Disturbing CT scan

[Grace331]

Hi everyone I'm a first time poster. My husband was diagnosed Stage IV August 2017 at age 57. Gleason 4+5 consuming 95% of the prostate. Lymph node involvement, with growth into the bladder. Low PSA of 14 at it's highest. He had 45 radiation treatments and has had two lupron injections (6 month protocol). He's had tons of issues, acute kidney failure, infections, anemia and postural hypotension. And they just found a fistulous tract and installed a subpubic catheter, a colostomy and a stint in his kidney. There's evidence of new cancer in the bladder and that tube to his kidney.... Plus a lesion on his liver, still waiting on biopsy. Y'all... I'm scared! His PSA is also at a 2.9, the lowest it got was in Feb at .9. rising since then. Anybody have any experience with any of this? Or convinced the insurance/doctor's to do a PET scan? Or in your opinion is a PET scan necessary? Thank you all for reading and for your support! It helps to read all of your posts!! It gives me hope......

[Tall_Allen]

Has he discussed taking second-line hormonals (Zytiga/Xtandi) or chemo? if his PSA is rising on Lupron, he can also qualify for Provenge. I don't see how a PET scan would change his treatment plan.

[Grace331 in reply to Tall_Allen]

I've been asking since day one and our oncologist says no. We're waiting on the results of the liver biopsy before we meet with oncology again. I have made an appointment for a second opinion as well. Thanks for your thoughts Tall_Allen.

[Hidden]

Being in his late 50's, he should be able to handle chemo. He needs to kill cancer cells, not sending them into a hiding mode. Chemo gets a bad rap, I breezed through it in my mid 60's.

[Grace331 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Bill! I sure hope you're right!! 😁

[MelaniePaul]

Hi there.

It sounds like your husband's cancer is spreading fast and to multiple organs. That is not a good sign. Is your husband symptomatic? I mean, how is he feeling? More tired than usual? Any sickness or vomiting? Any pain?

I would definitely push for the pet scan. As far as I know, they go deeper and the images are clearer.

However, in any case I would imagine that your husband's next step would be Chemo. It is important to catch this cancer early and to hopefully be able to stop it from growing further.

That's only my opinion of course, I am not a medic.

And I so understand that you are scared. I was too when we discovered that my husband's cancer had spread into his liver. This too happened along with a slight rise in PSA, by the way.

Best wishes

Mel.

[Grace331 in reply to MelaniePaul]

Thanks Mel for your thoughts! The unknown is the worst... It's nice to have support from people who have similar experience.

[vandy69]

Good Wednesday Morning Grace331,

I have been in this battle for almost six years (please see bio for complete treatment history).

When diagnosed with 20+ liver lesions in September 2017, began 6 cycles of chemo with Docetaxel/Carboplatin. PSA dropped from 10.8 to .4 and liver lesions smaller and less defined.

Then miracle of miracles, rechallenge with Xtandi has worked for past 4 1/2 months to keep cancer in check!

Best wishes. Never Give In.

Mark, Atlanta

[Grace331 in reply to vandy69]

That's awesome Mark! There is always hope! We won't stop fighting!!! ❤️

[spikezoey]

I'm so sorry and totally get your fear! (I'm a wife too.)

Re: PET scans, I was curious about why they were not done (we had bone, MRI, and CT, along with biopsy; staging was completed with just those). I finally remembered to ask, during a second opinion visit to a different oncologist, why PET scans aren't proposed. The oncologist noted that Pc doesn't show up as well on it due to Pc cells not being great at picking up the radioactive glucose that is used to highlight the cancer. So it's not a first line of diagnostic tool; he indicated it's only used these days if you can't figure out exactly where the cancer is from other diagnostics. However, I would ask your oncologist about this and see how they explain it to you until it makes sense to you.

My thoughts are with you and your husband and I hope you all figure out a course of action that will help your husband.

[Grace331 in reply to spikezoey]

Thank you!

[j-o-h-n]

May God be his neighbor.

Good Luck and Good Health.

j-o-h-n Wednesday 07/18/2018 5:18 PM EDT

[Grace331]

That's one of my favorite sayings John! We're keeping our eyes on Jesus!

Thank you for the encouragement!

[Kevinski65]

I know people in here talk only about allopathic treatment, however, there is a substance called Zyflamend for prostate. You can order it through Amazon. It's about 25 dollars a bottle lasting a month. University of Washington medical have been studying it. It may make the Xtandi last longer. I've used many complimentary herbs. So far, even with an M1 diagnosis stage 4, I'm 6 years out. I've used many complimentary supplements because I figured I had nothing to lose. I'm not a health professional but I've read that some men respond to a combination of allopathic and complimentary strategies. His doctor may not want to operate because of 'reactive oxygen species'. It's known that everytime you operate you expose the cancer cells to oxygen. Cancer cells love oxygen. They also like sugar, fats and testosterone. In the case of prostate cancer it's dihydrotestosterone. This starts being manufactured when you're older. It's one of the factors that brings about prostate cancer. There is much to say about off the track strategies. Celebrex, metformin and tagamet all slow down prostate cancer. Tagamet, a stomach aid, is little talked about but they've known for years cimetidine slows the growth of prostate cancer. I take it intermittently. I hope this helps, since there is no cure anything that slows advanced prostate cancer puts you ahead of the game.