your future why isn't there a sense of urgency with this PSA?

ed