New Prostrate Diagnosis

Josephg said:

Options and Quality of Life

I'm sorry to read about your husband.  We are all laypersons here, so we cannot give you specific medical advice.  But, we are all prostate cancer (PCa) survivors here, and we have all researched and grown our PCa knowledge base, and we can give you our layperson assessments and recomendations, from the patient's perspective. 

There are basically 4 potential options for folks who contract PCa.  1) do nothing immediate, but watch and test through periodic biopsies, called Active Surveillance, 2) remove the prostate through surgery, either open or robotic assisted, 3) attack and kill the cancer with radiation therapy in the prostate and/or wherever it is located through scans, 4) drive back, but not kill, the PCa through palliative hormone therapy.  Options 2, 3, and 4 all have side effects of varying degrees, some temporary, and some permanent.

In your husband's situation, based upon his age, the Gleason 9 staging, and the fact that the PCa has made its way to his bone tissue, my layperson opinion is that Active Surveillance and surgery won't be recommended.  If there is bone pain associated with the PCa in the bone tissue, then targeted radiation therapy can reduce and/or eliminate the pain in the affected area by killing the PCa in that area.  Hormone therapy could slow down the PCa progression in the bone tissue or other areas, where in might now be residing.

My layperson recommendation to you is locate and engage a Medical Oncologist and work with that person to map out a treatment strategy, which will best meet your husband's needs and desires.  A Medical Oncologist does not have a predisposition toward any specific treatment option, and will be crucial, if your husband decides to pursue hormone therapy.

At this stage in his life, quality of life going forward will most likely be, and should be in my layperson opinion, a very important factor in evaluating potential treatment options.

If you are agreeable to posting your husband's biopsy results and his PCa staging assessment, some of the more knowledgeable folks on this Forum can give you their layperson thoughts and perspectives.

I wish your husband the best of outcomes on his PCa journey.

He began on the Firmogon and Xtande the day after the biospy and bone scan. The bone scan showed seriois bone involvement. They will add Xgeva on his 4 week return this March 17. It greatly improved the pain. He is still short of breath. Will locate the results and post tomorror. Righ now we need to go out to dinner. 

I am in remission from CLL/SLL, so I am very familiar wih much in regards to cancer. But with only this short of time, I thought perhaps those here who had years to do research would know the newest drugs on the market. 

Thanks ever so much and look forward to chatting later.