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Them's the breaks in life. I couldn't sit at a desk all day but my first husband was certified - accountant I mean.

I thought it must have been some sort of fetish.

So had the telecon with Oncology today and his psa has risen again from 27 to 30.1. She is taking him off Bicalutimide as feels it is not doing any good and, in fact, its withdrawal can cause psa to drop.

If it doesn't, there seems little else at present that they can do for him. He asked the question "how long will this go on" and she said that men can last years with high psa and no treatment. 

Does anyone know if she is just being optimistic or just kind. She did say that because he had other co-morbidities, there was a lot going on and other factors involved with his prognosis.

G

Hi Sidsum

Yes you can live with a high PSA as long as there’s no complications, like where the cancer has spread to.

Just a question, I’ve been on prostap for a very long time, has he ever had this, also if it’s in his bones, has he been offered Radium 223 ? Or possibly a trial might suit him.

Stay Safe

Joe

Gina, as Joe said 

joeven said:

Yes you can live with a high PSA as long as there’s no complications

There are a few men who go to the Prostate Cancer Support Group at Maggie's who have larger PSI's who are managing well.

Hopefully Richard will be fine.  Fingers crossed for you both.

It has spread to his bones, and grade 4. No, hasn't been offered Radium 223 but maybe that is not suitable with those with heart conditions.

He has been on Prostap for nearly three years now.

G

Gina, how is the Prostap going?

My hormones are finally out of my system, took well over 12 months for that.

Better still, how are you doing?  I can't imagine the stress it's causing you!

Big hug from me!

Hi Sidsum

I was offered Radium 223, but I won’t know until my bloods are taken and I see urology.

I two have a heart condition the aortic valve is narrowing, I have lots of different scans to check all is well, in fact I have an echo scan next Wednesday.

Stay Safe

Joe

Fingers crossed  Jou 

He seems to be tolerating the Prostap well. It is clearly not completely doing the job of knocking out the testosterone as, even with the Bicalutamide addition, the psa is rising. 

He had failed his driving assessment on Wednesday and was very down. They told him to get his eyes tested, so luckily I got him a next day appointment and yesterday we ventured out to Vision Express in Tesco's superstore in Corby. Blimey, what a palaver that was. 

First, get him across a gravel drive and into the passenger seat of his car. Then get him into his car - several minutes!!! Then find out where the seat belt goes into the hole, another couple of minutes!!! Finally, we are on our way.

Get to Tesco's, and struggle to get him out of the car. Trying to avoid heaving his wheelchair out of the car, I went in to find the supermarket offering. After a search, was told it must be in use, but there were electric mobility scooters with big baskets. Envisioning the chaos as he tries to drive it and customer's broken limbs and ensuing insurance claims, I decided to get ours out at the expense of my bad back.

Okay, now out of the car and R in the wheelchair, albeit with some difficulty as he throws himself down and nearly somersaults it backwards. Off we go, and of course, to the back of the large supermarket where the opticians are lurking.

Only five mins late for the appointment, so not too bad and ushered into a tiny room, not much bigger than my bathroom to do the pre tests before seeing the ophthalmologist, The room was not designed for manoeuvring a wheelchair around, especially laden with a 10st gentleman. After the equivalent of a twenty point turn, I finally got him in front of their optometry equipment, ready for take off.  After a lot of blinking and fidgeting, we finally got three tests over and done with and then came the field test.  As the lights flashed he started counting how many flashes he saw. After several minutes, and during the second eye's turn, I asked the lady why he was counting sequentially!! He hadn't understood that it was how many flashes at the same time, and instead just counted from 1 to 9 each time there was a light. I could see the patience draining from the poor girl's face, but to be fair to her, she politely explained the correct procedure and did it all again.

After finally seeing the Optician, and after making him wait while we made a trip to the toilet which, of course, was at the front of the store, we made our way back to the car. Looking forward to a cuppa when we got home, we still had another hurdle to overcome - getting him out of the wheelchair and into the car!  After three unsuccessful attempts, I resorted to hijacking a young lad collecting trollies and explained our predicament.  Luckily, he was very helpful and managed to extricate Richard from his chair and into the car - hooray.

After an afternoon's antics, we are still none the wiser whether he will be able to drive again. It would appear that his peripheral vision may not be good enough but I will have to wait till I speak to his Stroke Support Worker next week. Half of me doesn't want him to drive any more as his brain and memory have definitely deteriorated since the stroke but I also know that it will be just another blow to his independence and already depressed state.  The good thing will be that he won't be able to go out and buy alcohol!!

Sorry, rather a long answer to your question - "how I was doing", but you know me, no short answers . 

Gx