Hey Todd! Sorry to hear the recovery is a little rough. The very fact they can replace an entire knee is a little mind-blowing. Here's hoping it continues to improve, and certainly that it does so in...
Yep, we need to pay attention to all of our regular health maintenance checks as we age! I had a "tubular adenoma" polyp at my previous colonoscopy, thus had a 5 year interval. So this time, about 3...
Hey Steelguy - so good to hear from you. Your advice was helpful to me early on, and I'm not far behind you (10 years for me in April 2023). You've been fighting a long fight! All the best to you, my...
Hey Dracus. Congrats on making it through all of that! My treatment plan was almost identical, though I was only 55 at the time. When I came off of Lupron, my testosterone recovered pretty fast; in...
Permanent ADT means permanently eliminating testosterone, no matter how it's done. Chemical and surgical means are available. Surgery is even less expensive if done under local anesthetic (as mine...
My diagnosis was similar in 2013. I'll be at 10 years next April, and expecting to still be doing fine. My path has been a little convoluted, but at present I have No Evidence of Disease (NED). When...
This study just arrived in my inbox today. It's specifically for Very High Risk cases (as mine was). I find it interesting since this is an ongoing discussion for many types of prostate cancer. This...
I have a friend who is baffled as to why I still participate in cancer forums or support groups. She says, "You're over it, right? Why dwell on it? Why talk about it? Just forget it!". And no,...
This is a real disease, and though we mostly focus on diagnostics and therapies here, we are all real people. Real people, with real hopes, fears, joys, successes, and yes... occasional failures. The...
If you look at the first page of this lengthy thread, you can find a lot of people diagnosed with various Gleason scores. For some time, I tried to keep up putting people's first posting with their...
I seem to recall you're on Lupron for ADT. Some people respond better to it than others do. There are other ADT drugs available that could be considered, if your doctors think the T needs to be kept...
I was 55 when diagnosed, and joined here in 2013. I recall some of the folks you mentioned. We have lost a few along the way, but it is the nature of this disease. A temporary inconvenience for...
I'll suggest, since surely no one else here will, that he consider transdermal estradiol patches. I feel a bit like a broken record, but I'll keep mentioning this on such threads. These patches...
RobLee, that is so very common. Doctors are peculiarly uninterested in hormonal manipulation to treat a hormonally-dependent disease and its associated side effects. I really don't get it, and find...
I agree. Dr. Charles "Snuffy" Myers prescribed them for his patients on long-term ADT. Fairly low dose, 0.025 - 0.050 mg/day transdermal skin patches, changed twice weekly, seem enough to manage...
The usual issue was mentioned above. Even given high risk PCa, the surgery patients tend to be younger and in better health. Radiation is more often (at least historically) offered to older men less...
Spoiler alert! Avert your gaze if you haven't seen the movie yet... The scene that got me was the intended one I'm sure, the ultimate resolution of the conflict between Maverick and Rooster, when...
This is pretty interesting. I had WPRT to 54 Gy, and then further to prostate only for 79 Gy to it. That was nine years ago now, and I have blessedly had no noticeable issues from it so far. At the...
Per my earlier post in this thread, I chose bilateral orchiectomy for permanent ADT. I am very pleased with the result, as I have heard from others who've made the same choice. Minor surgery, one...
Thanks for posting, Todd! I always enjoy your take on things. I'm a bit envious about the shaving thing, I must admit. It's still an every day thing for me! "This Is Us"... yeah... we just watched...
A lot guys over their mid-50s have some degree of gyno. It's not a big deal. It is... troubling... when showering, since it's not how we've seen ourselves most of our life. My wife's fine with how I...
This is a tough one. I'm not current on recent studies, but I found myself in a somewhat similar situation after my primary ADT ended. Mine was a "very high risk" version, with only a 5.2 PSA at...
My dx is in my signature. In summary, rather a dire diagnosis. This will get a bit long, as I've been at this for nine years now! My ADT experience started 9 years ago, with my very first treatment...
Low dose estradiol skin patches can very effectively stop almost all of the side effects. 0.025 to 0.050 mg/day patches can be enough. Dr. Charles Myers used them with his long term ADT patients. I’m...
