Unusual Side Effect

This is probably atypical and unusual enough to not affect others here. But just in case, here's something unexpected that happened to me that I ignored at first. about 4 years after SRT I began having detectable but very low PSA again for a couple of years. It began rising at a an increasing rate late last year and early this year. Around late March I started noticing intermittent lower back aches but only on the left side. I ignored it because the ache would come and go and because I tend to get lower back aches when driving for more than an hour or so and because, hey, I'm a guy.

I was due to start Firmagon in May as part of the control group of a clinical trial and had a pre-trial CT scan as part of the trial protocol. The scan showed an enlarged lymph node that was pinching the ureter from my left kidney and causing hydronephrosis (swelling from retained urine) in that kidney. A follow-up Creatine test came in at 1.67, indicating decreased kidney function. My MO was pretty confident that the Firmagon would quickly shrink the lymph node and restore proper kidney function. But my primary care doc (at a different hospital) insisted on having a temporary kidney stent put in to prevent kidney damage.

Long story short, the Firmagon very quickly reduced my Creatinine to normal levels. A follow-up ultrasound and blood tests after the stent was removed (about 3 months after my first Firmagon shot) shows "Mild left hydronephrosis with a diminished ureteral jets on the same side", Creatinine was back to normal, eGFR was still somewhat below normal. Hopefully the follow-up ultrasound and blood work in November will show everything back to or closer to normal.

This is probably just one of those quirky things - I just happened to be the guy with one enlarged lymph node that was in exactly the wrong place. But I guess the lesson is not to ignore a lower back ache with rising post treatment PSA.
Jim

Maybe not as unusual as you might think?

Anything that swells can push against something beside it.

I'm on RT to my T12 vertebrae right now, partly to stop the met, but also to take pressure off the spinal cord. I was having increasing numbness and neuropathy in my left leg, as well as just a sense of no feeling in my side and hips, with great difficulty doing stairs (I have to do a flight multiple times a day, and was getting tired of falling down them too often). Since my PSA started back up after (now 22) sessions of chemo, we started looking for the source.

The interesting thing (if I can call it that) is that as the RT treatments progress, I'm going from general numbness to real pains, but specific ones. The RO and my MO agree that this is improvement. I guess so ....