I'm new here but not to prostate cancer. My dad (age 72) has been diagnosed with it since 2015. He was initially diagnosed with a PSA of 22, and I think it had already spread outside of the prostate. He ended up having surgery to remove his prostate and several lymph nodes, but it was basically a complete failure as his PSA immediately continued to rise. We later found out his cancer was a Gleason 9 and seemed to double about every 6 weeks.
He was then placed on hormone treatments (I think it was Lupron and Zytiga?) and did amazingly well. It really only started to fail within the last year or so, but he's now back to a doubling time of about 6 weeks.
He did try taking Olaparib (not sure if that's correct), but it made him extremely nauseous and he quit taking it. He may have taken another hormone blocker as well, but I can't remember for sure. I know he is considered castrate resistant now.
Most recently, he did 5 rounds of docetaxel which initially brought his PSA back down from 40 something to about a 2, but his PSA is once again rising (I think we are currently at a 7). The most recent PET scan showed that several of the cancerous lymph nodes had decreased in size, but there were also new locations, one of which was to bone (his left sacrum).
We're obviously worried now that we seemed to have burned through many of the main treatment options and his PSA seems to be rapidly rising. The metastasis to the bone is also really scary since he's never had that before. The doctor is now recommending Xtandi which doesn't seem particularly promising to me.
Anyways, I'm sharing all that to try and get some sort of idea as to our remaining options and to maybe get some sort of ballpark idea as what to expect from here. I think we all know how it will end at this point, but we haven't asked the doctor for any sort of life expectancy. Is it even possible to have a good idea at this stage? I'm worried it will be possibly 1-2 years at the most, but I really just don't know.
I'm just doing my best to gather information for his treatment and to also try and realistically prepare myself and our family for what's to come.
I would appreciate any thoughts or advice. Thank you!
Edited by member 05 Jul 2023 at 19:04
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