Hmm

This treatment method, which generally also includes hormone therapy, generally has excellent results. Problem is you're never quite sure, because PSA never goes away entirely. With surgery the PSA usually drops to zero and stays there, if it was successful, or starts to go back up again if it wasn't. With primary RT of any form the PSA bounces around as the cancer cells slowly die off. And because the prostate gland is still in there, PSA is still produced.

My understanding of the reason very few doctors do HDR Brachy is that there are so few treatments that there's no money to be made in it. They insert the tubes and inject the isotopes and then pull them back out and you're done... leaving the patient to wonder if it's really working or not. Don't worry though, there's nothing else you can do now. Once you've chosen this path you have to stick it out until the end.

Steve1961 said:

Thanks I am sure there are ,

I just need to stop thinking this isn’t goin* to work ..the thought of hormone treatments the rest of my life would do me in ...I already have a muscle disorder ..I am sure there are many men out there that have been cured with many Treatments and we don’t hear about them ...my wife’s uncle had seeds 30 years ago he is good ..my aunts husband had surgery at age 70 he is 84 now lols like he is 65 ..I just need to be hopeful and happy ..by my stinking nerves won’t let it be ...damnit ...I keep thinking how could I have skipped plan a knowing that I had an aggressive type of cancer with a greater chance of reoccurance...I feel guilty and ashamed ..hopefu it will all work out for all of us ...god bless...oh BTW combo treatment is huge Money  twice as much as surgery ..thinks that’s one reason he pushed it on me 

Hey Steve,

I am sorry you are struggling so much.  Believe me, I have had very similar feelings.  It can be very hard to get out of your own thoughts and just enjoy life.  Two suggestions for what they are worth.  One, although I really get a lot out of this forum, I would not hesitate to join a local support group to meet and talk to other survivors.  Two, if you find that you can not stop these obsessive thoughts, you may want to speak with a doctor about some chemical help.  I have taken 20 mg of Paxil for many years.  It is the lowest therapeutic dose, but it takes just enough of the edge off that I can do the rest of the work myself.  I resisted for a long time, out of some kind of misplaced machoism, but I am glad that I changed my mind.  You don't have to suffer unnecessarily.

Eric

Hi RobLee,

Around 55% of men will recover something approaching the lower limit of testostrone after 18 months ADT, some men get a double whammy, their testosterone does not recover and the cancer returns in the castrate resistant form.
I think mine is unlikely to recover as the degarelix has caused my blood pressure and blood glucose to rise and these are bad indicators for recovery.
My libido is still active and although my body is physically dead from a sexual point my mind continues with erotic dreams up and including quite painful orgasms.
I was offered antidepressants that might have got rid of this little problem by destroying the mental side of my libido as well but I refused.

Best wishes,

Georges

RobLee said:

Georges, eonore

My prostatectomy was two and a half years ago, with adjuvant RT a year later. My HT was to be 18 months, but now a full year after my last Lupron shot, my testosterone level is still eleven (11).  As most of you probably know, normal is 300-700.  Although my PSA has been essentially undetectable, I won't know if the triple play was truly effective until after the testosterone begins to rise again. So far, that's not happening. So as you said, all I can do now is "stick it out and hope."

Regarding chemical help, the chaos surrounding my own cancer treatments really stressed me out. I was crying all the time. The effects of the Lupron only compounded my emotional instability and I experienced frequent outbursts, especially with my wife's lymphoma diagnosis just within a few months. None of my doctors were any help. I had to personally research antidepressants and determine which one might be most effective for what I was going thru. Though I was initially reststant, as eonore stated, eventually I demanded a script for venlafaxine from my GP. It has been very effective for nearly two years now. One must be their own advocate.  Doctors don't take hints and wherever possible, they tend to just do nothing.

Glad to see you writing again, Rob.  You probably know that several of us were concerned about you a while back.

max

Steve

No one here is saying anything negative - we are all trying to help. If there is a disagreement it is simply because we think it better to dwell on the positive. No good can come of validating negatives.

With regards to cribriform, I was told by my UK forum wise one that even having read the reports the take away is that cribriform is a diagnostic marker to upgrade a 3 to a 4 with proportionate grading and risking. it does not add risk - it qualifies it. I was graded 4 + 3 based on ALL the patterns which included cribriform and mucinous. My recurrence was more likely down to PNI within the gland, hopefully very localised. I have learned to accept that.

You need to come to a place where you accept your choice and move on. Literally nothing good at all can come of agonising over your choice. You are at an early stage in your journey and there is nothing to indicate yet that the journey will have less optimal outcomes. Hang on and look forward.

H

Cribriform is a feature rather than a type and exists as a spectrum. I have done the research and it suggests that it is used to guide grading which at the end of the day is the best marker for a situation unless you have something out of the ordinary like small cell.