WATCHFUL WAITING

lindatn said:

Due to the high psa surgery was not even considered. He had 42 external radiation with 16 to just the prostate. They said he would have to stay on Lupron, he had the last shot on July 31 of 2003 after he finished radiation the week before. He said no more Lupron! Psa was last done on Dec 19th with the reading of .3 He is a very healthy 62 year old. Doctors had told him to expect to live maybe ten years. This was not good enough for us so we went to a alternative Dr in FL, She started him on herbs also we started on several proven cancer fighting minerals and plant extracts. He takes saw palmetto, Lycopene, Q-gel{COQ10} Selenium{SeMSC} zyFlamend, a pateneted SC-CASE product under study for cancer treatment. Grapeseed Extract and other vitamins C and E being the most important. Also Indole 3-Carbinol. As I said we eat no red meat, no sugar, no diary, some cold water fish and a egg a couple times a week. Will it continue to work time will tell but sure a better way of living then Lupron. Having had breast cancer two years ago I became interested in alternatives at that time but did subject my body to chemo, and radiation if I had to do it over again I would probably say no. Linda

Benji48 said:

Hi Linda,
As I said I don't wish to poo-poo or ridicule the herb therapies, I only wish to convey the thought that persons need to be careful. You don't have to "hate to tell me that that is what Lupron does", I know fully well that Lupron is NOT curative but only affects those cells which are testosterone dependent & not the others, and someday those on the therapy reach refractory, where it doesn't work.Anyway with that said here's a link to an article (one of many) about the masking effects of Saw Palmetto.
I wish your husband well and success with his treatments.
http://www.priory.com/med/saw.htm
yours, Benji

edami said:

Benji,
You are correct about saw palmetto, here is a question and answer my wife found in http://www.rcog.com/homeyahoo.htm.:
Q53. How do hormones (Lupron, Zoladex, Casodex, Flutamide, PC-SPES) affect the PSA nadir test?
A. Hormones ruin the PSA nadir test by artificially causing the PSA to become undetectable. Hormones do not cure prostate cancer. Men getting hormones plus radiation cannot determine whether or not they are being cured.

Note: Hormones do not

nodawgs said:

I'm a bachelor and a recently-turned, too-young-for-my-age 63. When it comes to dealing with cancer, I feel like I'm doing something wrong, but don't think so.

I've been living every day like it was my last for most of my life, long before cancer ever reared its head. I thought cancer was stuff other folks got, certainly not me and Superman.

On the thinking Superman and I were invulnerable to about anything but Krypton, I was negligent about checkups and had a far too-late diagnosis for prostate cancer. A screw-up like that on my part resulted in a helpful, but too-late cryoblation procedure. Only months later, danged if lung cancer didn't rear its head...a double whammy. The lung cancer was metastasized to adjacent lymph nodes and the brain. All that was fixed with neurosurgery to remove the brain metastasis, immediately followed by a lung resection to remove the primary tumor. That was done by removing the entire upper, left lobe of my lung and a six-pak of adjacent lymph nodes, two of which were cancerous. I had no post-op radiation or chemo...nuttin, zero, nada. Although the surgical procedures were as successful as it gets, I formed the opinion that neurosurgeons are lousy barbers and cardiothoracic surgeons have been watching too many magicians saw their assistants in half.

I was sitting there on the couch one day bored with this completely unaccustomed, sitting-around mode while attached to this stupid machine pumping post-operative oxygen up my snoot. Hell with this. I turned the machine off and took a short walk....huffing and puffing with the upper half of a lung gone before I even made it to the end of the block. In days following, I did another, and another...eventually moving up to 1.7 miles on the park trails, then a run! Piece of cake, though lots of sweat. Although nearly falling on my face the first try, I built up to a daily, 1.7 mile run in only a few short months. Any reduced lung capacity is now hardly noticed. So much for this lung cancer business...back to my routine of living and enjoying the heck out of every moment possible!

For the past, going on 3 years now, I've been monitored with CT scans and MRIs so frequently, I think I glow in the dark, yet there's still no sign of recurrence of the lung cancer. As far as I'm concerned, it's history. Life is good.

