Failed chemo

[Ptclassics]

Just off 5 months of taxatere only worked some Psa only came down to 16 now off chemo 8 weeks already up to 19 my question is what is next I have fought this damn demon for 22 years tried every thing and nothing works long ct said tumor larger lymph nodes larger may be nerve the end

[Tall_Allen]

22 years is impressive! I don't know which of the approved drugs you've done other than Taxotere. There's Xofigo, Provenge, Jevtana, Zytiga, Xtandi - (rechallenge after chemo). There are many more in clinical trials that you might qualify for.

[Ptclassics in reply to Tall_Allen]

Have tied Zitiga and extandi did not work

[Tall_Allen in reply to Ptclassics]

Sometimes they work AFTER chemo.

[Fairwind]

I only got a moderate response to Dosetaxel but I have started Cabazitaxel and I seem to be getting a much better response from that..22 years puts you at the head of the class, don't give up the ship now !

[Ptclassics in reply to Fairwind]

Is your Psa coming down?

[Hazard]

I am in same boat. PSA when I started docetaxal was 49, got down to 1.9 after 6 cycles but back up to 4.8 after 9 cycles when we stopped. MO put me on Enzalutamide immediately after chemo stopped and 2 months later PSA was 20.

Luckily I signed up for clinical trial and somatic DNA test shows that I have no BRCA gene in tumour DNA. Not a mutation it's completely missing. Probably explains why ADT and chemo both failed. I am now trying PARP inhibitors as part of trial and let's see if it works.

So to answer your question - after 22 years you have probably accumulated some significant genetic mutations. See if you can get somatic DNA test. Germline DNA test is useless at this stage as tumour can and will diverge (my germline DNA is free of any defects associated with cancer).

Good luck and keep fighting. I have been in this game only 3.5 years and it's great to read about long term survivors.

[Hidden]

Can I ask where you get your treatment. 22 years and still fighting. It’s crazy how one drug works for one and not for another. Keep searching for the right one. Zytiga is shrinking my tumor. It has reduced by over half in 5 months and still going down.

Good luck

[Ptclassics in reply to Hidden]

I now go to Piedmont cancer inst in Atlanta Ga I have tried Zitiga did not work tried extandi did not work dock says more chemo

[Hidden in reply to Ptclassics]

He’s probably right. Sounds like past results were good. Next stop 30 years fighting this stuff.

[Stegosaurus37]

22 years! You get "Tiger" qualification. I've only been at it a year and a half, but my case is similar to your recent experience. Dr. Graff at OHSU is evaluating me for the TRITON 3 trial and I'm also being evaluated for the Lu-177 trial at UCLA. Never quit fighting.

[tango65]

Perhaps you could discuss with your doctor Provenge, immunotherapy with or without chemo (there are clincial trials ) if you have bone metastases and you are negative for visceral metastases you could discuss Xofigo a radioactive treatment specific for bone metastases. Then you could discuss the clinical trials with Lu 177 PSMA and AC 225 PSMA which are radioactive treaments for bone, node and visceral metastases. Search in clinicaltrials. gov for prostate cancer and Lu 177, then for Ac225 then for immunotherapy and see if you could qualify for any of them. I believe you could qualify for the Lu 177 trials

[MarkBC]

I am relatively new to this. Diagnosed in July 2018. I have read about a few men like yourself who have been fighting 10 or more years. I'm curious if you were initially diagnosed with mets (like me) and have been dealing with that for 22 years. Or did you initially think the cancer was contained within the prostate and only years later found out that it had spread.

Good luck. I hope you and your doctors can solve your problem.

[Ptclassics in reply to MarkBC]

Became Mestatic in 2011 tried every way to poison it no luck just moderate success but I am still here

[MarkBC in reply to Ptclassics]

Thanks. I'm glad you're still here and hope you will be for years yet. Good luck.

[GAdrummer]

My husband is nodes only metastatic at diagnosis in 2009 and after failing docetaxel the MO put him on Jevtana as the logical next step. He is not responding well (only 15%) so the MO has promised re-staging after the next (6th) infusion. Not enough gain for the misery of side effects. He had done well with Xtandi, so I suspect the MO will want to re-challenge with it next.

[Kezza2]

I am like you, I have been fighting this beast for 19 years. Lupron (Lucrin in Australia) and external beam radiation held it at bay for 14 years, but when that failed I was on a Zytiga for two years until that failed. I also tried Xtandi but it didn't work. Now I am about to have my 6th dose of dosetaxel, which has had some effect - PSa down from 48 to 18 and still falling slowly. I have multiple mets to bone and lymph nodes, and am scheduled for a PSMA PET in two weeks, so the results of that will dictate where we go from here. My hope is being accepted into the Lu-177 trial. Keep up the good fight brother.