I had been having PSA checks during my annual physical for 15 years. My PSA level had been increasing but my internist was not concerned. In 2014 my internist retired and my new doctor decided to send me to a urologist. The I do found my PSA to be 8.1 but in 2 months it had gone up to 11.4 . I had a biopsy 2 weeks later. It was positive on the left node with a Gleason of 6. The I do ordered CT sons bone scans done. Both were negative. Given the Gleason score and the scan results I decided on a prostatectomy. Surgery was on Sept 3 and I am still in the hospital. I am surprised at the low level of pain and discomfort. I will walk today and everything looks good.

I returned home from the hospital yesterday. The wound drain was removed which was quite painful. My hospital stay was uneventful. I was on ice chips only the first day, then clear liquids, and then a regular diet for the last day. They wanted me to have a BM before I left but as you can see there wasn't much to s--t out. I have a week before I get the Foley and stitches out.

I had a RRP on Sept 3, 2015 and had my first post appointment today, Sept 14. My cancer was completely contained in the prostate. There was no involvement of the lymph nodes, seminal vesicles or elsewhere. I will have my first PSA in a couple of months. Meanwhile I will have to cope with incontinence issues. The first day without the Foley has gone pretty well. The dribbling seems to be less than I expected. I have already learned that I will have to monitor my fluid intake fairly closely. The doctor said I should pee before 3 PM, so I drank 3.5 liters of liquid. Needless to say I did pee in streams.

I went back to work yesterday after 18 days at home. No ill effects. I was a little tired but nothing else. I am still dribbling at work but nothing that I can't handle.

It's been nearly 3 months since my surgery. I'm back at work and have no problems there. I have noticed that my depends and pads only have a few dribbles now. I expect to be rid of the depends soon. I do have ED. I will have to wait on that.

I am back on my mountain bike and can ride 10 miles with no problems. Is at the my first PSA will be at the end of December. I am a little anxious about the outcome but I suppose that I'd to be expected.

I had my first post-surgery PSA done in early January. I was surprised to find out that it was 5.3. I got worried and had another PSA done by my internist in early March that resulted in a PSA of 9.55. Obviously something was going on and I must conclude that the initial RRp failed. I went back to my urologist with the new result (9.55). He had be have a PET scan last week and I got the results today. The scan produced no metastasis anywhere. He presumes that I have prostate cancer cells in my system that have not yet produced tumors elsewhere. I have an appointment with the oncologist next week to discuss hormone therapy of some sort. I know that these results are not positive; however, I was encouraged that there were no tumors elsewhere in my body. These high post surgery PSA's are surprising since the path reports after surgery indicated no involvement in the lymph nodes, the seminal vesicles. The prostate capsule was also intact.

I saw the oncologist yesterday. He recommended EBTR along with Lupron. He thinks the cancer is still in the prostate bed, but he added the ADT to get rid of any cancer Mets.

I had my first post-surgery PSA done in early January. I was surprised to find out that it was 5.3. I got worried and had another PSA done by my internist in early March that resulted in a PSA of 9.55. Obviously something was going on and I must conclude that the initial RRp failed. I went back to my urologist with the new result (9.55). He had be have a PET scan last week and I got the results today. The scan produced no metastasis anywhere. He presumes that I have prostate cancer cells in my system that have not yet produced tumors elsewhere. I have an appointment with the oncologist next week to discuss hormone therapy of some sort. I know that these results are not positive; however, I was encouraged that there were no tumors elsewhere in my body. These high post surgery PSA's are surprising since the path reports after surgery indicated no involvement in the lymph nodes, the seminal vesicles. The prostate capsule was also intact.

I had my first Lupton injection last week. I will begin radiation next week.

I had my 2nd Lupton shot on the 15th of July. My PSA is now 0.37 down from 9.55 last January. My 1st post surgery PSA was 5.3. The next one was 9.55. It looks like the ADT and the radiation have had some effect. I have another year of ART to go so I will have more to report.

I have had few side effects from the ADT and Radiation.

March 22 I had my 4th Lupron shot and a checkup with the oncologist. I am 9 months out from the radiation and have few side effects from the Lupron. I am glad that the treatments are going well. The oncologist has recommended a bone density test to check for bone problems.

I continue to receive Lupron injections every 3 months. I have had few side effects except I do have osteopenia. My PSA has been going down every 3 months.

I have been on Lupron for 18 months now. My side effects are minimal. No sex but I haven't gained much weight and dribbling and incontinence are also not a problem. My PSA was 0.06 last month. It continues to go down but has never reached zero.

My PSA levels are continuing to increase. I will see my oncologist next month and suspect he will prescribe some treatment in addition to the Lupron. I will probably have a set of scans done.

My PSA had been going up for more than a year. When it got to 4.0 my oncologist put me on Zytiga along with Lupron. I started in Jan 2019 with a PSA of 4.0 and now 4 months later it is 2.28. I had a clear bone scan in December.

I have been on Zytiga and Lupron for 18 months. When I started Zytiga my PSA was 4.4 snd IT was AS Moe AS .77. IT has started going up. Right now it is 1.25. I have few side effects. Sexual activity is out of the question but I suffer no side effects. It could be worse but I know that the ADT will eventually stop working.

My oncologist took me off strive and put me on Lupton and xtandi. All the side effects from the zytiga have disappeared. Right now the only side effect of the xtandi is a decrease in appetite. I have lost 12 lbs.

I have been on xtandi for 3 years and have no side effects. It has caused me to lose 65 pounds.

Alan's e-mail address is: therichb67 AT gmail.com (replace "AT" with "@")