Uh-oh...a prob. By the time I could get back on this prostate cancer business, my PSA had shot up to 142.2 with bone metastases spread to the right shoulder, neck, spine, a couple of ribs, and the pelvis. All of my treatment had been at M.D. Anderson-Houston...and here again...without radiation and/or androgen ablation. A simple anti-androgen treatment works by "blinding" the hormone receptors of prostate cancer cells to the presence of testosterone without the far drastic and aggressive treatment of total androgen ablation, aka testosterone cancellation. My PSA plunged from the previous 142.2 to 72.3 in a mere 16 days. It's now down to 11.0 as of Feb 5, 04 and graphs of PSA trends indicate my PSA is continuing downward...well, for now, anyway. I'll worry about any rise, later. My personal "do list" has me shooting for a negative numbered PSA although there is no such thing. I expect to reach a low-PSA plateau by around May 04. My "do list" also includes maintaining a low-PSA plateau for at least 2-3 years. All systemic pain is gone, I have no side effects worthy of mention, or so much as feel like I have any form of cancer at all. As to sexual side effect of prostate cancer, once you've determined that the nerve bundle is irreversibly nonfunctional, spring for one of the new, 3-piece, saline inflatable penile implants. All of that is done out-patient through a single, small incision, and is undetectable. As this magic, robo-member expands in both girth and length on demand, you're a new King Kong...with an unbelievably better attitude.

I attribute a lot of success to my M.D. Anderson-Houston, research-based treatment protocol and intense monitoring, but give as much or more credit to my own "mental chemo", exercise, and nutritional supplements.

My nutritional supplements include meeting a bunch of nice, but rowdy folks at Hooter's for Hot Wings washed down with a few cold beers. On other occasions, it might be a pre-dinner martini followed by a medium-rare porterhouse steak along with a couple of glasses of a good Merlot or Cabernet, a baked spud drenched in butter and smothered in sour cream/chives, all in the company of a long-legged, voluptuous female bud. Other supplements include baby back ribs, lobster and crab dinners, and being reasonable, always plenty of veggies.

My exercise regimen consists of sitting in a hot spa with a bunch of nutty friends while sipping a Kahlua on the rocks and smoking a smooth, Macanudo ceegar while studying the buoyancy coefficients of mammary glands. Anaerobic exercise involves swinging a leg over a big, hot Harley every time the weather permits. More intense aerobics consists of frequent 1.7 mile fast-walks a few paces behind a bunch of ladies doing same while attempting to wear their spandex out from the inside. Other supplements consist of double doses of kids and grandkids, firing up the charcoal grill for group family gatherings while exceeding my digital camera's memory with lots of memorable pics of family and friends. I could go on and on, but you get the picture.

The graveyards are of full of people that either won't or don't know how to get their attitude in gear. Consequently, they fall into a woe-is-me, self-imposed depression, and leave everything to divine intervention without lifting a finger in their own behalf. It wasn't meant to be that way, folks. As a species, our natural instinct for survival makes us pretty darn sturdy hominoids capable of overcoming many threats on our own.

Having multiple types of unrelated cancer at the same time, I'm probably as close to the cancer picture as many. For instance, try this one on as a visual: sitting in a waiting room and seeing a cute little, bald-headed 6 or 7 year old girl wearing a sailor hat and hopping on the only leg she has to retreive a Winnie-the-Pooh book from the kiddie book shelf...all with a cute smile. Whew! I have grandkids that age, man! I don't care how tough you are, that'll make any dad or granddad get up and go look out the window to prevent folks from seeing a less than dry eye. Here's another: another waiting room and a kick-butt, gorgeous, young soccer mom probably in her early 30s being treated for ovarian cancer...sitting there holding a styrofoam head with a wig perched on it. Holy Cow! How about her kiddos?...her hubby?...her parents and in-laws? For some reason, I'm having a tough time feeling sorry for myself. When I cease to see those sights, I'll give credence to correctly focused divine intervention.

For me, I'm back to doing the same as before...living like each day was my last.

Best to you!

Perry in Texas

nodawgs said:

I'm a bachelor and a recently-turned, too-young-for-my-age 63. When it comes to dealing with cancer, I feel like I'm doing something wrong, but don't think so.

I've been living every day like it was my last for most of my life, long before cancer ever reared its head. I thought cancer was stuff other folks got, certainly not me and Superman.

On the thinking Superman and I were invulnerable to about anything but Krypton, I was negligent about checkups and had a far too-late diagnosis for prostate cancer. A screw-up like that on my part resulted in a helpful, but too-late cryoblation procedure. Only months later, danged if lung cancer didn't rear its head...a double whammy. The lung cancer was metastasized to adjacent lymph nodes and the brain. All that was fixed with neurosurgery to remove the brain metastasis, immediately followed by a lung resection to remove the primary tumor. That was done by removing the entire upper, left lobe of my lung and a six-pak of adjacent lymph nodes, two of which were cancerous. I had no post-op radiation or chemo...nuttin, zero, nada. Although the surgical procedures were as successful as it gets, I formed the opinion that neurosurgeons are lousy barbers and cardiothoracic surgeons have been watching too many magicians saw their assistants in half.

