Continuing on Prostap 3 monthly.

You should have a PSA test before every injection as most of us have to check that the HT is having an effect on your PSA levels. Do you have your injections at a cancer centre or at your GP's surgery - do check on who they think is testing your PSA as it could be that the surgery may think the cancer centre is checking them and vice versa.  You can carry on having these injections for years one man of my acquaintance has been having them for 23 years and has lived to 93 with PCa.  Though I don't know what his actual PSA, Gleason Score or TNM grades were.  Other times people do tend to have the formulation changed either because they cannot get on with the formulation and get severe side effects or the particular formulation doesn't work for them which is why you should have your PSA checked before each injection if you get tested at your gp surgery you may need to have the blood test 10 days before to enable time for the results to be reported back  The longer you have the Prostrap 3 injections the better the radiotherapy will work as it apparently weakens the cancer cells whichmakes them mor eamenable to the radiotherapy and also shrinks the tumour so that the beams have a condensed area to work on.

What has made you decide not to have radiotherapy?  I can't bring to mind your diagnosis now but I was diagnosed at 73 with gleason 7 (3+4) and it looks as though I am now, to all intents and purposes cured with undetectable PSA for 3 years.  The worst part of the radiotherapy was actualy having to go to the hospital 5 days a week for an hour but other than that only one night of weeing more than normal for me about 12 days into radiotherapy.

Hi, just so I'm covering all options, there's 2 ways in which your question "can it be halted?" can be interpreted .  First, if you've already  had a 3  monthly injection, the action of the medication cannot be "halted" during the 3 months following it.  However, at the end of that 3 months you can "halt" the injections, simply don't have another one.  There will still be some of the medication in your system after that, but it will disappear.  I don't know the half life of this particular preparation of the particular medicine so can't give you an exact time on that.

The "half life" is the time taken for half the medication to leave your system and it is fixed and "asymptotic". i.e. it takes a fixed time for half the med to disappear, then it takes the same time for half the rest to disappear (= 1/4), then it takes the same time for half the rest (= 1/8), and so on

Whether you consent to undergo a particular treatment or not, is of course, entirely your choice.  But it should be a fully informed choice taking into consideration all factors because it does have consequences for the remaining length and quality of your life.

Such factors include your own physical cobdition, age, other conditions you have and your current quality of life.  The other aspect is the benefits of any treatment and its side effects.  Benefits and side effects have to be balanced, i.e. living longer is not necessarily living better.  Some of that is very subjective.  

I also wonder why you have turned down radiotherapy.  It does have some side effects and these vary between ibdividuals.  The benefits, as freefaller points out depends on the stage of your cancer.  Usually, if it is  more than locally advanced, Radiotherapy is not offered initially on diagnosis.  In which case it may be possible to control the cancer sufficiently that it will not trouble you again for the remainder.

Part 2

If your cancer is more advanced then radiotherapy can be offered, but not with the same outlook.

Freefaller has given a good example of a "successful" outcome from radiotherapy, minimal side effects and undetectable PSA.  The latter is truly amazing, since the prostate is not removed there is usually detectable PSA.  In some ways having detectable PSA is good, because you get warning signs if it starts to rise.  Some PSA is acceptable after radiotherapy.

5 years post treatment is significant, so much so that travel insurance premiums go down again!  Immediately after my treatment premiums practically doubled and at 5 years practically halved again with no further treatment.

So, depending on your circumstance it might be worth your while, if you've not already done so, to look, or look again, at the benefits and consequences of radiotherapy.

Sorry part 3 

Ambiguous statement and there doesnt seem to be a way to correct these posts.

At the end of part one, to make it clear IF the cancer is no more than locally advanced and Radiotherapy is offered INITIALLY, then the chances of a "good" result are high.

Sorry to butt in  but if you want to amend a reply go to the bottom of the post and click on 'more'. If you then click 'edit' you can change anything that you've put in your post.

x

Thanls for that

That makes a great difference

Thanks for all the stuff you do n this site, you must spend a lot of time and effort.

Do you keep am eye on all the groups?

No I don't keep an eye on all the groups, I just happened to notice your post saying that you didn't think there was anyway to alter a post so I thought I'd see if I could help.

I look after the melanoma, skin cancer and travel insurance groups, so if you spot anyone struggling for travel insurance send them my way

Thanks for the compliment, it's much appreciated!

x

I was having very bad back pain at the time I had to make the decision to have Radiotherapy. I live out of town and the thought of the logistics of getting there four 5 days each week for  four consecutive weeks  was more than I could bear and thought I might not finish the course. Also I have an Aortic Aneurysm which is at the maximum diameter they usually operate at  but I opted for wait and see as my Consultant said that statistically I had a very good chance of it not  bursting which would probably kill me. Even 1 mm increase and they might suggest that I have it done which is not without risk at my age.  I was afraid that the stress and strain of Radiotherapy might push my blood pressure up  which is not good for aneurysms.   

Thanks Freefaller you are a  mine of information and you must help many people to understand how it all works. I was diagnosed the same as yours at age 78. I am awaiting a whole spine MRI scan when my GP gets back from paternity leave and upper and lower back pain has ceased but is latent and have to be careful. I was told to expect some weight gain but an increase of 9lbs in 62 days seems excessive. I must say Radiotherapy and "cure" does have its attractions so will mull it over.  Door to door return taxis would cost me around £1400 but hell many  people spend that on a cruise and my works pension which stops at my death for 2 months would cover that. Money is not a limiting factor I'm glad to say.