Went to oncologist Friday. Still doing good. PSA is now down to 1.4, so I’m still responding well to the
hormone therapy. Only having minor/manageable side-effects. I also got my second
shot of hormone-therapy, which will last for 3 more months.

The doc was excited that he had some new news about
treatments for me. There’s now reports that combining chemotherapy upfront along
with my hormone therapy has demonstrated benefits to survivability in stage-4
bone-metastatic prostate cancer patients like me. When I first went to him in
September he said the studies were not conclusive and that chemo is typically
added once the hormone therapy no longer works. But now the results from studies
are in and they are looking like it is beneficial. So he wants to start me on
chemo while the hormone therapy is still working. The doc will work with
insurance try to make sure it’s covered because, even though the new  studies show
that it works, it’s still a new change in the "standard” treatment and insurance
is sometimes slow to change what they accept. He said he’s been in contact with
cancer centers around the country and they’re all pushing insurance now to cover
this upfront-chemo treatment for this kind of cancer.

So in mid January, I’ll be going in again for my regular bloodwork/PSA
tests, plus the bone-scan and CT scans of my chest and abdomen since it will
have been three months since my last bone scan and CTs and they’ll be comparing
the scans and hopefully seeing no new bone-metastasis. I’ll also have a
consultation at that time with the docs about starting chemo, and probably
start chemo near the end of January. I will get six chemo
treatments by IV infusion - one infusion every three weeks for 18 weeks. The
side effects he said will be typical for chemo, hairloss, nausea, loss of
appetite, fatigue, low white blood cell counts, possible numbness in finger tips. He said
this type of chemo (taxotere) is not as hard on the body as other stronger types
and he said I should be able to handle it well since I’m fairly young and fairly
healthy. The side-effects will last for several days and it’ll be a
rollercoaster of feeling sick, then getting better just in time for the next
round of chemo, and on and on for 18 weeks. yay!  

So that’s where I am now, still good news, PSA is down even more than last
month, and will probably be starting chemo in late January.

Thanks for your support and encouragement and your prayers. I think it’s
all working!
UPDATE 2/28/14:
Thank you all for your prayers and your support and encouragement. It means a lot, and I believe in the power of prayer as much as the power of medicine. My most recent PSA this month is 0.75 and my most recent CT and bone scans this month show no new bone mets and pelvic lymph nodes and prostate are reduced which means the current therapy is working well. I am still seriously considering starting chemo to add to the current hormone-therapy. The oncologist would do what I recommend, but says I'm doing very well right now. Most recent research shows that starting chemo+hormone-therapy gives a 20% increase in 3-year survival rate compared to starting hormone-therapy only. Well, I'm 5+ months into hormone therapy already and so the oncologist doesn't know if I'd fall into that category of showing marked benefit. But I think it should at least help somewhat, which is better than nothing I suppose. Although undergoing 18 weeks of chemo won't be a stroll in the park. But I'm seriously leaning towards starting it. Hard decision to make. But the good news is PSA is below 1.0, there are no new bone mets and all signs are looking good for now. Thanks again for your continued encouragement and prayers.
UPDATE: 3/31/14
Had bloodwork, bone-scan and CT scans. PSA is a sliver higher than February. Doctor doesn’t think that’s significant.
Bone scans came back good, no new spots on bones.
But the CT scan showed one pelvic lymph node that was enlarged and likely from growing cancer cells. The oncologist was disappointed to see that, hoping that I wouldn’t be showing signs of progression like that this soon.
We talked about treatment options that have a good track record of studies and that are available. We will be continuing hormone-therapy, and adding immuno-therapy on top of that now. That’s where they harvest your own white blood cells, treat them to boost their immune activity to specifically go after prostate-cancer cells, then reintroduce them back into your body. Basically a way to boost my immune system to fight the cancer cells. Studies show a 20-30% increase in 3-year survivability of patients with advanced prostate cancer who go on this immunotherapy. Generally it’s only available once the cancer is considered "progressing” or becoming resistant to hormone therapy. It's very costly so insurance will only cover it for advanced prostate cancer. It basically takes about 5 weeks to complete the treatment, and includes 3 "cycles” where I go in for 3-4 hours and they take some of blood cells out by I.V. then treat them to boost their activity and numbers, and then put them back in me three days later. Hoping to get this started in about a couple of weeks, once it can be approved by insurance. Hoping to have that finished by end of May. After immunotherapy is done, then we have other options too. Other hormone therapy drugs and/or chemotherapy. But the doctor wanted to get the immunotherapy going first.
This was a long talk with the oncologist, a full hour consult. There were other things discussed, clinical trials, standard-treatments, etc. I think at the very least this immunotherapy is a good choice. We may want to add another treatment in with it, but there are concerns about cost/insurance/toxicities/benefit-to-me that we have to think about. I also asked about radiation-therapy to "zap” that lymph node but he considers this a systemic progression and generally only recommends radiotherapy if it’s causing pain. It’s also not in an easily-accessed location so can’t biopsy or remove it.
We got a second opinion about this progression and treatment plan from another prostate oncologist specialist and he confirmed that immunotherapy is the way to go for right now.
So, that’s where we’re at now. I feel fine, I have no pain, no symptoms. Just that one lymph node in the pelvis doing what it’s not supposed to, which is a sign of disease progression.
Thanks again for your continued prayers and support, it really means a lot to us.
UPDATE 4/17/14
Getting immunotherapy right now. IV in my arm, my activated anti-cancer white blood cells are flowing into to me as I type.
Release the hounds!!!
UPDATE 5/20/14





