Re: rising psa after rp and salvage radiation

[Guest guest]

Thanks Chuck for the information links. I will start ingesting some of it

later this evening.

Just wanted to say that I was having some hip problems and thought the PC may of

went to my hip bone. I had a full body bone scan, which came back negative for

any bone involvement.

I know I have been very fortunate until now, but I do want to continue it a few

more years. I am 77, and I have a partially handicapped wife that needs me to

be around for awhile yet.

Thanks again

Jack

[Guest guest]

" play36@... " wrote:

> Thanks. Perhaps you could comment on this gentlemen's post.

>

> Thanks

>

> I finished my proton treatment at LLUMC on 8/7/09. I've had 3

> PSA test done since then. My concern is the rising of my PSA

> after my treatment. My local urologist has requested me to

> contact LLUMC for my there impression/opinion. Here are my post

> results 11/09-3.20, 7/10-3.54, & 11/10-4.6.

>

> If anyone has any input or similar experience please contact me

> either here or offline at donmuridan@... As you can

> probably guess, i'm a little concerned.

Don,

It does appear that you still have cancer, however I agree with

your urologist that you should contact LLUMC and get their

opinion just in case they have experience with proton patients

who have a PSA history like yours who do not have recurring

cancer.

It is possible that you don't have a recurrence. With radiation

treatments the prostate tissue is usually not destroyed all at

once. It dies slowly over time. It is still capable of giving

off PSA and, I think, still capable of suffering from

prostatitis, which will increase the PSA output.

If you do have a recurrence, the good news is that your " PSA

velocity " , the rate of increase of PSA, is not too bad. It could

take years before the cancer becomes dangerous, even without any

further treatment. However, further treatments (especially

hormone therapy - which Chuck discusses in his paper and which

are also discussed in all of the links below), can keep the

cancer under control for a long period. I don't know how old you

are, but I think there is a reasonable chance that with good

medical advice and care you will live many years, never

experience any PCa symptoms, and die of something other than PCa.

Given the low PSA velocity, I think you've probably got time to

seek out the best medical advice you can get, and figure out the

best treatment, if any is needed, that's right for you. I don't

think you have to immediately run out and get a shot of Lupron

without considering all alternatives and developing a thought out

plan.

I'm not a doctor and not qualified to give you medical advice,

but my layman's opinion is that you should find the best medical

oncologist you can find, one with lots of experience with

prostate cancer, and talk to him about all of the issues

discussed in Chuck Maack's paper.

Some other references that may be of use to you include:

http://www.yananow.org

http://www.cancer.gov

http://www.prostate-cancer.org/pcricms/

The last listed site has a web page with advice on how to find a

specialist. See: http://www.prostate-cancer.org/pcricms/node/38

Best of luck.

Alan