I am 45 and starting to face the ultimate battle. My journey began in January of 2007. I decided to get a physical as I was 45 and had some back pain and frequent urination. My GP found an enlarged prostate and sent me to a Urologist. My initial PSA was 31.0 ng/ml. After a biopsy, a second PSA which was 61.0 ng/ml and after numerous scans I was told the worse, the cancer has spread to two of my ribs, along my spine and is also present in my right femur and pelvis.

After my diagnosis I went 4 wheeling in the woods of northern Michigan with some friends of mine. During this time while fighting my way out of a water hole I heard a snap in my back and felt pain. I later learned I had fractured a vertebra in my upper back.

I'm currently on 50 mg Casodex and the 3 month shot of Lupron. As I am still new to this disease I'm learning all I can and considering a strict diet regimen. I am also looking at alternative treatments. I currently see a Urologist and Oncologist and am having radiation treatments on my upper and lower spine. I have had some soreness there but no real pain but my oncologist is being proactive.

I would appreciate any and all comments from anyone whom may also be stage 4.

PSA seems to be going down with the hormone treatment. Hopefully this will give me some time to plan my fight and not have to make a rash decision. I have an appt with Steven G. Ayre, a doctor outside of Chicago who does some alternative stuff combined with modern medicine. I will let you know how that goes.

Back for my monthly visit from the oncologist today the 18th. Chest X-rays were clear and the lesions on the ribs look like they were repaired by the Zometa treatments. I continue to get the Zometa every 3 weeks and take 50mg of Casodex daily. I am also currently taking the 3 month Lupron shot. I also finished my 15 radiation treatments to my upper and lower spine which were completed on the 3rd of this month.I am having no after effects except for some slight stiffness in my upper back. No pain medication is needed at this time.

My PSA continues to trend downward as expected with the hormone treatments, falling from 9 last month to 2.82 this month. This is my 3rd month of hormone treatment.

I have been intensly researching the internet and reading numerous books looking for a way to beat this monster. I visited an alternative doctor this month who practices a low dose chemo treatment called Insulin Potentation Therapy. I urge anyone to check it out. I am very interested in this treatment and considering it. It is it is used prior to going hormone refractive and there are some cancer survivor success stories using this treatment.

I continue to watch my diet, have pretty much cut out red meat and junk. I also continue to take a variety of herbs.

Feel free to email me for info and my thoughts on why I'm taking my treatment this way.

Yesterday was my 3 week visit to the urologist for my Zometa treatment. It started out well as my latest PSA was 1.54 and continues to trend downward. It quickly went sour however, as the Zometa was started and I began to feel faint. That was all I remembered until I awoke and saw the concern in the nurses face as my Blood Presure was 90/50. It did come back up with some sweet soda and sugar. I continue to doubt modern medicine...

I am still trying to eat a healthful diet and taking numerous vitamin supplements. I will begin my IPT treatments in Chicago the week of Aug 22nd. I'm still not sure as to how my oncologist will respond as he was not available during my last visit. I did give the info to the nurse and informed her I was going to try this treatment. I will meet with him next week prior to starting the IPT but am convinced this is the treatment I will take. I will update again in a few weeks after I have had some of the treatments.

Later

Just returned from a week in the woods of Northern Michigan. This is a yearly trip I do with a bunch of guys who have or currently work in the nuclear industry as I do. It started out years ago as Deer Camp but since I have been going for the past three years has turned into Beer Camp. So much for the healthful eating for a week!

I did ride 4-wheelers the entire week , and except for some minor pain which the Vicodin took care of I had no problems. Rode over 220 miles on my quad with lots of ups and downs so for now everything seems OK.

Back to reality today when I visited the urologist for my 3 week Zometa treatment. I was also due for my 3 month Lupron injection but believe it or not the office was actually out of it. So instead I got the Trelstar which is a monthly injection. I also got the Zometa which went a lot better than last time although the nurse did poke twice before getting a good injection site. I decided to postpone the IPT treatments for awhile, personally Im still a believer but couldn't bring myself to start undergoing chemo until its absolutely necessary.

The week of Sept 10th Im going to the Cancercenter of America in Zion, Illinois for a second opinion. Should have done this awhile ago.

Good news is my PSA is down to 1.02 today, maybe the week of smoking and drinking was the ticket I needed! This makes my 4th full month since diagnosis, looking forward to many more.

This month found me at the Cancercenter of America in Zion, Illinois where I spent three days. I met with a variety of experts who re-performed all my scans and reported nothing had gotten any worse. I went here for a 2nd opinion just to put my mind at ease.

The only difference in treatment that they recommended was that instead of the Zometa being given to me every 3 or 4 weeks they suggested I only get it every 3 months as the side effects are truly not yet known. I was at my urologist here and told them this info but they didn't agree. I will bring it up with my oncologist on my next visit and see what his take on it is.

In the meantime I continue to watch my diet and take numerous supplements. I have also just finished another book written by Bill Henderson promoting alternative treatments. One of the treatments that caught my eye is the Budwig diet* which can be googled or contact me for more info.

Keeping my fingers crossed my PSA will remain low, my urologist switched me from Lupron to a three month Trelstar shot. I believe it is a cost issue and insurance gig. Until next month good luck all!

