Third Year Status

Swingshiftworker
Swingshiftworker Member Posts: 1,017 Member
edited December 2013 in Prostate Cancer #1

Haven't been on the forum for awhile and for those of you unfamiliar with my saga, here's a summary of my story.

I received CK treatment for my Gleason 6 PCa in Sept 2010 at UCSF.   It took forever for my PSA levels to drop and it actually rose to 5.07 (higher than my PSA of 4.5 at biopsy) in June 2011 until it dropped to 1.55 in March 2012 but then rose 2 times from there to 2.12 in Sep 2012 (2 years following treatment), which was apparently just a classic radiation treatment "bounce", but concerned me and my RO enough at the time to get an MRI/MRSI scan done in Oct 2012, which was entirely negative for any evidence of cancer in the prostate.  My PSA finally dropped below 1 (a primary indicator of treatment success) this past June but just barely so at 0.995.

I just took another PSA test yesterday and ther result came back at 0.624.  So, although a reading of less than .5 would be better, I don't think that I've reached my nadir yet and I'm NOW reasonably confident (three years later) that the treatment was a success and that my cancer is currently in remission.  Later tests will determine if that's the case or not.  Here's hoping that you all have similar outcomes regardless of the treatment method you choose.

For those interested, here's a link to an abstract of a study that concludes that a nadir of .5 or less for post-radiation patients is a better indicator of survival than at .6.   At .5, the 5 and 10 yr survival results were 95% (+/- 4%) and 84% (+/- 12%) respectively but between .6 and 1, the 5 yr survival rate drops to just 29% (+/- 30% which is an extremely high degree of error); the 10 yr survival rate for this group was not mentioned.  And, at over 1, all treatments ultimately failed. The author estimated that 80% of the patients in the study would ultimately achieve a nadir of .5 or less and that 90% of those patients would be able to achieve nadir w/in 48 months of treatment, so I have a bit more time to see if my PSA will drop below .5.  See: http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/14/11/2893.abstract

Wishing you all a Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!!!

Comments

  • VascodaGama
    VascodaGama Member Posts: 3,701 Member
    #2
    Congratulations

    Congratulations.

    The numbers speak for themselves. It took time to get them down but they did naturally, and still get lower. A matter of time.
    Now we all want to celebrate your success. It is a pity though that you have chosen not to be as active in this forum anymore.
    Many benefited from your comments and suggestions.

    Best wishes in your journey.

    VG  LaughingLaughing

  • hopeful and optimistic
    hopeful and optimistic Member Posts: 2,346 Member
    #3
    Great News

    You had lots of ups and downs with related stress, but finally you achieved the desired results..........Great..........you are cool..Cool

  • CC52
    CC52 Member Posts: 105 Member
    #4
    Awesome news! Congrats
    Happy

    Awesome news! Congrats Laughing

    Happy to have you come back and recap your story. If I require treatment (considering AS), I would strongly consider CK

    Thanks,

    CC

  • Swingshiftworker
    Swingshiftworker Member Posts: 1,017 Member
    #5
    VascodaGama said:

    Congratulations

    Congratulations.

    The numbers speak for themselves. It took time to get them down but they did naturally, and still get lower. A matter of time.
    Now we all want to celebrate your success. It is a pity though that you have chosen not to be as active in this forum anymore.
    Many benefited from your comments and suggestions.

    Best wishes in your journey.

    VG  LaughingLaughing

    Thanks, Vasco.

    I still log on from time to time and comment when I think it's necessary and appropriate, but I don't log on every day as I did before.  However, I see that you are still holding down the fort and the newbies and vets are fortunate to have you here. 

    Take care!

  • Kongo
    Kongo Member Posts: 1,166 Member
    #6
    Great

    Great news, Swing and thanks for listing the nadir study results.  Here's hoping you have continued success in the New Yeear.

  • Swingshiftworker
    Swingshiftworker Member Posts: 1,017 Member
    #7
    Kongo said:

    Great

    Great news, Swing and thanks for listing the nadir study results.  Here's hoping you have continued success in the New Yeear.

    Thanks, Kongo!

    Regarding nadirs, my RO says that, in his experience, 0.3 is the "median".  Can you tell me (us) what your last PSA was?  Just curious.  Thanks!

  • TonyT
    TonyT Member Posts: 5
    #8
    Abbreviaitons

    I am new to the discussion board and am not familiar with the various abbreviations used.  What does CK stand for?

  • CC52
    CC52 Member Posts: 105 Member
    #9
    TonyT said:

    Abbreviaitons

    I am new to the discussion board and am not familiar with the various abbreviations used.  What does CK stand for?

    CK

    Welcome Tony,

    CK = CyberKnife  http://www.cyberknife.com/cyberknife-treatments/prostate/how-used-treat-cancer.aspx

    Good luck, and stay in touch

    CC   

  • JMS58
    JMS58 Member Posts: 22
    #10
    Swingshiftworker said:

    Thanks, Vasco.

    I still log on from time to time and comment when I think it's necessary and appropriate, but I don't log on every day as I did before.  However, I see that you are still holding down the fort and the newbies and vets are fortunate to have you here. 

    Take care!

    Thanks for commenting on my results and giving me good advice

    Thanks Swingshiftworker for commenting on my results and giving me advice and encouragement.

    and glad to hear your winning the battle.

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