Hormone Treatment

In August 1995 I had a Radical Prostatectomy. I was 58 years old. My psa was 22.5 my gleason was 7. no evedence of cancer cells in Lymph nodes or surrounding tissue. all test indicated it had not spred to bone or other aeras. However three months after surgery PSA was 03.00 I then had 35 external beams of radiation. Which put the PSA at 00.10 and only side effect was impotent. Which nothing helped this problem.
PSA remained at the level of 00.10 to 00.30 for almost 9 years. In June 2004 my Psa was 00.50. and in June 2005 it had doubled to 01.00. My Doctor says that since I had radiation previously that the only thing now is Harmones. He dosnt see any need to do bone scans and ect. because the most effective way to treat this is with harmones. He says this could get me 5 to 10 more years, (I am now 68) I am considering the removal of the testicals as it has proven to help some people live longer but with same side effects as Harmones. Has anyone got any experiences that would be of help to me?

My dad had surgery in 1998 and had 14 lymph nodes removed, PAS tested every 4 months has remained at .001. Only hot flashes and slight enlargement of breast have continued to slow him down. He is 75 now and remains very active and cheerful about life in general! Get a good urologist and follow his instructions and you won't have any problems.

Clyde:

Hormonal therapy can be very effective with keeping prostate cancer at bay. My Father was diagnosed with prostate cancer in July 1995 with a PSA level of 77.5. This is when they 1st started doing the PSA blood work as a routine check up - so who knows how long he had it prior to that. He was 73 years old at the time of diagnosis and had an array of other medicial issues (ie: heart valve replacement in 1983, quad bypass, heart disease, von willebrands, hepatitis C etc) - so the Uralogist determined that hormonal therapy was the best treatment - don't even remove it - radiate it - nothing - cause "something else will get you first" -

Well I am sorry to say that "nothing else did get him first" - HOWEVER - he used hormonal therapy - a combination of Proscar, Eulexin and Casodex for 6 years 1995-2001 before the PSA began to elevate again. These medications reduced the PSA level from 77.5 and held under 4.00 until June 2001. In June 2001 - the levels increased suddenly to 19 - and then the medication was still continued (Eulexin & Proscar stopped) - but Lupron injections were given ever 4 months which bought the levels down to below 4.00 again. This lasted around 2 years and the levels started to increase again.

The Oncologist suggested chemo - although that is NOT a cure - but it could hold off the cancer longer - but he had a good quality of life. Theory always was quality over quantity -that was when he was 81. He did well for about 1 1/2 years as the levels started to increase going to 150 at one point. In 3 months the levels increased from 150 to 800 - then in 2 weeks to 2000 - given 1-2 months to live - he tried ketaconzole which has a 25% shot of decreasing the levels - made him extremely weak and sick - 2 weeks after he was given the 1-2 months they gave him 1 week. His levels increased to 3875 when he ceased ALL treatment. After given 1 week he lasted 7 months - it had spread to the bones and lung. His death was not painful or hard - but sad. He did loose the quality of his life - but still didn't feel like you would expect a "typical cancer patient" to feel. He died 12 days before his 83rd birthday - and 27 days before his 10 year anniversary of being diagnosed.

So yes - hormonal therapy is wonderful and it can work - you already had the radiation - and I think you said the prostate removed - so I would think you have that going for you - where my Father didn't.

Good luck to you - I believe in this therapy 100%. The side effects were breast enlargement, hot flashes and impotance. Nothing that could not be lived with. Overall he felt great - until 7 months before he passed.

Janet

At 68, if you are otherwise healthy, you are too young to be given a treatment that will get you only "5 to 10 years." That's great, but not enough. My husband was treated at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Tulsa. We've met so many people there who benefited from going there for a second opinion. Prostate cancer treatment is controversial and not cut and dried. When we went there 2 years ago they were the only place doing the treatment that he had. Now it is more common. They are very advanced in their treatment methods.

If you haven't done so already, please call and talk to the oncology information specialists in Tulsa at their Southwestern Center. 888-816-5122 They can advise you on whether a second opinion from their doctors would be of benefit. We went there from Oregon, and there were patients there from all over the country who got help they couldn't get anywhere else.

My husband was on a medicare HMO and switched to a medicare supplement that was not an hmo and all his treatment at the cancer treatment center was paid for, so cost should not be an issue. All we had to pay for was travel, and inexpensive lodging during the treatment. You can do this! best of luck.
p.s. I don't work for them, really! I'm just truly impressed with what a great job they do.
if you have a question you can let me know.

Before you go now on hormone treatment you may want to consider the following information from my case. In 1989 with my PSA at 3.14, biopsy revealed that I had prostate cancer with a grade of gleason 7 and ended up having a Radical Prostatectomy at Johns Hopkins. In 1993 my PSA started up from 0 and went to 0.1 and over the next few years sometimes up, sometimes down had an upward trend, reaching about 6 in 1997. During that time I was being tested every three months at Hopkins. The research at Hopkins performed by Dr. Mario Eisenburger and others showed that long-term survival of recurrent Prostate Cancer patients was not affected by hormone therapy, so I was told not to worry until my PSA reached 30. Until August 2003, 12.5 years after it first started up, my PSA was still only 13.66, but in the next 9 months it went up to 33. At this time Dr. Eisenberger advised that hormone therapy was the only alternative offered by conventional medicine in my situation. So now I am considering it as a cat scan does show recurrent tumor activity in the prostatic bed. But for 12.5 years I had avoided the side effects and possible transition to refractory PCa by not using hormone therapy. Of course other centers for cancer research think one sould resort to hormone therapy immediately. I am currently trying a chinese herbal therapy -Prostasol-but if that does not work I will have to consider the Casodex-Lupron hormone therapy offered by my local oncologist. At the recent Prostate Cancer conference in Washington, D.C., a presentation from Hopkins suggested that Testoserone was not the problem, something that followeers of John Lee, M.D have been saying for a while. So the patient is faced with uncertainty on all fronts. In any case, at age 74, 16 years after my Radical Prostaectomy which left me incontinent and impotent although done at Hopkins, I have concluded that its best not to rush into any treatment unless the cancer is so agressive that one has little choice to act immediately. You may want to watch your doubling time and have some additional tests before you decided whose advice to follow.

Thanks so much for your message in response to my posting. Your info. is very encouraging to me.

Thanks for your reply to my posting. Your words are quite encouraging to me.
Thanks

Thanks so much for your encourging reply. As you noticed I had prostate removed in Augusy 1995 and immediate follow up with radiation. My Psa has stayed down for almost 10 years. I was wondering did your husband have treatment before going to Tulsa? If so what kind of treatment did he receive? Also what kind of treatment did he receive at Tulsa? Thanks so much for your information.

Thanks so much for your reply to my posting. I certainly agree with you about conflicting information on when to start Hormone for reocurring PC. I am waiting for my next PSA test which is 7th of Sept. The wait see method is appeling to me.

Thanks so much

My Father had his prostate removed in 1987, on the fourth year after removal his Psa started to rise again. His doctor put him on casadex and he stayed on it for six months. He said that the side affects were not worth it so he choose to castaration. After this procedure he had no more side affects. This lasted ten years where just this past September 2004 his PSA has began to rise again. He just went to the doctor today where his PSA reading was a 9. His doctor said that they will continue to monitor every three months. Good luck with your Therapy.