Hello again, I started using Google to find out this info but then I recalled the community here telling me to NOT do that - I understood when I started reading the first post - ugg.
Anyways, my question to you today is why can't we zap or otherwise kill the prostate cancer that has spread to the bones?
My understanding is if you find prostate cancer early enough and it HASNT spread you can remove the prostate, but if it has spread you can't remove those?
Thanks
Yes I would also like to know that. My Husband was Metastatic from the start with three mets, but 'NO' won't Zap it??
He has just come up to his 5th Anniversary, and glad to say they are stable, and no more have appeared, but his PSA is now steadily climbing .Zytiga is failing, so chemo next (again)☹️
How low did his PSA go on Zytiga?
He's been on it for 32 months, but it did start to fail back in February, PSA started to climb from 3.5, now 16.7 we r in the UK and pc is treated totally different here, I'm afraid to say, they won't change it to enza, it will be chemo again when we speak with OC in October!
Did you try changing Prednisone for Dexamethasone , some get more time on Zytiga with this move.
I asked our OC about it and he said no! It wouldn't do any good. I could scream sometimes.
Perhaps time for a second opinion or maybe a new OC
Look up "oligometastatic" - it's impossible to irradiate a large number of dispersed bone lesions (that's me) - the body won't tolerate it. But if the number of lesions you have of any kind including bone lesions is less than or equal to 5, apparently it's increasingly common to have them irradiated or surgically treated, along with what other therapies you were doing. This is driven by significant clinical studies.
And by the way the advice to never use Google is as bad as the advice you often find on Google. You can learn how to use Google! You will develop your own criteria - like staying away from bloggers with opinions or revenue driven grifters or news media with poor quality editing and reporting.
But it's not hard to find good information on specific questions - which can really help in having a better conversation with your doctors. Bear in mind that often there's no one correct answer!
And - don't stop with the first post! If I have a serious question I might spend an hour or two on it! Make notes! There's a lot of stake! I might open dozens of separate tabs! And slowly when starts to build the vocabulary as to what the heck is going on - and then after that initial scan you can start to ask better questions!
Thanks for reply. I believe in my pathology report I have 2 lesions.
On the research side I am actually really well versed in Google and use it often. I just really like this forum for specific questions.
LOL regarding research 😃 - I kind of thought so - sorry for going on and on.
You have the wrong metaphor in your imagination. You are thinking it is like plucking weeds out of a lawn -keep after it as the weeds crop up, and you will get rid of it. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that.
It is more like mushrooms growing under an oak tree. The plant is really the mycelium that extends throughout the soil and into the tree. Picking mushrooms does not stop the plant at all.
When your cancer escaped your prostate, millions of cells circulated in your blood before they reached your bones. Those cells slowly change the bone to render it hospitable to growing tumors. Eventually, those tumors become large enough to be visible on scans. But there are many more that are invisible. Only systemic therapy can slow down progression.
So basically even partial spread in just the immediate area surrounding the prostate.. means that it is only a matter of time before it pops up somewhere else. In other words the moment this leaves the prostate this disease is never truly curable.
With spread to just the illiac lymph nodes just outside the prostate the oncologists say it is still potentially curable.. but from what I have gathered; what they should really is that they believe they can put this cancer into temporary remission
No, I didn't say that. I addressed the OPs question of why picking off bone metastases will not lead to a cure.
Like your mushroom / mycelium analogy, it might be from micro dosing shrooms.
I'm a fan of microdosing!
As am I
Stage 4 Prostate Cancer Questions
Advanced Metastatic Prostate Cancer
UK - metastatic PCa & prostatectomy.
Definition of metastatic versus non-metastatic 
