Posted 8/12/2015 12:16 AM (GMT 0)
I apologize if this post is on the long side. Hopefully it will offer some choices and encouragement to those of you with PC. I was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer in April 2008. I was 54 years old. PSA was 89, Gleason scores were 8-9. Had prostate removed in May. Once diagnosed, I visited a Urologist to talk about what’s going to happen. During our talk, I asked where do we go from here, as he was walking out the door, he said “I’ll just use the robot and take everything out and you’ll be alive”. He never came back into the office. Needless to say, we found a different Urologist. I mentioned what the previous Urologist had said, and he said “In my case, I would rather do it by hand. I want to see and feel what’s going on”. Even though he is trained and trains on the DaVinci robot (we researched that), he did not want to use it. We liked that. I had him remove my prostate. PSA went down to 26. For my first visit with a Oncologist, he wanted to do radiation. He actually had a radiologist standing outside the office door to begin radiation. We told him that we were just consulting on what to do. He said “If you’re lucky, we can get 2 sessions in for your insurance before the end of the year”. He did not appear to have my best interest in mind. We found a new Oncologist which we like very much. He said you are lucky you did not do radiation. Since you were stage 4, that meant your cancer had spread outside of the prostate and would require whole body radiation causing damage to many body parts. I strongly recommend second or even third opinions.
I started on Casodex for 6 months then started to feel pain in my spine. A bone scan revealed that the cancer had spread to my spine. Started with Taxotere chemotherapy. Did 9 sessions over a 27 week period. After the first 4 days, I was feeling the side effects. Losing hair, pain, weakness, etc. It kicked my $%*@ so bad that I had to take a break. Another bone scan afterwards showed no more signs of cancer in my spine. Future scans also showed no signs. I went on Zytiga and Xtandi after that for about 3 months each. They did not work. PSA climbed to 266. Next step was to do chemo again. Not really what I wanted, but had no choice. Went on Jevtana (cabazitaxel) every 3 weeks. Surprisingly, very little side effects.
None of you are going to believe this, but 2 weeks ago, I had my 36th Jevtana treatment. Yes, 36, no bull$&@#. PSA has been coming down steadily. I’m still working and traveling. Very little side effects. I have treatment on Fridays, on Sunday and Monday I’m tired. Recently been getting hand cramps on Tues. and Wed, but extra bananas help that. Have lost some energy, but after 36 treatments, I suppose that can be expected. PSA is down to 6.2. All of my labs, white & red blood cells, etc, have always been in the normal range.
I asked my Dr. what happens if my PSA falls into the normal persons range. He said he’s not sure. This is unchartered territory. He has never given anybody this many treatments, the most he has given is 18. He is doing some more research on it. He had told me Jevtana if for people that have failed Taxotere. Now there is discussion on making Jevtana the first line of defense. I would agree. Not many people can say this, but “I LOVE MY CHEMO”. I drink a lot of pomegranate juice and eat grilled fresh asparagus. This seems to help my PSA. If you have any question, I will be more than happy to answer them. Thank you for listening.