Sometimes the medicine works

[AlanMeyer]

I met someone this weekend who told me about a friend of his who had a radical prostatectomy in 1990. It didn't do the job and he soon had radiation. That didn't do the job either and he was given Lupron.

Now, 27 years later, he's still alive, has no symptoms, and has not yet needed to progress to any other drugs.

I like to hear stories from or about men who are beating the disease. Now that we have drugs that are much more powerful than Lupron, and we have combination therapies (usually Lupron plus something else) that are more effective than taking the drugs sequentially, and we have some great new drugs in the pipeline, I think more and more of us are going to be like that 27 year survivor.

Alan

[AlanMeyer Moderator]

I forgot to state that I was told that the fellow mentioned above had a Gleason 9 cancer.

[ng27868168]

I have a story much like that and have posted it before. But there may be some who haven't seen it, and I will repost as we all need to hear PC success stories instead of the bad results.

I went in for my annual Physical exam in 1993 at age 52. After a suspicious finger job, biopsy (3+4 -7) and a PSA reading of 10.8, was diagnosed with PC. After discussing the options with 2 primary Docs and my urologist I decided to have a radical prostatectomy. Back then it involved surgery with an 6" incision, and having a cath in for 16 days. Not fun, but prognosis seemed good as the cancer was thought to be in the capsule. A year later PSA began to rise and I underwent 35 treatments of external radiation. A year later PSA again rose and Urologist recommended hormone treatment. At the time my insurance wouldn't cover the cost of injections so I opted for an orchiectomy (testicles removed) to stop production of testosterone which feeds PC. That procedure stopped the cancer growth but left me with severe hot flashes (several an hour) for 18 years.

After trying numerous meds for hot flash relief with no success, and after 18 years of no appearance of PC, my new urologist suggested monthly testosterone injections in hopes of ending the hot flashes. At the time, introducing testosterone back into as PC survivor was controversial as it was feared it may awaken cancer cells and/or even be unhealthy for the heart. I even had to sign a waiver before approval was given. because I had been cancer free for so long the urologist thought it was worth a try so I agreed. Best decision I made as hot flashes disappeared, my energy level improved, and a Swedish study involving 50,000 men found testosterone was actually heart healthy. So....., to finish, I am now 77 years old and still going strong. Oh and by the way, because of increased incontinence along the way, I had an Artificial Urinary sphincter (AUS) installed 3 years ago and it works GREAT!

So gentlemen....., TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE MANY NEW OPTIONS OUT THERE AND MOVE ON!

[ronton2]

Thank you, Alan, for this uplifting post. I am one of those on the "new" protocal (Lupron + Zytiga). I hope for all of us with aPC that this drug combination marks a new milestone in treatment while we await even more promising drugs/procedures. Merry Christmas to you all.