HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

It's Back....or maybe it never left

Support Forums
>
Prostate Cancer
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 5/16/2014 3:05 PM (GMT -5)
Got the results of my PSA  and it is the kind of news none of us wants to hear.  No matter how hard I try, I can't get my membership in this club revoked.  PSA is 0.3.  That makes three successive rises in a year and my Uro is now pushing radiation.  Think I may have found a good medical Oncologist and am in the process of having my Uro make the referral.  So before my first appointment any advice or information anyone can provide as I head towards salvage radiation? 

Jim

Posted 5/16/2014 6:45 PM (GMT -5)
I'm in ur boat. PSA of .3 at 8 months post op but I'm GL 9 pt3b, started Lupron and starting SRT next week. Fingers crossed!
Bob
Posted 5/16/2014 7:30 PM (GMT -5)
After my daVinci prostate removal my psa was .3; I signed up for 38 radiation treatments and had psa done 3 months later and it was .4; next psa reading is in 2 weeks........not sure if the radiation helped at all.......best of luck to you....
Posted 5/16/2014 8:03 PM (GMT -5)
So before my first appointment any advice or information anyone can provide as I head towards salvage radiation?

act swiftly. you can be cured! best of luck to you.

ed
Posted 5/16/2014 8:27 PM (GMT -5)
Doing the SRT is a no-brainer..There is a 50-50 chance it could cure you. Why pass that up? The side-effects are minimal. But get pre-approval from your insurance company, know what this will cost you, it's expensive..And since a lot of money is going to be spent and your life is on the line, find a top notch radiation oncologist who has access to the latest LINAC's (the machines that deliver the radiation.) The newer ones are far more advanced than the older equipment still being used by some facilities...In other words, do your homework...Best of luck to you...
Posted 5/17/2014 9:31 AM (GMT -5)
I did ART because of my high Gleason score. The SE from radiation are not that awful. I did a hilly 50 mile bike ride two days after my last treatment. It may cure you. Go for it.
Posted 5/17/2014 9:55 AM (GMT -5)
Thanks for everyone's comments. There is no question that I plan to go the radiation route. Just a matter of getting the appointment. Uro said hormone therapy could be an option alone or in conjunction with radiation but personally he thought my best option is salvage radiation alone. Of course, he said the Oncologist will ultimately suggest what road I follow. My only problem is the desire to get the best Oncologist using the latest equipment. Unfortunately that is easier said than done. Given that I live in rural South Carolina and am still working, my options are really limited. I need to go someplace relatively close by that still allows me to go to work each day. I simply don't have enough days to take off for several weeks of treatment at a center in a bigger city. Looks like I will be trusting my life to an Oncologist and facilities in Beaufort. Just hope and pray for the best.
Posted 5/17/2014 1:59 PM (GMT -5)
Here are a few items to discuss:

1. Amount of radiation - it now seems that at least 70 Gy are preferred. This is entirely safe on the newer linacs.

2. Neoadjuvant hormone therapy - 2 months of hormone therapy before treatment may sensitize the cancer to the radiation. It is unclear that this is necessary if the dose is 70 Gy.

3. Adjuvant hormone therapy - 6 months of hormone therapy during and after treatment for clean-up has been found to improve results with a Gleason 4+3. However, it is unclear that this is necessary if the dose is 70 Gy. Hormone therapy increases the risks of side effects.

4. Whole pelvic radiation/lymph nodes - with your low pre-op PSA and you didn't mention any lymph node invasion on your RP, so it may be overkill.

5. Side effects - discussion of early use of medications for lower urinary tract symptoms - an alpha blocker like Flomax and Cialis. Cialis may do double-duty in protecting sexual apparatus.

Exercise is very important. It helps the radiation work better, protects healthy tissue, combats fatigue and improves mood. I hope you will ignore well-meaning but misguided people who urge you to "take it easy."

- Allen
Posted 5/17/2014 6:17 PM (GMT -5)
Tall Allen thanks for the information. There was no lymph node invasion.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply