Radiation and chemo simultaneously

[Grumpyswife]

We visited with our 81 year old brother in law this past week. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer 7 years ago and was apparently cured by his treatment. He now does 6 mo follow up PSA and blood which soon changes to yearly. He is not taking any cancer or prostate meds.

He is a man of few words but I was able to get out of him that he received a bunch of radiation treatments and had a chemo bag which supplied 10 weeks of chemo during the radiation timeframe. He received this treatment in Sioux Falls SOuth Dakota by a doc whose name he did not recall.

I was happy for him but jealous because my husband has never been cured and we have been all over the country for various treatments that failed. Brother in law lives in middle of nowhere and it’s a big deal to drive to Sioux Falls.

Other brother in law lives in North Dakota and a 17 years survivor with only radiation done locally and no other meds at age 85.

These two are among the handful of men I know who had prostate cancer and consider themselves cured from treatments done without having to travel far from home.

[Shooter1]

Found early, fully contained in prostate, Hit hard early it can be cured, or held back till they die of something else. Stage 4 ,metastasized like almost every one here, that isn't possible at this time. We just have to keep fighting the battle. All of us respond to each treatment differently. Good luck to you and your husband. Some times life doesn't seem fair..

Doug-AZ

[Scruffybut1 in reply to Shooter1]

At least for us the original verdict for Stage 4 metastasized was seen by Doctors as prognosis - waiting to die! So much has changed for the better. Much better.

[Tall_Allen]

There is no such thing as a 'chemo bag," and chemo is rarely given with radiation. he may have received hormone therapy along with his radiation.

[Grumpyswife in reply to Tall_Allen]

He still has the port as he was told too dangerous to remove and said he had chemo 10 weeks along with radiation. I knew you would not think so.

[Tall_Allen in reply to Grumpyswife]

I don't know what he had, but docetaxel is infused at the hospital - it is not given in a bag as a do-it-yourself kit. It has been found to have little, if any, benefit when given with radiation:

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