Husband diagnosed please help

Hi Peggy, Even if the cancer has spread there are treatments than will help. My husband is only 3 months in and his has spread to bones and lymph nodes. He's on Hormone Therapy and has just started Chemo this week. So far no noticeable side effects and has managed to go to work each day since Chemo started. So don't worry there can be things that will help. We did guess right from the start that his was advanced as his PSA was over a thousand. I do understand the worry and all the waiting for scans and results are difficult to cope with.

Xxx

Edited by member 01 Jul 2017 at 21:08  | Reason: Not specified

Edited by member 03 Jul 2017 at 08:25  | Reason: Not specified

Peggy,

You will have realized from the replies you have received and members histology that are recorded that Prostate Cancer (PCa), is highly complex and with outcomes that can be quite different, even where two men have similar PSA, Gleason score and staging. Some types of PCa respond differently to various treatments for example. Surgery may not be suitable or the best treatment option for some men for example due to other problems or the cancer having advanced beyond the reach of the knife. Some PCa is radio resistant and other treatments may be better but the majority of men at least have surgery or radiotherapy as primary treatment although in the case of radiotherapy, of which there are several types, Hormone therapy is usually started prior to the RT and continued after it. The consultant should discuss suitable treatment options with the patient which can mean it being left to a patient to choose which one to go for. (All treatment options have pros and cons an potential adverse side effects). Therefore, it is worth researching treatments and generally learning more about this disease. A very good place to start is by going to the publications section on the main part of this site and obtaining the 'Tool Kit'.

Treatment does not work well in every case but as it improves, along with early diagnosis, men with PCa are overall living longer and advances mean this should continue to be the case.

Hi Peggy,
Just to say I have seen that you sent me a message but I don't do private messages ... I think it is much safer to ask and answer questions publicly so that any errors or misinformation can be corrected by others.

As to your question above, you are overthinking and letting your imagination run wild so it would be better for your own well-being if you could try to reign it in a bit and wait for the results of the tests. However you are unlikely to get a terminal diagnosis - terminal means there is only a short time left to live and all treatments except pain/symptom relief have been stopped. If your husband'a scans are okay he will get a curative diagnosis - that means they will offer him radiotherapy because they believe it may cure the cancer (technically there is no cure for cancer and the better word for it is that they hope the radiotherapy will put him into full remission). If the scans show the cancer has spread, he will get a diagnosis of advanced / incurable cancer - it can't be cured so they will offer hormone treatment with chemo to control it. Some men on this forum are still here and reasonably healthy 10 years or more after an incurable diagnosis, some live for only a short time. Your oncologist would not be able to give a prediction of how long because he will have no way of guessing how many years the hormones will work for.

In answer to one of your other queries, the doctors can tell from the biopsy how aggressive it is and whether it is one of the rare types that don't work with hormones. The fact that your OH has already been told he will be on hormones means he doesn't have that rare type.

"....why some live long and others don't........"

So many reasons which include how early diagnosed, how timely and good treatment is, type of cancer, age of patient, response to treatment and if cancer mutates and spreads. There is also another imponderable in that only time shows the effect of new treatments and drugs on extending the lives of men with PCa. Very difficult for even patient's consultant to forecast life expectancy as you have seen from members. It really amounts to how lucky a man is. The thing to do is try to put such thoughts aside and concentrate on enjoying the time you have.