Treatment
2005 It all started when routine physical showed PSA of 5 and my doc saying that hde thought he felt something and i should see a urologist. With a family history, dad died of Advanced PC, I knew the answer before the biopsy. Biopsy showed gleason score of 7 and selected Mayo for radical prostatechtomy.
4/29/2005 Surgery went well, clean margins, 19 hour hospital stay, went back to work in 6 calendar days. PSA was 0.
All was fine. Only lasting issue was ED which if I took enough of the blue pill was fixable. Did not like the pills but used them occasionly. from the time they removed the catheter, had no incontinence issues. Life was good.
8/7/2011 Had a very minor stroke and the scans showed lesions on my bones. PSA test showed a reading of 997! IT's back!!!
9/30/2011 Had some bone pain and got a samarium 153 injection which worked - have not had to take much if any pain meds since.
Started hormone therapy - simple just a few shots - worked for 4 months.
December 2011 PSA down to 22 but scans are mixed bag - some is better than September but some is worse - bone biopsy is scheduled for later in Jan.
January 2012 PSA up to 26 but scans are a mixed bag some is better than September and some is worse. We add back the Casodex and wait. Biopsy shows that at least one of the new "spots" is not cancer. Seems i've injured my clavicle and it's healing. Good news, I guess.
February 2012 - PSA 34 - let's let the casodex work a bit longer. I'm a bit uncomfortable but doc knows best...
March 2012 PSA 40 - lets schedule scans and see what's up - so scasns are set for 4/2...
April 2012 PSA 64. I get a second opinion from a well respected urologist at big teaching hospital/med school. He'd be prescribing some intervention even though the scans showed little change. My oncologist agrees to refer me to U of Chicago for consult. U of C docs want me to do a clinical trial - I sign up.
April 2012 (late) PSA 99 Scans stable - I'm dropped from trial due to CVA in August. UofC suggests chemo as best choice. I agonize over the decision but after lengthy consultation with docs, I decide to go ahead.
5/10/2012 First chemo round. All goes well - no day of reactions. chronicled each day and felt better after chemo than before. Very easy to deal with the mostly nonexistant side effects. Some hair loss sight fatigue for 2 days.
5/31/2012 second chemo round PSA has dropped to 75 and blood counts are near normal - better than I expected. All going even better then round 1. I'm happy as i can be and my motto is Keep it positive and smile:).
I'll keep posting as chemo progresses. you can find moreof my details on the American Cancer Society's whatnext.com website. I use the same screen name.
If my story is helpful to anyone, feel free to ask questions or post comments as appropriate.
4/29/2005 Surgery went well, clean margins, 19 hour hospital stay, went back to work in 6 calendar days. PSA was 0.
All was fine. Only lasting issue was ED which if I took enough of the blue pill was fixable. Did not like the pills but used them occasionly. from the time they removed the catheter, had no incontinence issues. Life was good.
8/7/2011 Had a very minor stroke and the scans showed lesions on my bones. PSA test showed a reading of 997! IT's back!!!
9/30/2011 Had some bone pain and got a samarium 153 injection which worked - have not had to take much if any pain meds since.
Started hormone therapy - simple just a few shots - worked for 4 months.
December 2011 PSA down to 22 but scans are mixed bag - some is better than September but some is worse - bone biopsy is scheduled for later in Jan.
January 2012 PSA up to 26 but scans are a mixed bag some is better than September and some is worse. We add back the Casodex and wait. Biopsy shows that at least one of the new "spots" is not cancer. Seems i've injured my clavicle and it's healing. Good news, I guess.
February 2012 - PSA 34 - let's let the casodex work a bit longer. I'm a bit uncomfortable but doc knows best...
March 2012 PSA 40 - lets schedule scans and see what's up - so scasns are set for 4/2...
April 2012 PSA 64. I get a second opinion from a well respected urologist at big teaching hospital/med school. He'd be prescribing some intervention even though the scans showed little change. My oncologist agrees to refer me to U of Chicago for consult. U of C docs want me to do a clinical trial - I sign up.
April 2012 (late) PSA 99 Scans stable - I'm dropped from trial due to CVA in August. UofC suggests chemo as best choice. I agonize over the decision but after lengthy consultation with docs, I decide to go ahead.
5/10/2012 First chemo round. All goes well - no day of reactions. chronicled each day and felt better after chemo than before. Very easy to deal with the mostly nonexistant side effects. Some hair loss sight fatigue for 2 days.
5/31/2012 second chemo round PSA has dropped to 75 and blood counts are near normal - better than I expected. All going even better then round 1. I'm happy as i can be and my motto is Keep it positive and smile:).
I'll keep posting as chemo progresses. you can find moreof my details on the American Cancer Society's whatnext.com website. I use the same screen name.
If my story is helpful to anyone, feel free to ask questions or post comments as appropriate.