Question for all you HT guys

The lower the better, but everyone has a different experience. Percentage wise, he is getting a good reduction, and it's still shrinking so that's good. A "T" of below 50 is considered a castrate level; some docs push for lower with combinations of different drugs.

You might want to research something called the CHAARTED trial, which demonstrated that in men who were in your husband's situation, (newly diagnosed, not-yet-castrate-resistant, and metastatic) that there is good evidence to support giving Docetaxal (taxotere) at same time as HT. This research was just reported this year, so it is not yet part of the official guidelines. But worth asking about.

I had initial PSA of over 100 with metastatic spread to both lungs a year ago. The Lupron shots resulted in dramatic decrease of PSA over the course of a few months. Since then, starting this past summer, I qualified for the new approach of adding six chemotherapy (Taxotere) treatments, which were given in addition to the Lupron hormone shots. I just finished the series of six chemotherapy treatments (Taxotere infusions) given every three weeks, for a total of 18 weeks of chemotherapy treatment.

The combination of both Lupron (hormone shots) and the Taxotere (chemotherapy treatments) resulted in a PSA of now less than 0.10. Giving the chemotherapy concurrently with the hormone shots for advanced prostate cancer is now considered the new standard of care and has been shown to have beneficial results. In my case, the hormone shots are administered through the urologist's office, while the chemotherapy treatments are administered through an oncologist's office. I had to ask for a referral to an oncologist so that I could receive the chemotherapy treatments.

It looks like your PSA scores continue to decline, which is a very hopeful sign. Please continue to keep in touch through Healing Well and keep everyone updated on your progress.

With caring thoughts sent out to you,
Cyclone

Just like every PCa case is diffrent, so is every man's response to Lupron, both with respect to side effects and pSA reduction.

I can give you my metrics which were low to start with. I started Lupron 3-28-13

20130115 3.68 293
20130426 0.90 24
20130808 0.68
20131112 0.20 5
20140211 0.12 <3
20140513 0.10 3

Currently PSA <0.01 and T<3 but who is to say whether that is the Lupron, the Zytiga, the Provenge or the SBRT radiation to prostate and to pelvic girdle.

The only goal you need to establish is continued downward trend as long as possible, not any discrete PSA or T-level.

Kind of like when having a baby, not such much praying for one gender or another, jsut healthy.

LupronJim

Blood drawn this am. Now the waiting begins??? Should have the results in the am. Does the waiting ever get easier??

Fnp256 said...
Blood drawn this am. Now the waiting begins??? Should have the results in the am. Does the waiting ever get easier??

Yes, a little, a bit, after many years of doing this.

There is a lot riding on the number. Don't worry that you worry about worrying...

Just try and distract your mind while waiting for the results. Personally I just go run noise power tools until the results are in. Everybody has their own way of coping.

Hang in there,
Andrew