Re: Curious about rising PSA

[Guest guest]

Larry:

We're all destined to have those days. We're facing an insidious adversary. But a positive attitude goes a long way toward keeping this adversary at bay, bolstered, of course, with a healthy dose of modern medical science.

Tom

RE: Courious about rising PSA

Well from what I understand about the radiation they can re-nuke you if that is what they think it would help. Chances are it won’t. When they nuke you the first time they take an educated guess on where the cancer cells reside. (Hint: it is close to the prostate). So they nuke the prostate bed (carpet bomb was my oncologist’s term for it). If they think they need it they may nuke your lymph nodes too. Then it is a waiting game. If the PSA goes up the tendency is to assume the cancer cells have escaped the pelvic bed and has migrated to the rest of the body. The $100,000 question is where? You can only nuke them if you know were they are and then only if it is in an area where they can safely zap them. The other option is to use a systemic (whole body) treatment instead of radiation. That is why chemo is the more common “next step”.

From: ProstateCancerSupport [mailto:ProstateCancerSupport ] On Behalf Of Jim HoppeSent: Wednesday, August 11, 2010 9:58 PMTo: ProstateCancerSupport Subject: RE: Courious about rising PSA

I'm anxious to see what mine is ....the first time. AND..i would like to HOPE that I won't get shot number two..and more of the sweats. BUT..you hve to do what you have to do. Those .06 numbers seem REALLY LOW TO me...but will have to wait and see. WILL LET YOU KNOW...

and once you have had the radiation...I had 28 sessions...can they RESTART and do more at a later date? I never thought to ask that...> Diagnosed with an aggressive case of PCa in October and was> immediately put on hormones. I had my prostatectomy the end of> February. The post operative biopsy showed that I had positive> margins and radiation would be next on the agenda. My 3 month> post-op PSA measurement was 0.05. I was very happy with the> low reading. The low reading was expected since I am still on> hormone therapy. My concern is my Oncologist wanted a base> line PSA just before starting the radiation. 2.5 months after> my last PSA reading the numbers went up to 0.11. Is this> something to worry about? Should I just wait and see what> happens after the radiation is over?Any rise in PSA is worrisome, but there's nothing to do about itbut wait and see.The fact that you had positive margins actually turns out to be agood thing. It means that there was cancer in the areaimmediately around the prostate. That area will be reached byyour radiation.If you had negative margins, that would have meant that the PSAwas coming from someplace other than immediately around theprostate - obviously a bad thing because it might not be withinthe radiation field. You may still have cancer in some areaoutside the radiation field, in which case the radiation won'tcure you, but at least the evidence suggests that you've got afighting chance.Your doctor may want you to continue the hormone therapy for asignificant time after the radiation ends. You may not want todo that, but if he recommends it, I would give it very seriousconsideration. It is my understanding that statistics show thatradiation plus hormones provides a better shot at salvage thanradiation alone, though the doc should have a better idea aboutyour specific case.Best of luck Larry. May all your cancer cells be zapped.Alan