PSA

Hi Rens and welcome to the club. I am aware that hormone treatment doesn't work with all prostate cancer sufferers and is given as a first line of defence. If your PSA rises or stays constant then your medical team will consider other treatments.

I assume you have been told what other treatment - along with the HT you will be receiving - if your PSA is constant or rising at your next blood test you need to ask your team what else they intend to do.

I hope this helps - Brian.

Cheers Brian. It will be interesting to see what the sores on the doors are in March. I know that everyone is different but I had expected, certainly hoped for a bigger drop. I have opted for IMRT. Not that I have much choice in the matter. Gleason 8(3+5,) supposedly confined to the prostate but who knows.

Hi Rens - Well yes, there's, hope and the fact we are all different:

* On my MRI the Urologist thought the little sods had escaped the gland. My oncologist said no they hadn't but gave RT to the lymph nodes too to make sure.

* My biopsy said I was a Gleason 7 - the "chips" from my TURP said a Gleason 9 - however by that point I was 11 months down the HT pathway and 2 months off the RT.

So things do change all along this journey.

I agree with your thoughts on the PSA - My presenting PSA was 182 - it's down to 1.37 before the RT and yes I was hopeful for a figure of less than1. My next PSA will be August so I will have to wait and see what the RT has done.

I can see your anguish in the PSA scores but you are on the treatment path and IMRT should  sort you out. May I ask if you know when this is to start?

Kind regards - Brian.

My PSA hardly dropped at all in the first 3 months then a little bit in the second 3 months and a slightly larger drop in the last 3 months - was on HT for 9 months altogether and had 20 sessions of radiotherapy over 6 years ago now for PSA 13, Gleason 7(3+4) T2 (possibly 3) N0M0.  They couldn't decide on the T number as the tumour was pushing out onto the back of the prostate into the rectum so couldn't definitely say whether microscopic cancer cells had escaped into the local area so decided on RT to mop up any microscopic cancer cells that may have escaped and not been seen on PET Scan.  If they had escaped then I think they definitely got them as PSA been undetectable ever since and back to normal with minimal side effects very quickly - too0 quickly for my liking as it quite surprised me and scared me a little that everything went so well.

PSA isn't usually measured so quickly after starting hormone injections. The first Zoladex, Prostap, or Decapeptly injection takes 2 weeks to start working and a further week to reach a low level of Testosterone, so you'd only had the benefit of it for a week or so. PSA at 3 months is often down by around 90%, but there is a big variation between people, and higher initial PSA levels may reduce more than lower initial PSA levels.

Dear Freefaller.

Dear Freefaller

Thank you for your helpful update.

In line with good care and good practice the Urologist was checking that the meds were not adversely affecting my kidneys or liver. The appointment was to determine liver function. Despite their many benefits none of these medications work without side effects, the level of severity depending on each individual. Fortunately my results were acceptable but since then my joints ache and I often feeling very fatigued.

As it happened he mentioned PSA. In hindsight he was probably trying to give me good news, but alas me being a natural worrier it had the opposite effect.

Rens