51 yrs old, PSA 4.1, Gleason 7 what treatment?

Good luck to you Ray.  My husband has his 5th chemo tomorrow at the age of 59 for advanced prostate cancer.  Hope this will hold his PSA for a while.  His alkaline phosphatase levels on his lab works are really decreasing which is good.  Will have a repeat PSA next month.  My best regards to you.  TINA

My PSA was 4 in 2008 (this was quite an increase from my previous year PSA) and biopsy was negative.  In 2009 the PSA was still 4 and the biopsy came positive (1 out of 12 samples).  Wish your hubby all the best.  Billoo

hi Tina can you please tell me what chemo your  husband  on I was told by my GP that chemo dos not work with peostate cancer. Even though Ive seen a video of a 70 year old patient being treated with chemo and high dose of vitamin D3 150,000ui a day in three months he went into remision with a PSA of zero mine come in down on the 120mg of red clover I take each day and the budwig diet I notice if I have any sugary foods  or fruit or fruit juice my Urinary retention plays up and  its a bit of a stran on the old sphincter muscles. most time though I can go quite easy, it just when I have sugar So far my PS droped to half what it was the way it going it drop two points ever PSA test It should zero by the  end of next year you know I dont get as tiyed as I use to before the resurch I did showed that  Alkaline Phosphatase that is high is found to be caused by bone problems, liver problems and can also be caused by hyperthyroid. I cant remember what mine was have to look it up What Do you think  the cause of his high Alkaline Phosphatase was? I know one thing I cant have CT bone scand any more the last time I ened up in hospital over night I had bad reaction to it Would sure appreicate your opinion on what I have written and any help and advice you can give me.  Thank you very much. all the best Ray

 

On 6/17/2009 Anne63 wrote:

My husband is only 51 and has prostate cancer.  His PSA is 4.1 his Gleason is a 7 (3+4).  He does not want to be impotent or incontinent.  What should he do?  I have not seen anything on this site about Proton therapy any reason for that?

 

 

hifu is your treatment. I was treated in pv,mexico in march 2008.  my procedure was brief and painless. went back to work in a week. i am completely continent and sexual function is normal. i am 58 years old , my last two psa's were 0.05. google hifucarecenter. dr scionti will respond in a timely manner. he has performed over 500 procedures.you will not be sorry. hifu was a god send for my wife and I.

                                                                 SteveM                                                  

Hi.  One reason for my husband's elevated alkaline phophatase, and probably the main reason, is that he has bone metastasis.  It has remarkably dropped since his Taxotere chemo which he takes once every 3 weeks in combination with prednisone daily.  Hey if there's a string out there that you can pull, maybe pull them.  Pull each one at the time. That way you won't miss any.  Had his 5th treatment this past  Thursday, and has tolerated it well.  They gave him a shot of Neulasta 24 hours afterwards to help maintain his excellent white blood cell count with him being at his halfway mark.  Made him feel worse yesterday (the Sundays after his Thursday treatment is his "down" day).No nausea, no vomiting, no fever, diarrhea, appetite good (taste buds different though).  Just plain lousy.  Keep me posted.  Tina

Tina -

Is your husband also having the Zometa infusions?

My 51 yo husband had his 3rd chemo (taxotere) on Wednesday - had a very down weekend - not up for much but we did hang and watch some DVD's together and I got him out of the house to get me an iphone - I'm on his cell phone plan. 

The bone numbers for my husband are looking better also - he is in less pain due to the metasis - but we are hoping with treatment #4 the PSA will stabalize. 

Just hard not to be able to make long term plans - have to live more in the moment -

Amy

HIFU, High Intensity Focused Ultrasound.  google internationalHIFU.com

I had it done.  Am I happy, no cutting, no down time, no hormones, no worries.  I went to Mexico to have it done, a urologist from South Carolina met a few of us there and treated us, he flies to Mexico or Nassau every weekend.  He is the greatest doctor, Dr. S. Scionti, after the treatment he gave us his home number, office, and blackberry and told us to call anytime day or night if we had any troubles.  Of course we were fine and out on the town just hours later.  

Your husband can enter a free clinical trial in the USA, or it costs 25K out of the country.  HIFU was invented 66 years ago, but the FDA is draggging it's feet, there's just so much money in radiation--which does the exact same thing--cooks the gland, only any form of radiaiton comes with risk of incontinence--both bowel and urinery (which can happen up to 3 years out).

My PSA is now 0.4  I still have a gland so I will always have a reading, just no tissue in the gland.  A stable PSA is what you strive for.

HIFU has been in use in Europe for 18 years with a 94% success rate.  If the cancer is outside the gland then he'd still need chemo--just like if he had radiation or surgery.  But your husband's score is so low he is a perfect candidate.  Every single developed country in the world does HIFU for prostate cancer, except the USA.....

