Hello!
It's been a while since I have posted.. fortunately, my daddy has been doing fantastic and with 2020 giving me mental whiplash every 2 seconds, I stepped away from reading about all of the current research, news, and available treatments for advanced PC for the sake of my mental health! 😜
However, I've been wanting to touch points to see if I can be caught back up on the status of treatment plans and particularly what I should expect for my dad's path forward.
A quick recap, dad was diagnosed in June 2015 with stage 4 PC that had caused his tumor to become so enlarged that he was in kidney failure and needed double nephrostomy tubes directly to his kidneys for several months. His PSA was 257 and the cancer had spread to a single nearby lymph node.
He started Lupron, bicalumatide, and chemo immediately. He was able to stay on Lupron and bicalumatide for 4.5 years before his PSA began to move upward. At that point we started provenge, but unfortunately due to covid, he was only able to get 2 of the 3 infusions. He then started on Xtandi and has been seeing a low and steady number since (.31).
A few years back we tested my dad for genetic markers and found nothing significant. We're currently testing his tumor samples to see if we can find and markers within them.. but we haven't received any results.
Dad will be 80 this June and he's in great shape.. walks daily, keeps up his property, hauls firewood, and preaches at a small town church every Sunday.
My question is, what should we expect if we start to see an increase in his PSA? Zytiga? Radiation? Additional chemo? Some new treatment I'm unaware of? I like to have a sense of what's up the road, so if anyone can give me some insight, I would appreciate it!
Lynsi