Quoted:


UPDATE 4/17/14

Getting immunotherapy right now. IV in my arm, my activated anti-cancer white blood cells are flowing into me as I type.

Release the hounds!!!

 

Quoted:


UPDATE 4/17/14

Getting immunotherapy right now. IV in my arm, my activated anti-cancer white blood cells are flowing into me as I type.

Release the hounds!!!



 

Quoted:


UPDATE 4/17/14

Getting immunotherapy right now. IV in my arm, my activated anti-cancer white blood cells are flowing into me as I type.

Release the hounds!!!



 

Quoted:

I've seen the power of prayer work and know it's real.

Please, I'm asking for prayers for myself and my family "really bad".

Thanks,





ETA:

Prostate cancer, aggressive.
PSA 56
Biopsy: Gleason 9 in two areas.


UPDATE 9/13/13:

Scans done:

Pathology report from CT shows metastasis to various lymph chains in pelvis, possible urinary bladder wall. Liver, lung, kidney, pancreas are clear.

Pathology report from bone scans not finished yet, but I have the images. Definite spots on right humerus and side of right skull. They took two extra images just of those areas too. I don't know if there other areas involved though. It's spread to the bones.




UPDATE: 9/18/13

12 out of 12 biopsy cores are positive for PC
Two are Gleason 9, the rest are Gleason 8 and 7s.
Bone scans show early metastasis to skull and humerus, and possibly rib and sacrum.

Started hormone treatment yesterday. 22.5mg Lupron Depot 3mo, and began 50mg casodex daily.
Surgery is not recommended at this point.

Going to see two oncologists later this week.


Thank you all again for your encouragement and prayers - I truly appreciate the support you guys are giving. It really means a lot to me.




UPDATE: 9/25/13

Saw two different Medical Oncologists, got two different approaches to how they'd treat it.

One says hormone therapy should start showing effects in reducing lymph node and prostate cancer, reducing PSA and hopefully even slowing/stopping it's spread. He'll want to give the hormone therapy a month and then recheck bone scans and CT scans and bloodwork. If he doesn't see what he expects, chemo would be an option then. This doc says there's no studies or clear evidence that starting both chemo with hormone at right now has demonstrated effect in the progression or longterm outcome in patients like me. So he wants to hold of on chemo for the time being. I feel healthy and so quality of life right now would definitely be affected if I started chemo right now, and he says there's no studies to say it would benefit me right now. Plus if I start chemo right away, it would make me ineligible for certain clinical trials if I wanted to pursue that down the road. I also saw a Radiation Oncologist at this place as well.

The other Medical Oncologist in a different group says I should start chemo right now, not wait a month. Was very gung-ho and said there's no reason to wait until hormone therapy isn't effective anymore before starting chemo, and that I should start now. She understood my concern about BEING on chemo when I'm feeling fine right now and that I've only been on hormone therapy barely over a week and maybe we can give that a little time. But she was saying my cancer is very aggressive so she wanted to jump right on it with combination therapy. I don't know of studies though that show starting chemo right now would make a difference in patients like me.

Both agreed that surgery and radiation are not options for me at this point. They're looking at it as a systemic disease with systemic treatments in mind.


btw... I like the first medical oncologist group much more than the gung-ho one. The first one is SO much more organized and comfortable and all the doctors and staff are very easy to be with. I had two separate hour-long consultations with two oncologists at the first place. Very good feeling with that group. The second group seemed like a high-stress office, the staff seemed a bit stressed out and it was just a very uncomfortable place to be, for me. My wife agreed.



So here I am, deciding what to do.




10/22/13

Went out to LA earlier and had consultation - he did not recommend starting chemo, but wanted to do hormone therapy and gave different treatment options on that.

Most recent results are PSA is 9 which is good after a month of therapy. BUT, MRI and scans have confirmed multiple small metastatic lesions on spine and pelvis. Kind of expected but I didn't like hearing multiple metastases. So.... I'm continuing hormone therapy, starting to see side-effects of it but the good news is that the PSA has dropped from 56 to 9 in one month. Goal is to get PSA as low as possible for as long as possible and not see any new bone mets.

I'm starting to cope, though it is still difficult to come to grips with. But prayers and encouragement are my life bread. My wife and son are everything to me and are supporting me so well. Whether I have 2 years or 10 years, these are going to be my best years.

Thank you folks for your prayers, I do believe they help.






Update 12/7/13:

Hormone therapy is continuing, PSA has dropped from 56 to less than 3 in two months.  I'm not having any pain from the multiple bone mets, and am still active but do notice I fatigue easier. Side-effects of hormone therapy are manageable and minor compared to stage 4 bone-metastatic cancer. Oh, it was also discovered that I have severe osteoporosis in my spine. I will be starting bone-strengthening treatment soon - I go in next week for my second round of hormone therapy and a new set of bloodtests. I will likely be on some form of hormone therapy for as long as it works, which could be a year or two or it could be five or ten years.

I'm starting to "settle" into the treatment and have chosen my oncology "team" after many consultations with at least four separate cancer centers, including the one in LA. I also got a letter from my health insurance that they've given me a "case manager" who's an RN who will be assigned to my case. Anyone know what an RN "Case Manager" is for? IMO, I think it will be someone to limit what my doctors want to do. I certainly don't need any RN to be giving advice to my oncologists or to approve anything he does - I think they're just there to say "no".

Anyway, I'm feeling good, and am going in for more tests in a week and more imaging scans in a month.

I will say, that facing stage-4 bone-met cancer really really makes you focus your point of view, and makes you really really appreciate life. The thread that got locked about Walker was an explanation of that - that most folks couldn't understand.

Also, while I was in LA and was very distraught over my condition and not knowing what I should do - had a very powerful spiritual experience or set of "signs" regarding my health, my seeking help and direction, and communication with my mom who passed away in April of this year. There is so much to this world and our existence that we are blind to, because of all the distractions. We are truly spiritual beings having a human experience, and there is much more out there than what is just physical.

Thanks to the folks who continue to offer prayers and support and encouragement, here and by IM. The power of prayer is real and I believe it strengthens us all. My family and my faith are my rock and my life.




UPDATE: 12/22/13

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!!!



 

Quoted:


UPDATE 4/17/14

Getting immunotherapy right now. IV in my arm, my activated anti-cancer white blood cells are flowing into me as I type.

Release the hounds!!!



 

Quoted:

UPDATE 5/20/14

I finished my last round of immunotherapy, went in for bloodwork, bone scan and CT scans had my consult with the oncologist.

Things are good. I have no symptoms or pain. PSA went down to 0.73 (down from 1.0 last month). It had gone up the last two times I had it checked in March and April, but now it’s lower than it ever has been. That’s good news. Bone scan came back with no new metastases and that’s good news. CT scans came back with one lymph node enlarging which is the same one that was enlarging back in March. It was slightly larger and could possibly be within the margin of error for measuring it. No other abnormalities in any lymph nodes were seen. Liver, spleen, pancreas and lungs all look good, nothing abnormal there related to cancer. That’s also good news.

So PSA is down, no new bone mets, still only one lymph node slightly enlarging and I feel good, just more easily fatigued. I noticed that most when I go running or when I was hiking out of the Grand Canyon. Now that immunotherapy is done, the oncologist recommended I start a second-line-of-defense hormone therapy on top of what I'm currently on. It should help slow/stop the progression for as long as it can.  

So that’s all for now.

Things are doing okay, and hope and pray it stays that way.

Quoted:




UPDATE 5/20/14