Stage 4 Prostate Cancer

Hi Dara, glad you are coping well. I agree it is good to chat get things out in the open at least to someone who is going through something similar. I am not too well up on the stages of cancer. In my case I had a raised psa and a biopsy was done and straight away I began hormone therapy. I am on hormone therapy now for two years since diagnosis. It does not affect me all that much except in the sex department - no sex-. I am having Sumito for secondaries in the spine. A recent full body bone scan showed no signs of spreading. So I haven't given up work yet and still studying. My psa has gone up marginally and I am having Sumuto every month. As well as the hormone 50 mg Casodex and Prostap every six months it seems to be doing the job. I walk three or four times a week into the city centre to work and have no side effects. I just keep busy. Keep in touch anyway. I think this board is a bit quiet in this area. I have been studying pH levels which are reduced when a person has cancer. So I supplement with bicarbonate of soda to keep the pH at just above 7. Anyway keep in touch . Cheers Brian.

[quote="BrianMacca":3p8rwsb8]Hi Dara, glad you are coping well. I agree it is good to chat get things out in the open at least to someone who is going through something similar. I am not too well up on the stages of cancer. In my case I had a raised psa and a biopsy was done and straight away I began hormone therapy. I am on hormone therapy now for two years since diagnosis. It does not affect me all that much except in the sex department - no sex-. I am having Sumito for secondaries in the spine. A recent full body bone scan showed no signs of spreading. So I haven't given up work yet and still studying. My psa has gone up marginally and I am having Sumuto every month. As well as the hormone 50 mg Casodex and Prostap every six months it seems to be doing the job. I walk three or four times a week into the city centre to work and have no side effects. I just keep busy. Keep in touch anyway. I think this board is a bit quiet in this area. I have been studying pH levels which are reduced when a person has cancer. So I supplement with bicarbonate of soda to keep the pH at just above 7. Anyway keep in touch . Cheers Brian.[/quote:3p8rwsb8]

Thanks for coming back, Brian. Yes, the old sex drive tends to diminish a fair bit. It is not that much of an issue for me, but I know that there are ways and means of keeping it going if it is a problem for you (Viagra on prescription, for example).

You don't mention your PSA and Gleeson score. In the first year, I wasn't that interested in knowing the complete picture, as they had immediate problems to sort out (kidney failure, for one) and I concentrated on the current problems and didn't bother with the longer term. It sounds as if you are going through a similar process to the one I went through. I am now 3.5 years into this situation. i have stopped work. My job are very good to me and there is no pressure to return. I have managed to do a bit of travel (south of France, Venice) and a bit of exercise, but I am slowing up now. My current chemo is taking a bit out of me.

But everyone is different. You may be stronger than me, and you may respond much better to the treatment. That you are exercising and that there is no spread to the bones is encouraging. I hope it continues. That's interesting about the PH levels. I have read that I need to be following an alkaline diet (as opposed to acidic). It didn't occur to me to take something to boost the PH levels. I will look into this.

I have now moved onto Cabazitaxel. This is another chemo drug, and I will be doing chemo now for the next 4 months. I don't know the expected outcome. But it should improve things to some degree. This will do for now.

I will stay in touch, Brian. Keep the spirits up - all the medical people recommend it. Try and get some laughs into your day, if only by looking up comedy sketches on Youtube. It all helps. Thanks again for replying. Talk to you again soon. Dara

[quote="BrianMacca":2b83pjmu]Hi Dara, glad you are coping well. I agree it is good to chat get things out in the open at least to someone who is going through something similar. I am not too well up on the stages of cancer. In my case I had a raised psa and a biopsy was done and straight away I began hormone therapy. I am on hormone therapy now for two years since diagnosis. It does not affect me all that much except in the sex department - no sex-. I am having Sumito for secondaries in the spine. A recent full body bone scan showed no signs of spreading. So I haven't given up work yet and still studying. My psa has gone up marginally and I am having Sumuto every month. As well as the hormone 50 mg Casodex and Prostap every six months it seems to be doing the job. I walk three or four times a week into the city centre to work and have no side effects. I just keep busy. Keep in touch anyway. I think this board is a bit quiet in this area. I have been studying pH levels which are reduced when a person has cancer. So I supplement with bicarbonate of soda to keep the pH at just above 7. Anyway keep in touch . Cheers Brian.[/quote:2b83pjmu]

Hi again Brian

I'm just checking in with you to see how things are going. I've had a bit of a setback in that it is into my back at the moment and that gave me severe pain. Back into hospital for a few days, and they doubled my steroids, which cleared up the pain. We are now looking at some radiation to target spots in the back, and I am hoping for another chemo drug to come through from the US. This will take a few weeks. So I go from stage to stage and we have a plan of sorts for going forward and this is all I need at the moment.

I'm mobile again, out driving and doing things. Reading a lot - I'm doing some research into mediavel Irish life, which keeps me interested. I'd love to be strong enough to go hill walking now that the weather is getting better, but that's a bit of a stretch. Short exercises and walking.

Spirits are good. Drop us a line if you're in the mood. As I said, I think it is good for those in our situation to have somewhere to talk about it, so always good to hear from you.

All the best

Dara