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Posted 11/3/2007 2:19 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Everyone!

Hope you are all well. After some confusion we finally got the correct numbers on Rick's PSA. It seems that the girl that gave us the PSA last time had the nembers all wrong. I have corrected them on our signature line. We met with the oncologist and gave a copy of the study from John Hopkins regarding high Gleason and radiation after surgery. The study basically says that radiation does not help if your Gleason is above 7. The doctor agreed with the study but commented that it was a small study and she would do further research and see if anything has changed since the study was done. She told us that some doctors think that if you have a Gleason 9 the cancer has already broke away and has spread to somewhere else in the body but the scans we have today do not have the ability to pick up on the cancer until it is bigger. She said that If Rick were to go for any treatment she would look at hormone therapy but we would have to weigh the risk with his heart condition. She said that on the packaging of hormones it warns about using it in patients with heart problems.

Best wishes

Diana

Posted 11/3/2007 5:26 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Diana,

Sorry about Rick's conditions. Multiple problems really do make treatment decisions more difficult. We are hoping and pulling for you both...

Jim
Posted 11/4/2007 1:17 AM (GMT 0)

Hi Jim

Thank you for your response. I hope you are doing well.

Diana

Posted 11/4/2007 2:18 AM (GMT 0)
I want to say this carefully...my husband was not put on HT until they knew where they cancer had spread - his psa was high post surgery, even though the pathology report showed clean margins. I know others disagree with the timing of the start of HT but actually, it's not uncommon for the docs to wait - why put someone through the side effects of HT any earlier than necessary is the thinking behind this. Sounds like your doctor is thinking along the same lines.

I know this is a most difficult time for you & Rick, Diana. If you're not comfortable with your doc's opinion get another. But it sounds as if she's carefully looking at Rick's options and not being too hasty considering his health issues.
If I can help please let me know.

I wish you all the best on this journey,
Susan
Posted 11/4/2007 3:14 AM (GMT 0)

Hi Susan

Thank you for the reply. Were your doctors able to find the tumors prior tp starting the hormone shots. Rick's oncologist seems to think radiation is of no use to Rick. (Which he wanted to hear) She says he is at a point where there is no "cure" but wants Rick to consider hormones when he starts to feel the effects of the cancer. She also wants us to really consider the risks he is facing with his heart problems.

Thanks Again

Diana

Posted 11/4/2007 3:53 AM (GMT 0)
Susan,
You have hit the nail on the head. And I personally, would never disagree with anyone's decision as to when to begin HT. And I still think it's up in the air, using protocol, as to when you have to do it. I CHOSE to do it adjuvantly asap, and my oncologist would not opinionate when I should do it. He simply laid it out and made it my decision. But when you have to and if you have to are not as easily debated. My mind is at ease with my decision. I have had multiple opinions, but the decision ultimately was only mine. HT appears to be helping Don enormously and I would guess he would rather tolerate the HT than not have it as an option. I am amoung the few, I guess, who don't think HT is not that bad that I would not trade my life to avoid it? Heck no. I'm not .

Diana,
I hope you guys had a good weekend so far. I do agree with the multiple opinion approach and respect that this is still Ricks decision. My prayers are always with you kids.

Tony
Posted 11/4/2007 10:41 PM (GMT 0)
my husband's cancer had spread to his hips, back, and shoulders when diagnosed and he was in pain. our oncologist immediately had him down to Sudbury for radiation, and while it was mostly for his pain, we were told that radiation would help with the cancer since it kills those cells. he has since had several radiation sessions for his lower back, his upper back and his one shoulder. while one dr. says that you can't radiate the same location more than once, our radiation oncologist has looked at redoing the same area of lower back since it's been almost six months since that area was done. i don't understand why some dr. say once pc has metastised radiation won't help. my husband's gleason score was 8 with his psa intitally 900. good luck with your journey. lifeline
Posted 11/20/2007 7:49 PM (GMT 0)
Diana - I sent you an email but wanted to reply to this post here...

Sneaky thing, this prostate cancer...we assumed that with a successful surgery, good pathology report, negative margins we were home free, that the first PSA would be 0.00.
We were never home free. Don's PSA never dropped after surgery...it rose.
Don's PSA went to 18.8 before HT was started. His cancer is systemic...it had traveled to distant lymph nodes but they didn't show (CT scan) until his PSA reached that number.
He had NO spread of pc in the prostate bed so radiation was not an option. The decision to wait until they could "see" where the cancer had traveled to was a good one for Don. No good radiologist would've taken his case...where would they radiate? So, that made sense to us. In Tony's case his margins showed positive...Don's did not. Tony made a good decision and I believe he is going to beat this.

Is Don's case unusual...probably. Is it important...you bet, we should know every way this cancer can invade. One other thing...Don had NO symptoms.

Again, my apologies for not responding sooner. I hope you both are doing alright and post back here.

Susan
Posted 11/22/2007 5:27 AM (GMT 0)
Dear Diane & Rick, Just wanted to let you know that you have been tucked extra close to our hearts over the past few months.  I hope you feel the strength that we all send your way.   Hugs from Lee & Buddy   http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb179/mamabluebird1955/BluebirdStayClose.jpg
Posted 11/22/2007 6:11 AM (GMT 0)

Thank you everyone for your replys, prayers & thoughts. Things are about the same we have a PSA test coming up around the 1st of Dec. I will post the results. I was recently talking to a friend (Nurse) who told me that there had been a study done that shows men who are on heart meds (statin drugs) have been found to have high gleason scores with low PSA due to statin drugs lowering testestorone. Does anyone know of these studies. Rick has been on statin drugs since 1992 and now we are wondering what his PSA would be if he were not on the heart meds. We have an appointment in Jan. with his cardiologist and I will ask him and the cancer oncologist about this. Rick says Gee if I stop the heart meds I can have a heart attack and if I stay on the heart meds we really don't know what the cancer is doing since the heart meds keep the PSA low. What should one do??? (At least he can LOL about it)

Warm wishes to you all

Diana

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