dav57

Yes sir only an indication. But the longer it stays undetectable the better. I just had my tested again and <0.1. I see the surgeon on Friday which should be my last heck with him.

Keep on riding.

dav57

I’m really late getting this posted. I’ve been dealing with another family medical situation. I completed my radiation treatments Sept 30. One week post treatment and feeling fine. Looking forward to slowly upping my training but very happy to be riding as much as I am.

cb400bill

Last week Wednesday I went in the local cancer center for my latest hormone injection and PSA test. My oncologist says that because my PSA number is so low at 0.02, and continues to be very stable, that this is likely the final injection that i will need.

mr_bill

Maybe I should update.

They took me off treatment at the end of 2021 due to very rare cognitive side effects.
All indications were all the local treatments worked, there was no evidence of disease, so it made sense to stop treatment, maybe we got it all, and if we didn’t, it might be a long time before there was evidence of disease.

Wouldn’t that have been nice?

I had a biochemical failure (obsolete term), biochemical recurrence, or biochemical relapse last spring.

My PSA became detectable, and was doubling every month. Not good.

It didn’t take too long before I did a bunch of scans. PSMA PET scan, cat scan, bone scan.
Cat scan found some areas to follow up on, bone scan found nothing.
A PSMA PET scan then was equivocal

I had to wait six months to rescan.

In the fall repeated all the scans and the PSMA PET scan confirmed I now have stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer, in a few vertebras, two locations in my pelvis (iliac crest and pubis), and a couple of distant lymph nodes.

Started new drugs, and my testosterone is undetectable, PSA nearly undetectable.

The longer the new drugs keep my cancer from growing again the better, but there will come a day that they will fail.

The cancer has been kind so far, no pain. But the side effects are still hard.

I may get brief vacations from treatment to manage side effects (more formally, intermittent ADT), but for now, it’s wait.

-mr. bill

OldTryGuy

Should *that day arrive* and you become MCRPC, there are many now finding that BAT https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/...%20(Figure%203) is very helpful.

dav57

Sorry to hear this mr bill, keep up the good fight. Let the drugs do their work. keep us updated.

mr_bill

So a brief update.

I am a member of the "stable disease" club. The benefits include but are not limited to seeing my oncologist only once every three months.

My testosterone remains undetectable, and my PSA has been undetectable as well.

My brain fog remains, but has lifted a bit when I started Estrogen Replacement Therapy for my hot flashes. (My docs were surprised by this.)

My stuttering has nearly completely faded. (I never stuttered before the brain fog.)

One of the side effects of prednisone is weight gain, I managed to keep the weight gain on the low side, but I've started strength training, and while my weight remains constant I'm actually building some muscle now.

I was "laid off" in May while on disability leave, but all of my stock units accelerated and vested. I have long term disability insurance, and was recently approved for SSDI. So, I'm lucky that there is no financial toxicity associated with my cancer. Still, it's a surprising way to retire.


Bicycle specific, my fog still keeps me off many of the roads I used to ride. But there are lots of bike paths, separated bike lanes, and bike boulevards that my world is still quite big. (Hardest is the weekends, where the crowds on the closest bike path and my brain fog conspire to NOPE. I guess I'm a weekday warrior now.) Still bike to BIDMC in Boston for oncology and out to Lexington for my primary (non-cancer) care. Winds are stronger, hills steeper, I'm slower, but I still ride. I still ride.

-mr. bill

dav57

great to hear that your status is stable. Also that testosterone and PSA are undetectable. Glad to hear you can still do some riding. Keep up the good fight, it’s working.

for me I’m 17 months post surgery and 1 year post radiation. Just had PSA last week, undetectable. Dr wants to continue PSA every 3 months for 1 more year.

OldTryGuy

Thanks for the update.Great reading something positive when sadly on PCa Forums I continue to read of a life lost due to PCa.

r.e. -- bold My QoL (Quality of Life) is largely dependent on being able to ride. Currently my state of riding is much slower BUT it is still better than unable to ride at all.

I hope you can continue to rotate the cranks for a long time but keep in mind that using electric assist if needed is better than not riding at all. At least IMO

mr_bill

There's no doubt that someday I will ride a bike not like the one I ride now.

While past results is no guarantee of future performance, this knee scooter was my ride a few years ago:



-mr. bill

OldTryGuy

July 2022 was my Wild Hog Encounter for the 2nd time. Crash resulted in a fractured tibia above my left ankle requiring a knee scooter for 4 months. For some strange reason my right knee bone on bone issue has worsened. Do NOT want electric in my future but I might have to capitulate.