My 82 yr old dad kicked prostate cancer 10 yrs ago. Yesterday, a CT scan revealed a tumor on his sacrum. Has anyone had this experience?

[teresa927]

My 82 yr old dad kicked prostate cancer 10 yrs ago. He's suffered with severe pain in his back and leg for the past few months, and yesterday, a CT scan revealed a tumor on his sacrum. Has anyone had this experience, and if so, what is/was the result?

[SeosamhM]

Hi, Teresa. I can speak from experience, as I have numerous bone mets throughout my body, including my spine. First - there are multiple reasons for bone tumors, but the fact that your dad had prostate cancer in the past is suspicious and indicative that PC may be back and has metastasized to bone (a common site). If it is PC, you will first have to decide whether to treat with ADT (androgen-deprivation therapy). If successful, this should retard the growth of all PC-associated tumors, including those in bone. Patients are often given Xtandi to prevent the bone-brittleness that ADT can promote.

In these instances of bone mets, the position of the bone tumors is key, and whether they pose pain (as this tumor obviously does with your dad). The standard of care for painful bone mets is focused radiotherapy...your run-of-the-mill nuclear (literally) response. Unfortunately, the collateral damage to healthy bone can be considerable, and may lead to bone fracture...again, I speak from experience.

SO...given the location of the sacrum, and how critical it is to the entire lower body, you and your dad are in for some tough choices. If radiotherapy is offered, I would really push the docs to answer the questions on collateral damage risk and longer-term outcomes.

I also strongly suggest seeking out a medical (!! - no froo-froo!) massage therapist with experience with the elderly that can perhaps help loosen the tissue around the sacrum and hips. Frankly, this massage is not nice, but it has helped me tremendously....granted, I am a "young" 51 when I write this!

Good luck to you and your father! - Joe M.

[SeosamhM in reply to SeosamhM]

CORRECTION - I should've written Xgeva, NOT Xtandi.... the drug names in the PC world are as unfathomable as elsewhere in medicine! - Joe M.

[teresa927 in reply to SeosamhM]

Thank you so very much for taking the time to respond to us, joe! Your info is helpful. I hope you're doing well?

[SeosamhM in reply to teresa927]

I won't complain, T! ... Okay, at least I won't complain about PC - I'm a man and I complain about a lot, and reserve the right to continue to do so!

[Garbonzeaux in reply to teresa927]

Just to confuse us, Xgeva is also known as prolia, is also known as Denosumab

[Bravesfan33]

Saying nearly everyone that has survived five years will have a recurrance is grossly scientifically inaccurate.

[mcp1941 in reply to Bravesfan33]

I went 14 years before BCR. In my support group there are some that have gone longer belore BCR.

[Abiathar]

I can't imagine you include those that had the pc confined to the prostate. If you did.....you need to give reference articles.

Abiathar

[teresa927]

Thank you so much for this post. My dad symptoms sounded exactly like yours, and I read this to him. It cheered him up considerably! Thank you so much.

[Cmdrdata]

The keyword Nalakrats said in this post is “ALL”. There is no scientific way to determine that all cancer cells in our body is killed after we receive any treatment. Cancer by definition is our own damaged cell that mutate to become tumor as it grows because our immune system doesn’t know it is damaged cells. So Nalakrats is correct about BCR potential. That’s why we cancer patients “never” said cured but in remission when we are not seeing BCR (potentially someday!).

[j-o-h-n]

Cure? Remember the difference between love and Herpes? Herpes is forever...

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Thursday 01/10/2019 6:06 PM EST