New member - brief history

Posted June 7, 2004 · June 7, 2004

Hello to the Group

My husband, Ian, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in Feb 2003. At

that stage, his Gleason was 8 (4+4), his PSA was 45 and rising

rapidly, his stage was T3a (tumour out of the capsule), but he had no

visible bone mets or lymph node involvement. He was started on

Zoladex (3-monthly injections) immediately (with Casodex for the

first 3 weeks), and offered the option of radiotherapy to the

prostate at the local hospital in Kent. This would have been 55Gy

over 4 weeks on a 3D conformal machine. We asked for a second

opinion and were referred to the Royal Marsden (Dr Dearnaly).

To cut a long story short, we opted to go on a clinical trial there,

which gave radiotherapy to the whole pelvis (70Gy to the prostate and

60Gy to the pelvis) using an IMRT machine over 7 weeks. Ian's PSA

fell rapidly to 0.72 in May 2003, but then began to rise again and

was up to 1.10 by Dec 2003, just before the RT began in January

2004. After RT, it fell (end March) to 0.26 and in May was down to

0.12. Our next appointment (next PSA measurement) is July, and we

are obviously hoping it will continue to fall. Meanwhile, he

continues on Zoladex.

Ian had surprisingly few side effects from the radiation (we had been

nervous because he has had haemorrhoids), but the Zoladex continues

to make him very tired. There seems to be no easy answer to this.

If his PSA is still low at the end of three years, he will come off

the Zoladex.

One of the advantages of a clinical trial is the close follow-up.

Ian has had 7 clinics since the beginning of the year, with the next

in July - all being well, it then goes to 6 months. This trial was

for people with Gleason 7 or upwards and no bone mets. Even if in

the end it doesn't work, we both feel it was the right route for

Ian. But deciding on the route for yourself is very tricky - so many

optins, so little concrete information, just probabilities.

Just a brief introduction, and I look forward to being a member of

this group.

All the best

Sheena Carmichael

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