It's PSA week, so of course I get anxious...but here are the numbers of an observational study which spreads of a 26 years timeframe.
"Median overall survival in the entire cohort was 2.7 years (IQR: 1·3–5·6),
- the median survival increased from 1.7 years (IQR: 1·3–2·0) in 1995 to 3.8 years (IQR: 3·3–4·2) in 2018 (p < 0·001; Supplementary Fig. 1).
- Survival improved per period of diagnosis (p < 0·001).
- Comparing the period 1995–1999 to 2015–2021 median survival increased from 1.7 years (IQR: 0·8–3·7) to 4.5 years (IQR: 2·4-not reached; p < 0·001), from 2.0 years (IQR: 1·0–4·0) to 4.8 years (IQR: 2·4-not reached; p < 0·001 by log-rank); and from 1.5 years (IQR: 0·7–2·9) to 3.1 years (IQR: 1·6–5·7; p < 0.001 by log-rank) in men age < 65, age 65–74 and age 75 over above, respectively. Age-specific PCSM declined over time across all ages, most pronounced under the age of 75 years."
I wanted to underline the "not reached" in the stats...there are more and more not reached, especially in ARASENS/ARANOTE...which were not even considered in this study :-))
I start to believe what some oncologists say, that if we consider the latest triplet therapies, 5 years OS should probably be set 60% instead of the old canonical 30%...
Good Day to you sir. I believe your living for another day the best you can is beyond question. Taking the Bull by its horns pales in comparison to your tenacity for Quality and Quantity of Life.
You add a huge amount of positivity to my life… so, thank you! And yes… the fracture between optimism and the depths of pessimism make a pretty volatile ride… but articles/studies like this really help get the mind in a better place… there certainly is hope that one day we might actually beat this thing… and I’m sure positivity, and doing the most for ourselves we can must help… exercise, diet, positive mind, relaxation, and being informed as possible about treatments we’re on, and what may be coming down the pipeline so we can advocate for ourselves. I imagine most of us have never had to contend with anything like this, but having gratitude for life, and living for the day seems to help… at least, it helps me!
I totally understand. Tomorrow is my next appointment with my MO where I'll get the results of my latest bone scan and I'll be taking another PSA test for which thankfully I get the results two hours later so my MO gives me those results as well. Its always a little nerve wracking even though I am used to it. Hang in there buddy.
I mean no offense but do you live PC 24/7? I get that you research the crap out of this as I did the same after dx. The reality is that we all fair differently is regards to response to treatment and forward aggressiveness of our cancer. Only time gives us answers to bothI wish you the best and I see you very wrapped up in research. I hope you spend at least as much time wrapped up in the ones you love.
Unfortunately I have no answer to the questions above bilur do know the importance of loving friends and family, priceless.
I can assure you, I was a Ph.D. student when diagnosed. This amount of research (about 2 hours per day now, although I did a lot more right after diagnosis) is nothing compared to what I was used to.
Being diagnosed as terminal at 50 when I was otherwise in great shape was shocking news, as you can imagine. Knowledge reassures me, given that I apply a prudential principle, so I put myself in that median number of people who respond for X months to Y therapy. I share this knowledge with others, hoping that it can help them remain positive, as stress is not a small factor in cancer progression. Plus it makes me feel useful!
I wish I were like some people I have met and able to live as an old Viking warrior, with a "whatever happens, happens" attitude (though some of them are not in the same situation as me, so honestly, their "que sera sera" outlook is very easy to have). But that's not me. I was not like that before the diagnosis, and I can't be like that now.
But I spend time with the people I like and love as much as I can, including my 4 dogs and 43 cats (no, it's not a typo!).
I'm with you. Research has kept me sane in my husband's 7 years with metastatic Pca. He was in great shape and 49. It was a shock I've dealt with by arming myself with knowledge.
Max#1 - Unsurprisingly, positivity has been shown to provide overall benefits to our health. Will it cure cancer? Not likely. However, it does underpin a better daily QOL. (A 1st priority for Moi.) As your final comment in the post suggests, all the data we see on PFS and OS from trials is backward-looking and, thus, not reflective of current treatment advances.
When I was diagnosed with my blood cancer (#1) back in 2006 , the stats suggested a ~50% survival rate at 5 years. Like you and many others, esp those diagnosed at an early age (I was 59 at the time), it can be a daily challenge to maintain a positive attitude when, as addicted2cycling clearly recounts, we head-on confront, maybe for the first time ever, our individual mortality; after all none of us are "getting out of here alive". IMO, that reality, embraced fully, can serve to underpin the FULL recognition that each day truly is a gift** and should be treated as such.
You are obviously "living large" with the knowledge of your disease and your blog is a fine example of that. As for my blood cancer, CLL, the story on it is that during the intervening 18 years since my diagnosis, it has gone from a cancer that, while still incurable for all but a very few people, is no longer a terminal disease. Rather, it is now one that with the advent of BTK inhibitors is for most a chronic one with many getting long-term, treatment-free MDR durable responses. As your final post comment also suggests, PCa is on a similar track in terms of the development of new treatment approaches - which you are clearly finding in your research searches.
When you project a dismal future that never arrives, you potentially rob yourself of the better QOL that you would have otherwise enjoyed. It is not about refusing to face reality, but embracing the here-and-now and all the potential rewards it has to offer. (In fact, I used to worry over labs and doc appointments - but did some walk-in labs two days ago, and since I had to go out of town to get them, saw it primarily as an opportunity to visit a damn fine bookstore. And while the labs could suggest the need for a treatment change . . . the results may just be another confirmation for what I'm currently doing. Why needlessly occupy myself with a future that has yet to come, when I have today to live to its fullest.)
Keep Staying S&W and reporting on the potential treatment advances we all want and need.
Ciao - cujoe
**There is a saying that points to the importance of living in the present as much as we can. It goes something like this:
"Each day is a gift . . . and that is why it is called the present."
nah, cats sleep outside or at ground floor (depending on their mood and never more than 20-25 at a time), dogs sleep on the bed (bad habit we have given them!)
I think the advent and proliferation of PSMA PET scans in 2022 - and subsequent theranostics-was a real breakthrough- I think of exterminating /poisoning roaches in the dark- then the light switch is turned on…. Now we have almost real time feedback whether a treatment is effective- obviously this doesn’t cure anyone- but may allow some to kick the can far down the road and choose better therapies before they become so toxic that they kill you…..here’s hoping so!
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