What lies ahead?

Old Salt

Great PSA readings!

A feather on the cap of Dr. Collins and his staff. Hopefully, the urination issues will improve with time.

PS: I was also irradiated at G'town (CyberKnife x 3 + IMRT x 25), but had a Gleason score of 9. Almost two years later, my PSA is 1.4. I am hoping it will go down some over time.

VascodaGama

Urinary retention

CC

Another update with excellent results. I will celebrate yours, swing's and Old Salt's successes with a glass of Esporao red.

One thing you should remember is that you got your prostate in place, most probably with living benign prostatic cells producing PSA serum and subjected to infection and imflammation, that could be blocking the normal flow. Alfa blockers may help the voiding issue but will not cure the problem. Radiation could have affected the muscles in the bladder's wall overstretching it and now do not squeeze hard enough to completely empty it. Maybe a CT scan and a cystoscopy examination manages to pin point the cause.

Best wishes for improvements in that issue.

Congratulations,

VG

CC52

Old Salt said:

Great PSA readings!

A feather on the cap of Dr. Collins and his staff. Hopefully, the urination issues will improve with time.

PS: I was also irradiated at G'town (CyberKnife x 3 + IMRT x 25), but had a Gleason score of 9. Almost two years later, my PSA is 1.4. I am hoping it will go down some over time.

Congrats!

Thanks Old Salt, and my thumbs up to your progress. It's nice to know you are a patient of Dr. Collins. Really great people up there doing good work! Continued success my friend. A toast to us!!

Will Doran

CC52 said:

Congrats!

Thanks Old Salt, and my thumbs up to your progress. It's nice to know you are a patient of Dr. Collins. Really great people up there doing good work! Continued success my friend. A toast to us!!

Congratulations

CC,

 Congratulations.  This calls for another toast.

More good news.  Just like I got this week. (See post-Good News Keeps Coming).

May we all continue to read and hear these things. And may we all live to see a complete cure for this beast of a disease.

Peace and God Bless

Will

bob33462

CC52 said:

6 Month Check-up

Had my six month follow-up post CK with my Dr. on 3/18, and while I don't have the testosterone result yet, the most important number is the psa. It went down again, so let's pour the wine!

History:             

Start Of CyberKnife Treatment (9/19/2014) 7.5 ng/ml

1 month follow-up (10/22/2014) 3.7 ng/ml

3 month follow-up (12/17/2014) 1.3 ng/ml    

6 month follow-up (3/18/2015) 1.1 ng/ml

Warmest regards! - CC

Very happy for you!

Very happy for you!

CC52

Swingshiftworker said:

Congratulations!

While you seem to think you need further confirmation, I'd say that your treatment w/CK has been successful in terms of killing the cancer.  Generally, after radiation, the goal is to achieve a PSA less than 1 and you have far exceed that at 0.01 after 18 months.

FWIW, I am now over 5 years past my CK treatment and still haven't gotten a PSA result that low yet.  My last/lowest reading was 0.200.   So, it's been a much longer road for me to receive confirmation of a "cure."

Sorry to hear about your difficulties w/urination and "less than satisfactory" sex BUT those things may not be due to CK.  Not saying that CK may not have anything to do w/those problems but your age may be the main factor.

I'm 65 and am also still taking urinary frequency drugs (Flomax and Oxybutynin) and have been taking Cialis (mainly as a sexual aid but it also is supposed to help w/urinary frequency) because (like you) also still have those issues BUT I do not attribute them to my CK treatment.  I think that they are mainly a function of age.

In any event, congratulations on your apparently successful CK treatment!  Please keep us up to date as time passes. 

Not Really

Not looking for further confirmation at all SSW, simply reporting my results. I'm absolutely thrilled with my numbers...not so much with the other nagging issues. I agree they could be age related, but I had none of the problems I have had to deal with prior to CK. I'm just a layman connecting the dots as I see it. I remain optimistic that with time will come some improvement. Additionally, I fully recognize that each of us, regardless of our treatment type, will have different results and experiences. You roll the dice to a large extent, and you hope to be prepared if things don't go 100% as hoped. To this point, no one from my CK treatment staff has suggested that my experience is age related. What I have been told is this is a reaction that some men have to the treatment, perhaps not CK specific, but to radiation therapy in general. 

Many thanks again to you for all of your support, advice and concern for me and all of our other friends here. I raise my glass in a toast to you and us!

Best regards - CC