I was sitting there on the couch one day bored with this completely unaccustomed, sitting-around mode while attached to this stupid machine pumping post-operative oxygen up my snoot. Hell with this. I turned the machine off and took a short walk....huffing and puffing with the upper half of a lung gone before I even made it to the end of the block. In days following, I did another, and another...eventually moving up to 1.7 miles on the park trails, then a run! Piece of cake, though lots of sweat. Although nearly falling on my face the first try, I built up to a daily, 1.7 mile run in only a few short months. Any reduced lung capacity is now hardly noticed. So much for this lung cancer business...back to my routine of living and enjoying the heck out of every moment possible!

For the past, going on 3 years now, I've been monitored with CT scans and MRIs so frequently, I think I glow in the dark, yet there's still no sign of recurrence of the lung cancer. As far as I'm concerned, it's history. Life is good.

Uh-oh...a prob. By the time I could get back on this prostate cancer business, my PSA had shot up to 142.2 with bone metastases spread to the right shoulder, neck, spine, a couple of ribs, and the pelvis. All of my treatment had been at M.D. Anderson-Houston...and here again...without radiation and/or androgen ablation. A simple anti-androgen treatment works by "blinding" the hormone receptors of prostate cancer cells to the presence of testosterone without the far drastic and aggressive treatment of total androgen ablation, aka testosterone cancellation. My PSA plunged from the previous 142.2 to 72.3 in a mere 16 days. It's now down to 11.0 as of Feb 5, 04 and graphs of PSA trends indicate my PSA is continuing downward...well, for now, anyway. I'll worry about any rise, later. My personal "do list" has me shooting for a negative numbered PSA although there is no such thing. I expect to reach a low-PSA plateau by around May 04. My "do list" also includes maintaining a low-PSA plateau for at least 2-3 years. All systemic pain is gone, I have no side effects worthy of mention, or so much as feel like I have any form of cancer at all. As to sexual side effect of prostate cancer, once you've determined that the nerve bundle is irreversibly nonfunctional, spring for one of the new, 3-piece, saline inflatable penile implants. All of that is done out-patient through a single, small incision, and is undetectable. As this magic, robo-member expands in both girth and length on demand, you're a new King Kong...with an unbelievably better attitude.

I attribute a lot of success to my M.D. Anderson-Houston, research-based treatment protocol and intense monitoring, but give as much or more credit to my own "mental chemo", exercise, and nutritional supplements.

My nutritional supplements include meeting a bunch of nice, but rowdy folks at Hooter's for Hot Wings washed down with a few cold beers. On other occasions, it might be a pre-dinner martini followed by a medium-rare porterhouse steak along with a couple of glasses of a good Merlot or Cabernet, a baked spud drenched in butter and smothered in sour cream/chives, all in the company of a long-legged, voluptuous female bud. Other supplements include baby back ribs, lobster and crab dinners, and being reasonable, always plenty of veggies.

My exercise regimen consists of sitting in a hot spa with a bunch of nutty friends while sipping a Kahlua on the rocks and smoking a smooth, Macanudo ceegar while studying the buoyancy coefficients of mammary glands. Anaerobic exercise involves swinging a leg over a big, hot Harley every time the weather permits. More intense aerobics consists of frequent 1.7 mile fast-walks a few paces behind a bunch of ladies doing same while attempting to wear their spandex out from the inside. Other supplements consist of double doses of kids and grandkids, firing up the charcoal grill for group family gatherings while exceeding my digital camera's memory with lots of memorable pics of family and friends. I could go on and on, but you get the picture.

The graveyards are of full of people that either won't or don't know how to get their attitude in gear. Consequently, they fall into a woe-is-me, self-imposed depression, and leave everything to divine intervention without lifting a finger in their own behalf. It wasn't meant to be that way, folks. As a species, our natural instinct for survival makes us pretty darn sturdy hominoids capable of overcoming many threats on our own.

Having multiple types of unrelated cancer at the same time, I'm probably as close to the cancer picture as many. For instance, try this one on as a visual: sitting in a waiting room and seeing a cute little, bald-headed 6 or 7 year old girl wearing a sailor hat and hopping on the only leg she has to retreive a Winnie-the-Pooh book from the kiddie book shelf...all with a cute smile. Whew! I have grandkids that age, man! I don't care how tough you are, that'll make any dad or granddad get up and go look out the window to prevent folks from seeing a less than dry eye. Here's another: another waiting room and a kick-butt, gorgeous, young soccer mom probably in her early 30s being treated for ovarian cancer...sitting there holding a styrofoam head with a wig perched on it. Holy Cow! How about her kiddos?...her hubby?...her parents and in-laws? For some reason, I'm having a tough time feeling sorry for myself. When I cease to see those sights, I'll give credence to correctly focused divine intervention.

For me, I'm back to doing the same as before...living like each day was my last.

Best to you!

Perry in Texas