steel hardware in spine and ADT and Radiation

[Lokicliff]

We are off to Mayo Phoenix tomorrow for three month post RARP check up. Not sure what will be suggested, but definitely looking for referrals to oncology and radiology oncology, due to his high/very high risk findings and pathology.

He has two steel rods and 9 screws in his thoracic and lumbar spine after car accident broke apart a previous fusion.( Mayo Rochester put him back together with great outcome.) Does anyone on here have experience with spinal metal hardware and how ADT and/or radiation may affect this?

thank you 😊

[Tall_Allen]

With a positive LN, he should already have started ADT and had immediate adjuvant radiation.

[Lokicliff in reply to Tall_Allen]

Believe me when I say I was not at all comfortable with delaying these treatments and questioned the doctor. Ultimately the decision was my husband’s. He did what the surgeon told him. “Go home and heal, three months won’t make a difference “. Now I have to deal with what is. Not what I want. I don’t want any of this damn nightmare. But I love him, and won’t stop trying to advocate and care for him. I have nightmares of his spine crumbling due to ADT or radiation or metastasis and ending up in a wheelchair or bedridden. Perhaps my question seems silly in light of his prognosis and treatment decisions… but here I am, asking.

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

To Ms. Lokicliff,

He did what the surgeon told him. “Go home and heal, three months won’t make a difference “. Now I have to deal with what is. Not what I want. I don’t want any of this damn nightmare. But I love him, and won’t stop trying to advocate and care for him.

Wanna speed up his treatment?.......Take your Dear Husband (the metallurgist) to Mayo and have him step in and out of the Hospital's metal detector until it drives them nuts.... Then bargain with your husband's surgeon.......... BTW You're a great lady (he's lucky)....

p.s. Regards to HIM....

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Thursday 09/28/2023 7:46 PM DST

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

Sounds like a great plan 😂

[JWPMP]

My husband has a titanium plate and screws in his pelvis and a metal hip replacement. His medical team is UCSF. They could not radiate his pelvic floor due to the plate. He has a spot on his hip adjacent to the hardware they did not want to radiate. He did have HDR Brachytherapy to his prostate. He's in his third year of Lupron/Abi/Pred and so far no issues with bones or hardware. He does resistance training in the mornings and rides horses in the afternoon.

Don't know if this helps you. I too have lost sleep over the limited RT. For now, all is well.

[Lokicliff in reply to JWPMP]

Thank you so much for your reply. It does help as I see from your experience they do pay attention to it, and it does affect treatments. Good to hear he is doing well with his medications!

[JWPMP in reply to Lokicliff]

All the best to you and your husband!

They may get a little more aggressive as time goes on, but they are playing safety first for now. He had RT 31 years ago for testicular cancer, so they had to factor that in also. His RO at UCSF moved to MD Anderson Houston a couple months ago, so I'm confident in the decisions he made with Jim.

My husband has been 2 years undetectable with current treatment.

This forum is the best! I would have lost my mind without it.

Take care...

[dmt1121]

Are you taking Prolia or other similar bone strengthening medications?

[Lokicliff in reply to dmt1121]

No he isn’t. Will ask doctor about this.

Thank you!