My husband has advanced prostate cancer

Hello Sandra, Thanks for your reply. Yes he is coping well with the Chemo, only two left to go now and then onto the Radiotherapy. He has pain in his back which is worrying him. We are seeing the Oncologist this evening so maybe he will organize an X Ray to check it out. Hard not to fear the worst. He was diagnosed back in September 2017. Since the Chemo started, his PSA has come down from 584 to 1.64 so hopefully he is going in the right direction.

My husband , 65, was diagnosed at the beginning of Dec 2017 with advanced PCa. Spread to bones, pelvis, spine and ribs mainly. Also in lymph nodes in pelvis and slightly compromising his left kidney. His Gleason is 4+4, so an 8. He had no symptoms. He has started hormone treatment and is due to start chemo, Docetaxel after oncology appointment on the 30th.

So, we are a little bit behind you and your husband. I’m new to this too so don’t feel I can necessarily offer advice, I’m still learning but could support you as I really do know what you are going through! I’ve been lucky to have support on the forum and everyone is so kind. I think I’ve got over the initial shock because I’ve been so tearful this past week, welling up every time my husband pops out!! Great news about the PSA for you. We were at 210 but haven’t had another test yet.

Good luck with everything, no matter how lonely we might feel, we are not on our own with this!

Really feel for you. I can remember how I felt when my husband was diagnosed in May 2016 with advanced prostate cancer with spread to his bones. We were completely devastated. He didn’t have any symptoms except he’d been suffering from mild ED for a few months . He was 58 then and had a PSA of 54 Gleason 9. But he’s done really well on his treatment path so far. He is on hormone therapy for life, which I have to say is a complete story in its self. He has had six chemo cycles and his PSA went down to 0. 2 but has started to creep up slowly over the last six months and is at 1.89 at the moment so he has had scans done this week to determine the next step. He has a very positive outlook on life and just try’s to get on with things. So please don’t despair there are lots of treatments to help your husband. This forum is a great place to visit for information and support from lots of lovely people who are all going through the same thing, so please keep in touch and I wish you both well on your journey.

Debbie x

The 4 weeks at higher dose (probably 3GY) was a trial when John had it. They were trying to work out how high a dose could be given before the side effects became too bad. What they discovered was that 19 or 20 sessions (called fractions) at 3Gy (a total of 60Gy) was more effective than the traditional 37 fractions at 2Gy (total 74Gy) and with fewer side effects - the radiotherapy accumulates so the 60 dose hits just as hard as the 74. I think John had 20 fractions at 3.2Gy and breezed through it.

5 1/2 years ago

Great response to treatment.

The cancer has spread to my hip bone.

I'm waiting for an appointment with the Oncologist, likelihood is I'll be starting chemotherapy in a few weeks.

Still in a state of shock about the speed of events, my wife is devastated but reading the above thread has given me a bit of hope after the initial shock.

Any tips to walk me through the next few weeks would be really helpful.

Best advice I can offer is stay in touch with forums like this and learn all about your disease. It sounds like you are being treated by an up to date Onco  (early chemo for metatasized PC is current best practice) but don't assume they have all the answers and question everything until you are happy with their responses.

You should probably also look at diet and lifestyle to make sure you are fit and getting the right nutrients in your diet. But be careful with Google on this as there are a lot of quacks out there!

You will be in for a rough time emotionally so make sure you give yourself time to come to terms with everything. You will see from this forum that individual responses vary so there is no right or wrong way to deal with it. But it is important for you continued health and a long remission to get your head in a good place.

Hello,

My husband has 6 monthly PSA tests. He had a result of 0.24, then 0.49, then just last week 1.4

The oncologist has told him that the rise indicates that the cancer is back, however, he wants to wait 6 months before doing a PSMA PET Scan, to find out where the cancer is.

6 months seems a awful long time to wait. Has anyone else experienced a similar situation?

Thanks

Lillie

Thanks very much for your response Lyn. Yes hubby is still on 3 monthly Zoladex. Bicalutimide has been mentioned, however not prescribed as yet.

What you say makes sense, it's just the waiting game now.

Thanks again, that was very helpful.

Catherine

Hi Susie W,

How is your husband doing?

I lost all  contacts in my phone, so have been unable to make contract.

Hope all is well with you.

His doubling time is less than 6 months so it is probably the right time to add a new treatment.