Just diagnosed - feeling broken

Thank you Irun for taking the time to share your journey and for being so positive.  long may it continue.

I am going to pinch this , I love it !

Dream like you have forever, live like you only have today

What beautiful and positive words Irun. I often share the positive feedback and advice from this wonderful forum with my husband. We both benefit such a lot and we remain positive and think how lucky we are to have this support. Maud

Maud

Hi Tracey,

Hopefully someone will come on to help you further as I don’t know too much about chemo and RT.

Have they confirmed how many mets your husband has? When Rob was diagnosed we wanted his prostate out and then deal with the mets later. He just had 2 at the time though, lymph node and pelvic bone. I mentioned before about the Atlanta trial…not sure if this is something you have looked into? I think generally if there are more than 5 areas it wouldn’t be something that couldn’t be done. And I think (non trial) if someone has a recurrence after radical treatment the NHS will treat just 3 areas where cancer has metastasised. Think there is a maximum lifetime dose of RT that you can have and the same area can’t be retreated (although I have seen some things that contradict this).

As for the chemo, many who have had it say it’s less toxic that some of the chemos for other cancers so much more tolerable. Although everyone is different in how they react to different treatments.

Really good news about his PSA, he’s obviously had a good response to the HT and long may that continue.

There are many much more knowledgeable on here who will be able to help, but this should just bump your post up so others will see it.

Wishing you both all the best x

Edited by member 02 Nov 2022 at 21:54  | Reason: Typo

Thanks Elaine 

he has 5 mets, pubic bone, 2 left ribs, lower back and small thoracic spine, oncologist said it isn’t wide spread and deposits are small.  They seemed reluctant to commit to RT, even though there isn’t more than 5.  I have read recently about RT up front being used with good results.  

I will discuss with onco at next meeting 

RT is used in two different ways in advanced cancer.

1. To reduce symptoms - RT can be aimed at individual bone mets to reduce pain or to stabilise a spinal cord compression. It can also be targeted at a lymph node to reduce lymphodema or aimed at a met to stop bleeding, for example. 

2. RT to the prostate can slow down progression - the theory is that the main tumour is like a central heating boiler and knocking out the prostate means there is nothing  to pump the hot water around the house. However, RT to the prostate will only help men who have mets in the lymph nodes, pelvis or lower spine. Because your husband has mets in the ribs and mid- or upper-spine, there is no benefit to outweigh the potential side effects.