 Call toll free 888-874-4384 to find a free clinical trial near you, or book going out of the country. 

Best of luck!

Hi SteveM!!

I just noticed your post, that you had HIFU with Scionti too.  He is the best!

Have you noticed that people just avoid the HIFU mention?  I think it's because they haven't heard of it, so it just goes in one ear and out the other.  Too bad, as it's so totally easy.  I had no incontinence issues either and my wife loves the clean sex!

I try to spread the word, I feel so badly for men who haven't heard of HIFU.  I've sent a few in, all report back everything went perfect.

I just read that the Chinese are using HIFU for breast cancer with success, think Race for the Cure has looked into it???

Ron

I am 54 awaiting third biopsy.  Have you researched the HIFU clinical trials going on here in the U.S.? You may be a candidate.  These are stage III trials pending completion in 2011. Google clinical trials prostate cancer Ablatherm.  This is what i am leaning towards.  My former Father-In -Law was a Doctor who died from prostate cancer. This is not a voodoo treatment. If clinical trials are not an option. There are some excellent Doctors outside the country, utilizing both the sonoblate and ablatherm methods.  Best of Wishes On whatever decision you make.

 

On 6/17/2009 Anne63 wrote:

My husband is only 51 and has prostate cancer.  His PSA is 4.1 his Gleason is a 7 (3+4).  He does not want to be impotent or incontinent.  What should he do?  I have not seen anything on this site about Proton therapy any reason for that?

 

 

Hi Anne63,

    I am 53 and was diagnosed with prostate cancer just before my 47th birthday.  My PSA was 4.6 w/ Gleason of 7. My Urologist said that radical removal was the way to go for someone at this "younger age". I was also able to get in quickly to Loma Linda for a second opinion (one of the few places that had Proton Generator at the time) since my wife had contacts within that hospital group. That doctor agreed to the type of treatment, but he also noted that since I lived in a town known for retirees that my own doctor was most likely well experienced in these issues. Both doctors were quite casual about side effects from surgery which I found to be irritating. But the general consensus was it needed to be done. Please forgive me if I get too detailed but I think that I should be letting people know that it is possible to come through this. 

    I did have the surgery at my home town in May of '03 and have now just passed my 6 year mark. I've been feeling a little guilty that I haven't taken the time to post anything about it and I think that many of the postings come from people who have had more problems than I have. I've been one of the lucky ones so far and I thought that I should share my experiences with others who are facing the same things.

    Obviously it is invasive surgery and it takes a while to recover. Figure 3 to 4 weeks with no lifting for 6 weeks. But by the 4th week I was feeling quite good. Driving may be limited for those first weeks as well, not that we can't do it, but having to make a panic stop might cause problems. They do a biopsy of the removed tissues after surgery and my doctor said that there were more type 4 cells than in the initial biopsy, but that there were none on the edge of the prostate. He didn't know if the cells had grown since the initial biopsy or if the biopsy needle just hadn't hit those areas when first tested. 

    That's the basic surgery. As for other the other issues, it was several months before I was able to have an erection and at that needed the help of Viagra or the others. I happened to be going through this right when Cialis & LeVitra (spelling?) came out so I got to sample all 3. Viagra worked but made me flush and if I lost the benefits too soon, they did not come back. I liked Cialis, but I have to admit that I had tried that more than a month after the Viagra, so my body may have responded better just because of the  healing process. I do know that my surgery was May 5th and it was Feb 13th (day before Valentines Day) that was the first time I didn't use the drugs for help. After the first year I haven't needed the help. I think my doctor was even surprised at that, so he must have done a good job.

    As far as urinary issues, about the only thing I have noticed is that if I'm sitting for quite a while and drinking liquids, I will be fine until I stand up and start moving around. The moving around will give me the urge to pee and I need to do so fairly soon. Other than that I don't have problems. I do have to pay attention to those circumstances is all.

    My doctor had said that  orgasms are mental and that we can still have them even though the prostate is gone and there is no ejaculation. It seems strange, but it does work and those activities are still enjoyable. It is not something that I even think about much any more.

    There are new treatments. I've had a friend who has used the seeded pills, but he was considerably older that I was when diagnosed. They are also making improvements in their ability to narrow the focus of the radiation treatments considerably too. That is where my comments may be outdated and why I suggest getting the professional opinions. But at least with the PSA tests they are finding this much sooner. They would have had no reason to biopsy me without out the PSA tests until much later. 

     This is something nobody wants to go through, but it is possible to
survive it with a minimal affect on lifestyle. My wife and I came
through it fine and I have my PSA tested regularly (down to once a year
now). It did take a little while for the PSA to totally drop down but
it has. I do encourage people to get a second opinion and I sincerely
hope that everything goes well for your husband and you.