Post 2, Strange couple of months

[Arnie1970]

Thanks for all the great suggestions and advice with my last post. This is what happened after.

A new scan( SPECT -CT) was done, before any further treatment was talked about.

The scan showed that there is no cancer in the prostate,or lymph nodes anymore, but it is still visible in the hip bone, and spine. A decision was then made between the MO and RO to add Casodex to the Suprafact injection, wait for a couple of weeks, and then check the PSA again. My PSA went down to 0.07( Shaken not stirred), and right after that we started radiation to the Mets, the Prostate, and Prostate bed.

I also had contact with the University of Pretoria, where Dr Saphekge suggested as well to do radiation first, and keep Ac-225/Lu-177 as a back up for if, and when needed.

Everything went according to plan, with the normal SE's( fatigue, problems urinating, diarrhoea) but then all of a sudden last week Wednesday I was in enormous pain, and I had to be taken to hospital, with what I thought to be SE of the radiation. This turned out to be Acute Appendicitis.

My question, still unanswered by the doctor, is obviously,:" Is this related to my PC, or could this be a not mentioned SE of the radiation"

I still have two weeks of radiation to go, and then we will wait until March before any new scans will be done to see what the result is.

My next Suprafact injection will be the 6th of December, but from what I understand here, on the Forum nobody wants to join ,taking a PSA reading will not be necessary, since it will not be accurate after the radiation.

And then as a sort of important afterthought,, what to do after, or is it now ADT and Casodex until it fails, and check up scans to monitor possible Met progression.

To all PC Warriors out there,

Stay positive, enjoy life, and fight this bitch with all you've got!

[Hidden]

Arnie

That all looks logical to me until you start talking about radiating areas that have no cancer! With a low PSA under .1, all you need to do is keep it low for a while and your own immune system will deal with the mets. New (smaller) mets may show up, as the cancer tends to look for weak spots and move through the bones like a grass fire - it flares up when it finds fuel. But as long as the PSA remains in the low area, and your immune system has not been trashed, your immune system will deal with them - just give it time.

The Bicalutamide does not do as good a job at blocking residual testosterone as low dose Xtandi, which may be more cost effective and its effectiveness lasts a lot longer with far less side effects than full dose bicalutamide (I got just 3 months on 150mg and had to stop or fall over). That would be your next move. You may find resistance and run into the total nonsense that Xtandi has to have chemo first, and getting a partial box will also be a problem.

Your appendix may well be the victim of stray x-rays. The appendix is a store of gut "bugs" that can be used to re-populate the gut after a wipe-out (like from radiation and bicalutamide). In reality, the extended wipe-outs we do to our guts in way beyond the design limits of the appendix, and dead biome stuck in there goes rotten.

You make no mention of Sodium Ascorbate or Peroxide combos with your treatment. That would cut the number of radiation treatments for starters (or make them totally redundant).

Sterkte!

[Arnie1970 in reply to Hidden]

Hi David, the idea behind the radiation is not a SOC. We first followed Stampede, chemo and Suprefact. After that I had a period of only check ups and scans, And then the decision on radiation was made.The idea is to try to weed out the cancer that is not visible on the scan. The Casodex(50mg) only was added to weaken the cancer more before the radiation. First time i hear about Sodium Ascorbate. Will mention it on Monday when I see the RO again.

[Hidden in reply to Arnie1970]

You won't find cancer (even small ones) "to weed out" in the pelvic area - the "grass fire" has passed on long ago. That is why I wondered what you were killing there - just you? Your bank balance?

I can't see 50mg Bicalutamide becoming a cancer killer when combined with radiation. Bicalutamide does not kill any cancer cells (and I have never seen any data it weakens the cancer cells enough to increase radiation kill, but this is possible) - it is purely an androgen blocker, which is supposed to slow cancer cell growth (by "starving" them) and allow more time for the immune system to do the killing. Ascorbate and radiation will greatly increase the radiation kill and reduce damage (especially if the radiation doses are cut back), but Ascorbate and Bicalutamide do not seem to do much to help each other (limited data on this). Ascorbate and Xtandi are a winning combo.

You need to watch for new mets in various bones. They will be small if your PSA remains low. Even if too small to show on a scan, bones with a problem will have a tender area around them. Few of these are ever good candidates for radiation - especially if the PSA remains low the immune system will deal with them over a period of months or even years. Ascorbate can speed up the repair job, or slow a new downturn. It would seem you are not helping your immune system to be the No 1 killer - all the treatments you have had have eaten away at your immune system. I am not saying you should not have had these treatments, I am just saying you should balance permanent damage to your immune system against the long term rewards. When you run out of immune system, your options become very limited.

Your RO will scream blue murder about the ascorbate/radiation combo "from what he has heard", but that does not alter facts he is not aware of. He may give you a lecture on free oxygen radicals etc. (irrelevant if the ascorbate comes after the radiation). He will have zero experience. The combo is suppressed because it is very bad for business. Where used as a combo, the radiation dose is cut by up to 80% to get the same results. If you want to have some fun, just mention "Vitamin C" and you will identify those doctors working to old rules. So sad.

[j-o-h-n in reply to Hidden]

You never cease to amaze me.. some days I amaze myself, other days I put my keys in the fridge....

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Friday 10/18/2019 6:25 PM DST

[Hidden in reply to j-o-h-n]

I hate to watch others also get caught in the Great Big Cancer Money Machine if I can warn them about going through the wash and spin cycles, and then being hung out to dry.

[j-o-h-n in reply to Hidden]

Yep, and without losing a sock......

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Saturday 10/19/2019 1:32 PM DST