Back from my monthly doctors to receive my Zometa injection. I finaly had my testosterone (13) and dihydrotesterone (67) tested after I insisted it be done at my oncologists office during my last visit. I recently read a book by Dr. Charles "Snuffy" Myers a 7 year survivor of stage 3 prostate cancer and he points out the importance of watching these numbers. Apparently the dihydro is 20 times stronger than the testosterone and the number needs to be lowered to achieve a lower than .05 PSA which he contends anyone on hormone therapy should try to get under. I will have to do some more studying on these numbers but at least now I have a baseline.

I'm back to work also, albeit only 40 hours a week and so far it is ok. Its good to try to resume a somewhat normal life and not be thinking about cancer all the time.

I am not going back until December for any more testing so hopefully I will get a low PSA number as my Xmas present this year.

Just back from my urologist visit. PSA was 0.62 ng/ml.Merry Xmas to me. I couldn't have asked for a better gift.

I see the oncologist next month but I don't think anything will be different by then, I will have a full bloodscreen done but I don't forsee any problems with my PSA still stable.

I am still taking monthly Zometa, the 3 month Trelstar shot and 50mg of Casodex daily. I also asked my urologist to add Avodart to my prescription regiment and he readily agreed. I will begin taking that today.

I feel great, I'm still eating healthy and although I haven't completely quit the smoking and drinking I have cut back. I'm also working regularly and continue to take multiple supplements. I have added Paw Paw to my supplements and will see how that goes.

For the time being its as good as it gets and I will take the news from today for a long time forward!

I haven't written for a while as my PSA remained steady until around April of '08 when it starting rising. In July I decided to change my treatment and went to be treated by Dr. Snuffy Myers, renowned prostate oncologist and himself a stage 3 survivor. He has written a book that is a good read and can be purchased on Amazon. He has me on a very intensive regiment of vitamins and a drug called Leukine which is to increase my white blood counts. I'm also on Ketaconzole, Avodart and still monthly Lupron shots plus a host of other drugs. I don't have enough run time yet to know if this is working so I will keep writing and keep the group posted. Anyone can write me to get my full regimen should they be interested. I will tell you this treatment is very expensive with the Leukine alone being US$9,500.00 a month so you better have deep pockets or be fortunate to have good insurance like I do.

I'm back from another year of four wheeling in the woods of Northern Michigan. I managed to ride over 300 miles in the week and didn't break anything, pretty successful I'd say.

I'm still on Dr Myer's regimen and while my PSA did get up to 18.0, it dropped back down to 15.4 this month. He knows I am totally against chemotherapy so we made a gentlemen's agreement that if he got me below 1.0 I would do a few rounds. This is a bet I wouldn't mind losing as he is still positive in my treatment. I have been having some side effects, nausea, light headedness and forgetfulness, especially with names.

Oh well, for the most part I'm functional and still working so we will see... Take care all and good luck.

Wow, its been awhile since I have been on here. I received a note from a recently diagnosed man and decided I had better update my profile.

I hadn't updated as I was discouraged as in November of 2008 I went hormone refractive to Dr Myers regimen and was forced to go on disability and start chemotherapy in January of 2009.

I have had 16 courses of the chemo (Taxotere and Prednisone) every three weeks and had some success. My PSA is down to 4.8 and I tolerate the chemo well. I have a little bone pain but easily control it with Oxycodone.

I recently moved back to Pennsylvania and am reacquainting myself with my family and friends. I'm not sure where this journey is taking me, for now I enjoy life, do what I want when I want and just try to take the time to smell the roses as they say.

Good luck to all of you reading this, I will keep up the fight on my end!

October 12th I developed terrible stabbing pain in my left chest wall. Instead of going to the ER I self-medicated for a week even though I couldn't hardly move. When I saw my oncologist prior to my chemo treatment he immediately suspected a blood clot and sent me for x-rays, CT scans and a whole bone scan. The next day a blood clot was identified and I immediately started giving myself twice daily shots of Lovenox which got rid of it in a day. Don't fool around with this stuff, it can kill you.

The good news is the scans showed no progression of the cancer since my scans of December 2008 which was when I started chemo. Some of my lymph nodes have even decreased in size so that was good. Feeling ok now and back on the three week chemo regiment along with Zometa. We are trying to arrange for me to get to Fox Chapel in Philadelphia to investigate some trials and my eligibility.

Keep the good fight up all, I have had 17 chemo treatments and am holding up quite well.

I received a mail from Chris' sister, Kay. She said:

I wanted to let everyone know that Chris passed away December 17th. He had been in the hospital for 7 days with severe breathing problems. They had run many tests and found that he had both a heart and lung condition. Still not sure if this was the result of the disease or chemo.

He succumbed to respiratory failure early the morning of the 17th. I'm waiting for results of his autopsy. He fought his disease right up to the end and always had hope for a cure.

I send everyone out there battling this diseases positive thoughts. Keep up the fight!

NOTE: THE BUDWIG PROTOCOL IS A COMPLEX SERIES OF TREATMENTS AND DIET DEVELOPED IN GERMANY. THE VERSION OF THE BUDWIG DIET PROMOTED IN THE USA IS NOT THE SAME AS THE ORIGINAL. THERE IS NO AVAILABLE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THIS DIET.[back].