On going

Hi Leila.   The worry never goes completely away does it? As others have said David's pain is more likely  to be non cancer related.

I do hope the consultant can give you positive news and that you can continue living "The Good Life"  on your smallholding. Sounds idyllic as I am a townie but feel like a country girl at heart. Just try to relax in the meantime. Easy to say I know.

Best Wishes

Ann

Thanks for all the lovely replies, I’ve just read ‘em all out to him, and he’s smiling and touched. David is, a bit like a quality street sweet, hard on the outside and very soft on the inside, and sometimes very scared.
His diagnosis was andenocarcinoma, common as muck eh! He’s probably a bit on the autistic spectrum, if it ain’t clear, factual and no possible variations he panics, that and being a bloody musician ( drama queen)
He does panic, mostly I can thankfully keep his sane head on... sometimes I have to admit I fall into his world and join in for a day or so, then I have to make sure we get back on track.
The small holding continues, we still have parsnips, leeks and cabbages to eat, lots of them too. I have enough carrot soup to keep us going till spring.

Chris, I am not bi polar, I’ve seen it, and seen what it can do, I admire you, the mixture of PCa & bipolar, I cannot imagine how you and your lovely family manage, take me hat off to you, I do.

Thanks Lyn, I wanted him to hear your post, it helps, he feels better when he hears from people and families who are in similar situations.

Ann, yes keeping a sane balanced head can be hard, every pain is cancer.... isn’t it? Most days it’s good, just sometimes the cancer world takes over.

franclj1 Ha ha, we are planning to have a tractor load of the local farmers best well rotted manure delivered soon, hard work, we haven’t begun yet. The raised beds are clear, garlic planted,hedges to trim trees to prune, muck to spread.

We also fancy a holiday somewhere warm afore spring work sets in, so he’d best be alright. 😉

Edited by member 06 Jan 2019 at 03:06  | Reason: Not specified

David has been off the HT since March 2018, his PSA was 0.1 until six months ago, and the last two have been 0.2 the oncologist seems happy, so we are happy.Long may it continue.

David is now 69, today he's been up on the barn roof cleaning the solar panels. Not a job for the faint hearted. He says he feels his strength is returning since coming off three  years of HT. I  can see a well earned beer being supped in the garden later.

We are still growing all our own organic veg, enjoying the summers and feeling thankful.

I don't post much these days, I read regularly, so much more experienced people posting very useful information.

Thank you for all the help support, sadness and smiles I've had reading posts on here.

I've just noticed a reference to wine in my last post, we don't imbibe every night ;-) but sunny evenings in the garden are such a treat.

Leila.

Edited by member 16 Jul 2019 at 22:18  | Reason: Not specified

Hi Leila, agree with the others that it’s lovely to hear your updates. Stay positive as it all sounds like it’s going to plan.

My last injection of Prostap is in October and so I will begin to watch the PSA with baited breath ....

All the best and enjoy the wine ...

Phil 

I had my final Triptorelin injection mid July and am in similar nervous situation.  At my review in July my PSA was less than 0.1 

 So my final injection of 18 months HT expires mid October and my hormone therapy has been working on my 0.1 PSA for three months.

 But of course I can’t help being extremely nervous as my testosterone begins to return what will happen to any cancer cells that are left in my system.

My next  planned review will be February 2020 where I will have a PSA test and “ Face the music “

Edited by member 22 Sep 2019 at 17:36  | Reason: Not specified

What's interesting is the PSA value when testosterone has recovered.

Testosterone often doesn't recover when hormone therapy stops, but can take up to a couple of years, and it's often not a linear return, but can be nothing for some time, followed by a sudden return. So you need to monitor testosterone as well as PSA when you come off HT, or you don't know if PSA hasn't risen because of no testosterone, or because there's really no extra prostate cell growth. Once testosterone has returned, the testosterone test can be dropped.

Also, if he's on metformin to reduce HT side effects and cancer recurrence (e.g. one of the STAMPEDE arms), he needs to stay on that until testosterone returns (or until a year after HT ceases).

It does sound like David's testosterone is returning from the reversal of HT side effects.