So that’s all for now.


UPDATE: 7/2/14
PSA down to 0.22 and I feel very blessed. No symptoms, manageable side-effects (but very easily fatigued) and the oncologist is pleased and says we're now going to stay the course and check in in August for bloodwork and scans. Things are good. :)
UPDATE: 8/28/14
It's been a year since I got the news and began riding the rollercoaster of fighting cancer. At the end of August 2013 PSA was 56. Early September it was found to be widely metastatic. PSA is now down to 0.15 (lowest its ever been) and there've are no new bone metastases on the bone scans since January. Also the CT scans
showed no new signs of progression and the couple of pelvic lymph nodes that had
been enlarging for the past 4 months or so were also noticeably reduced in
size.  These are all signs that my treatments are working. Immunotherapy and hormone therapy seem to be working for now. I have no pain in my bones, and
my lungs, liver and everything else look good. I do have very noticeable
fatigue as part of the side-effects of my treatments, but otherwise I feel good.
I've also been doing more stress-reduction. Took a 30% paycut to reduce workload stress (I'd been thinking about doing that for a couple of years before this) and I feel much more relaxed, and am enjoying being with my family and doing my hobbies more than ever and it makes all the difference.


UPDATE: Nov 2014
Latest round of scans show no new progression to bones or lymphnodes, PSA is hovering around 0.12 and so the cancer seems to be in a holding pattern. I asked the oncologists for their crystal-ball prognosis and they of course said every patient is different but that I'm responding well to the treatments and it could stay this way for "years". But he also recommended doing a round of chemotherapy early next year to hit the cancer while it's down, so I'm mulling over doing that, and will get another oncologist second opinion on that. I go back in early January for more scans and tests and should have a decision about starting chemo by then.
Still have very noticeable fatigue and have gained about a pound a month for the past year. The doctors say the current therapy I'm on is basically accelerating my aging and slowing my metabolism, but I'm still training for the half-marathon in January (I ran it last year along with my 13-yo son, it was his first half-marathon). Fatigue and noticeable loss of muscle strength are the main side-effects and those are manageable. But, things are going very well, reduced my stress at work, and am doing everything I can to enjoy life, family and hobbies. And praying, lots of praying.
Thanks to all here for your support, prayers and your kind words, it means a lot to me.
UPDATE: January 2015





































UPDATE: 2/26/15 -






All things work for good to those who love the Lord. I have been
incredibly blessed through a merciful grace that I don't deserve, but
still I rejoice in experiencing for as long as I am allowed to live.
Tomorrow is promised to no one, not even the next hour - so I give
thanks for every moment I have been given! God has smiled upon me for a
time, prayers have been answered, the intercession of the spirits and
angels who are living among us and who have passed on are carrying me
each day and only He knows how many more days and I will be blessed to
see here. So I am thankful to my family and friends and to those of you
who I've never met, yet your prayers have supported me in ways you may
never fully know. We in the physical world can pray together, joined in
spirit across thousands of miles, and can also be joined with the living
spirits of those who have gone on ahead of us, and so I have been
joined and blessed by the prayers of you all, and with those spirits who
now live in the Kingdom of Heaven.
I haven't been very active in this forum lately, my hobbies and
interests have changed, and I've done what I can to reduce stress in my
life. But I am thankful for those of you who have been a part of my
blessing, especially your prayers in this thread.



So after 50,000 posts,
I will probably be much less active on this forum now, but still
checking in from time to time. I needed a change in my life, and this is
part of it. My wife and my son and the rest of my family are my life
and greater gifts than anything I can imagine.
As of my most recent bloodwork this week, my PSA is now below detectable
limits, less than 0.1 and I have no pain and am doing well.
My treatments are working very well and I truly believe last spring when
the cancer began to grow again, I experienced a more powerful spiritual
healing than I could have ever expected. And it was through prayer and
spiritual intercession and a fuller return to my Catholic roots and
God's awesome grace that healing was delivered for me, at least for now.

God will do His will and I cannot know what tomorrow will bring, but for now, I rejoice in the gifts He's given me.
Things are good!

Prayers sent