Hubby's diagnosis and journey so far.

Hello Gardening lady

Welcome to our little "club" -we are a friendly bunch.

The diagnosis you hubby has received shows that the cancer has left the prostate and gone "walkabout" in his body, it's spread to at least the seminal vesicles and possibly other parts of the body - he should have had a bone scan and hid MRI would have shown this.

The good news is that the Chemo will be being given to prolong life (it won't be curative) but there are members of this community with much higher scores who have been around for 10 years plus.

Do you know if he is a) on Hormone Therapy and b) if he is to be treated with Radiotherapy.

I hope this helps - I am out for the rest of the day, but if you reply to the above other Community members will be along to reply.

From my understanding of his diagnosis and the provision of treatments I hope he will be around for many more years for you.

Best wishes - Brian.

Hello. My husband had very similar figures to your husband when he was diagnosed in April, he is currently undergoing chemo. At no time have we been given a time frame dispite me pushing the doctor (not literally) !! He said that although not curable it is treatable for many years . He said that new treatments are coming out all the time .

Hi GL

I didn't think that patients were normally given a timeframe simply because no one really knows unless something shows in particular on the scans.

I realise  your OH has mets but HT coupled with Chemo can keep it at bay for years sometimes.

So I wouldn't think too much about  it  but stay positive and hopefully all will be ok for many years to come

best wishes

Steve

After reading both of your replies I am now sitting here crying.. Thank you for your support.  He is on hormone implant and bone injection every month. We know its not curable but treatable. He has a pet scan in a few weeks to see how the chemo has affected it and then possibly radiotherapy is the next line of action.  He had his diagnosis the day after his 59th birthday. So far we haven't told the family ( adult children  27 and 31) he wants to wait until he knows what the treatment plan is longer term. 

My husband's PSA on diagnosis was 59.9 . He then had a decapeptyl hormone injection and daralutamide tablets and after only 2 weeks PSA had dropped to 41. Oncologist hasn't done another PSA for about 6 weeks as he says he dosent get hung up on numbers. Also said he won't have any more scans as they will go by PSA but I am going to be pushing for a scan when we see him next week as I cannot see how a PSA can show what the tumours are doing. 

We were told his psa had gone from 170 to 12, now its 2.8. The oncologist we  last saw was really happy with it. We have had 4 different oncologists. The first one, ( with the bad news! ) was a locum who has left. I'm  sure the 2-3 years was about the hormone implants.

Hi Gardening lady,

The 2-3 years seems rather extreme, My partner is a little bit behind your husband and he was told - "10 years ago you would be looking at 5 years, but now with the treatment available we can say 10 years is more realistic, but it's actually possible to get another 10 years on top if you respond well, but lets work in 5 year increments," So, it's a little random, but within that prognosis is a positive slant and there's hope for more time,  it's very fluid within the unknown and with advances in technology and medicines, each year lived could bring about change in the way advanced cancers are treated. Next consultation ask this question again and see what the answer is, remember there is always an element of the unknown as everyone will respond differently to the treatment and of course fitness and age play a part.

Also, I know this sounds bad , but no way would I believe anything my partner said if he was left in a room on his own with a consultant. Literally every time we go in we have a discussion afterwards about what was said and he always get's the wrong end of the stick! Best to double check . 

Best wishes to you both.

L

Thanks for your message. I know what you mean re consultants meetings. I think that is where he got confused and heard something wrong!! He has a meeting in a few weeks after pet scan to discuss what effect his chemo has done and re radiotherapy.  I will definitely be going to that to ask questions and more importantly listen. 

Yes, I think consultants meetings can be very stressful and it can be hard to take things in, especially on those early meetings. 

x

Barry your partner and my husband must share the same stick. I keep want to break his in half