To answer your specific question, if one is definitely being placed on lifelong ADT, orchiectomy is a valid option. The main side effects are due to loss of testosterone, same for ADT. Though ADT may...
Mrs. Redwing and I plan to be there. We've made our hotel reservations already! It will be so great to catch up with everyone. We weren't able to make last fall's gathering, so it has been a long...
I had one in 2013. In hindsight, it could have been disastrous. My PSA was only 5.2 (up from 4.1 six months earlier). We were debating whether to do a biopsy or not, so the PCA3 test was chosen as...
Hey Dave, sorry you need to be here! It is never clear with an aggressive G9 case what the "best" treatment plan may be. More than one mode of treatment is usually performed, "multimodal". Mine was...
Wow. We met now almost 8 years ago! Your story is still one of the most inspiring I've ever heard. Your presence here is a beacon of hope to so many. I'm glad to see you still pop in occasionally!...
Hey there, sorry to hear of your diagnosis. That is a shock. You have had aggressive treatment, and may do very well indeed. Never give up hope! Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), there are not...
That over treatment issue is the primary driver for the revised Grade Group system. Instead of telling guys they have a Gleason 6 on a scale of 10, which sounds pretty scary, they have a Grade Group...
Glad to help. If interested, I know one person who went to Dr. Movagharnia's clinic in Atlanta and was very pleased with the result. He had both operations at the same time. Here's a link to his...
That's terrific! I remember so clearly the early days when we both were working through some of the details, and learning all of this. It has been quite the journey for you, and I'm so very glad...
It's completely optional. The most common simple scrotal orchiectomy just makes slits in the scrotum to access the testicles. They're excised, tidied up, and the incisions simply closed. Nothing else...
A follow up post, just one article to support there are reasonable people with reasonable concerns about these "vaccines". May I suggest tempering the passion and attacks on people who may be less...
I hope no one coming to this site for prostate cancer support runs across this thread. Some of the comments here are are nothing short of terrifying. I'm at a loss for words. [Edit to add: by the...
Nothing specific. But quite some time ago I read that Ritalin was used by some to help offset the truly debilitating fatigue. That was by far the worst part for me of ADT, that bone-grinding,...
Great answers all. For me, the balance beam is the single event that I always find breathtaking. Followed closely by the high divers, like the 14 yo Chinese girl who ripped every entry. The precision...
Great discussion, and Denis does a good job of running this discussion group. We had 18 on the call tonight!...
Heh, well, thanks for asking! A couple of things combined for that. I like the Detroit Redwings, and I have a red Honda Gold Wing motorcycle (a red 'Wing'). My mom's favorite bird was the cardinal,...
You crack me up, Todd!...
I wouldn't go to a MLB game, but for the sake of this exercise, if I did I wouldn't go onto the field. If in the stands, yeah, I'd stand. I've been through a lot, and have earned that much I guess....
In the midst of so much troubling news, I'd like to report a little good news. I just had my 6-month PSA check, and it is still undetectable (<0.03 ng/dL)! So, 2-1/2 years after my suspected...
This is terribly sad. I met Gunner34 at multiple GFMPH events, drove him to the airport from Brusly to New Orleans one year, and talked to him quite a bit here on the forum too. He was an...
Transdermal estrogen patches can help with most side effects of ADT. Just something to talk to your doctor about. I'm on them, and I feel great. Dr. Charles "Snuffy" Myers talked about how he did...
Great post, Denis. This is so important. We can become rather self-centered in all of this, and lose sight of the strain on our caregivers. This is very hard for them, since it affects them very...
We, and our doctors, seem to be at the mercy of so much technology! During my radiation therapy, they were having some trouble with the Varian (with RapidArc) x-ray machine. This machine delivered...
My pastor in Tennessee had a colorectal melanoma. It affects only some 200 people per year, so it is quite rare. There wasn't a whole lot they could do for him beyond surgery, and a trial of...
Heh. And now there are "grade groups", intended to segregate diagnoses by the relative risk. Grade Group 1 (Gleason score ≤6) – Only individual discrete well-formed glands • Grade Group 2 (Gleason...
"Scanxiety" is a real thing! Even when we expect good numbers, we kind of know the flipside is possible. Yet, worry steals the joy from the present. You're an inspiration to countless people facing...