Up date after visiting the oncologists

Hi Irish Terrier.

Good afternoon, that is great news with the bone mets reducing and with the oncologist being happy themselves.

Buy the looks of things his current treatment plan seems to be working very well as the bone mets have reduced.

Yes a monthly PSA test is a very good idea to keep a check on the numbers face to face would be good but a phone call would be okay.

I haven't experienced chemo as yet myself but I do know others who have gone through this treatment and hopefully they will be in contact with you shortly!!!!

Prostate Worrier.

Good Afternoon Irish Terrier 

I think that's a pretty good result. PSA down from 473 on diagnosis to 0.18 (After 33 months on HT mine is only down to 0.29!!) - Don't forget the chemotherapy will still be working along with the HT.

The triplet therapy has done it's job, the bone metastasis has stopped and is reduced, the PSA is well down and is being controlled. The oncologist is now doing the business by introducing monthly PSA tests to keep an eye on things.

All in all I think that's a very good position to be in from diagnosis only 6 months ago.

Best wishes - Brian.

Hi Irish Terrier , sounds like a good result to me.  The chemo and HT will still be working and I wouldn’t expect any lower than 0.18.  What were the oncologist and your OH expecting the PSA to be at this stage.  Maybe others can add their thoughts.  David

Hi Irish Terrier .

You have great results at the moment. The chemotherapy is classified as palliative and designed to reduce the mets, which it has done. What the doctors are looking for now is to keep the PSA low. If there is an increase then it is the rate of increase that is important to the decision if and when more treatment is needed. I have tried to find out what levels are looked for but it appears it is the doubling time and 2 which are also used (same as for radiotherapy but radiotherapy is designed to kill the cancer).

Thank you everyone, we were not sure what we were expecting, thank you for explaining about the mets, we understand the psa is good. We didn't see a consultation oncologists only one of the juniors so he didn't explain much and it was possibly a anticlimactic. I think once it sinks in we will feel better about it all,   I suppose we have been on edge for so long worrying it will take a while.

Thank you again I don't know what I would have done without this forums support.

Sheena

Sheena (Irish Terrier ) it is a terrifying time at the start but glad you are now starting to come to terms with it.  I started my journey some while ago and in the early days it was like a rollercoaster with emotions all over the place.  Now, cancer is something I live with but we try and work around it and mostly ignore it.  Appointments and waiting for results are the hardest part mentally while physically, fatigue stops me doing some things, but at 75 I still attempt to play tennis and we walk every day, so overall have a very good quality of life.

In some ways cancer has improved our lives, it made us question where we wanted to live if only one of us were around, so me moved house.  It challenged what we wanted to do, so we travelled to visit people and places we had put off for later.  It made us sort out our financial affairs and finally, I think it helped make me a better person and we are closer now than at any time.  I wish I had come across this site in the early days of my journey when I really needed support.  The contributors in Brian’s (Millibob ) flock are a remarkable bunch.

Good luck with your own journey and feel free to ask and contribute as much as you like.  David