looking for reassurance or advice

[Bspouse]

Hello warriors, After exactly 2 years of happily dropping PSA numbers on triplet therapy, my husbands PSA went up this month from .91. To .94 I know MO will say to wait for 3 months of rising PSA before we should panic, but that’s easy for him to say… looking for reassurance as we wait for next months tests. Or should I ask for a retest sooner. 2 weeks? If it goes up again, I plan to ask to switch the prednisone for dexamethasone since I heard that sometimes helps the Abi work longer. Any other suggestions? His other bloodwork was ok except platelets and rbc were down. As always thank you to this wonderful support group.

[Tall_Allen]

.91 -> .94 is not even an increase. It's well within the error of the test, and suggests stable disease. Get a PSA in three months and do not react unless the PSADT across three PSA tests is less than 9 months.

[Bspouse in reply to Tall_Allen]

Thank you! That’s makes me feel much better.

[Wings-of-Eagles]

Tall Allen is right on as usual. Don't worry. By the way for newbies, PSADT is PSA Doubling Time. Your man's initial diagnosis and then the plummet in PSA is absolutely remarkable!!! That bodes good for the future. For me ,Stage 4 diagnosed back in 2012, but the past 9 years undetectable on Zytiga. Keep the Faith!

[Bspouse in reply to Wings-of-Eagles]

Thank you. We are hoping to be in this for the long run!

[MPCSUX]

We have been at this since 05/2021 and MO explained to us there is a natural fluctuation in PSA and unless the trend is upward, the jump in number is big or there are physical symptom changes they will assume it is just testing margin of error and natural fluctuation. We also became very scared after watching the steady decline at the beginning of treatment then the slight bump. Two years in, we now know his PSA fluctuates between 0.03 - 0.05. I will say the week leading into each 3 month bloodwork and Lupron continues to be mental hell. We live our life in 3 month blocks of time… it’s the “new normal” (I hate that saying) but we continue to keep positive and live life to the fullest and remember this is a marathon not a sprint as we plan for decades of time together! Best wishes to you and your husband.

[NecessarilySo]

Just a side note. His platelets and red blood cells are low. I'm going through a stage of iron deficiency. My RBC's ae low but also my hemoglobin and hematocrit ae low, and furthermore my B12 tested low, then finally my iron%saturation is below normal. I experience fatigue and shortness of breath. Started iron supplement. ADT may be a cause. It's probably multiple causes. Coffee causes poor absorption of iron. Also pepcid or famotidine may cause low b12 absorption. Plus vegetarianism makes iron difficult to consume. Just fyi something to think about.

[Wings-of-Eagles in reply to NecessarilySo]

I would suggest you get a second opinion on taking iron supplements. I have all your same deficencies and was advised by two oncologists NOT to take iron supplements They may do more than good for PC.

[Bspouse in reply to Wings-of-Eagles]

What was the reason for not taking iron supplements? . My husband has been on them since he had cdiff righ5 after cancer diagnoses. His bloodwork got all messed up and they put him on lots of supplements. But hemoglobin and hematacrit are both good now.RBC always borderline Low. Should he stop the iron?

[j-o-h-n]

If the nurse who draws the blood is pretty, let him take the unnecessary test.....He'll love you more for that....

If the nurse is a bow wow.....skip the unnecessary test and take him out to dinner....He'll love you more for that..........

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Thursday 10/19/2023 5:19 PM DST

[Bspouse]

A happy update to this post. This months PSA went down to .89 But I know not to panic next time it goes up a bit. Life is good