Trying To Hold Onto Hope

[Sunnyday1122]

Hi all,

I last wrote on here back in the fall because my dad was deteriorating quickly after ending 2nd round of chemo and his PSA went to the 300s (see my bio for his medical history). He was a candidate for Pluvicto, and was also put on Zytgea and a steroid before starting treatment which helped a lot.

At present, my dad has had 5 successful Pluvicto treatments. By the middle of treatment his PSA was at 10! He got to walk me down the aisle for my wedding, as well as have a first dance, and he felt great, and danced the night away. We prayed for this day ever since 2017 and I am so beyond grateful to have that experience to cherish with him forever.

Here's the difficult part His most recent PMSA scan showed a LOT of healing, however his PSA continues to climb (doubled from 27 to 54 between June and now). His MO feels the cancer is now outsmarting the treatment, and feels it may not be worth doing a 6th round. They are going to look into T-cell therapy for him.

My worry is we are running out of tools in the toolbox. In my very brief research, it doesn't seem like immunotherapy is all that successful. How long will it take for the cancer to outsmart this?

I also worry that he is going to deteriorate quickly like he did last time, and that we don't have much time left.

Any info on success of immunotherapy/clinical trials/T-cell therapy would be helpful. I know we don't have a crystal ball, but do we think he is going to deteriorate quickly again? Not that anyone is ever ready to lose a parent, I just would love to get some more months from him.

Thank you all for taking the time to read this and any support you can offer is appreciated. Praying for all of you!

[PHnerd]

Hello my dear, I’m also a daughter to a father in the long battle with PCa. My dad was diagnosed in 2011 so it’s been a while that our family has had to live with this. And I can see our trajectory following your father’s - dad just finished his first round of chemo which was unsuccessful. He’ll now go for radiation a third time before trying Lu-177 (Pluvicto). I really don’t have much information on immunotherapies etc., but I’d say hold on to hope. Statistics are just that, they’re statistics. And lifespan can’t ever be determined concretely (take it from me, I’m a researcher for my day job haha). Hold on to hope and spend as much time with your father as you can. Getting to walk down the aisle is a blessing for you, I’m not sure if my father will ever get the chance with either me or my sister.

[Sunnyday1122 in reply to PHnerd]

I really appreciate your perspective, thank you so much. I am trying to be fully present and enjoy each moment. It's just so hard to not go to the worst case scenario. I will continue to pray for you, your dad and family. When my dad was first diagnosed in 2017, I didn't think he would walk me down the aisle either, but he did while looking and feeling great! Sending all my love to you.

[Tall_Allen]

There are some BiTEs and CAR-Ts that don't depend on PSMA. I hope you find one that works.

[Sunnyday1122 in reply to Tall_Allen]

Thank you so much!

[pjd55d]

Hi - I did the immunotherapy Provenge back in 2018 - and the Drs believe that it helped - I do to. Best to you

[Sunnyday1122 in reply to pjd55d]

Thank you so much! I look forward to hearing more from his doctors this week to see where we go from here. All my best to you!

[Kayakbob]

Did Provenge treatment back in 2013 while on ADT (Lupron), and a year later started an ADT 'vacation', which lasted over 6 years! It's worth a try, much easier than Chemo!