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Prognosis for Stage 4 Metastatic Prostate Cancer
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Apr 17 10:20am | Replies (95)Comment receiving replies
Phil -
I applaud you for being actively involved in the journey with your father.
I am in the same position as your father and I am 69. Of course, at Mayo your father has a team of doctors behind him, which is great. But...I caution you about your request to know about how long he may live. I pushed that issue until I got an answer from the medical oncologist. It changed my life, and not necessarily for the better. True, no one really knows for sure, but the doctors at Mayo are some of the best in the world and are very experienced. So, it is also logical that they do have some ideas about length of life. For me, I was told that chemo was the last option and that after that, life would be short. I was told I might live 5 years. Well, it has been about 3 years and things have progressively gotten worse. Today, I wish that I had never asked "the question." While there are many reasons, having an "end date" has put an enormous amount of pressure on myself. That pressure has gotten in the way of life and relationships. I encourage all who reads this, to think carefully before asking "the question." Be thankful for each day, live each day as it was your last, and draw close to your creator for needed comfort.
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Phil,
I am sorry to hear you are now struggling. This is a tough disease. Everyone responds differently. Can you please give a short history of your diagnosis? Were you diagnosed Metastatic? If so, are you high volume or low volume and where are your metastases? What type of cancer was found, Adenocarcinoma, Small cell, or Neuroendocrine? Did you have Genetic and Genomic testing? Was anything found like BRAC1 or BRAC2? What was your PSA at diagnosis and what is it now? What treatments have you had up to this point (i.e., ADT, Nubeqa, Xdandi, Apalutamide etc). Did you get any radiation or Chemo -how much? Have your doctors offered Pluvicto?
The reason I ask is I also asked that same question and I received varied answers. The first answer was I cannot be cured, but we can treat the cancer like a chronic illness and I will probably dies of something else as long as the cancer does not mutate into something worse.
With triplet therapy the percentage of those who are still alive after 5 or 10+ years has drastically increased. The ARSENS study continuous to produce positive post results too. Of coarse, this depends on ones overall health, diet, and co-morbidities.
I'm in also in a group that has several men that are stage 4 like me and they are at 7, 8, and 9 years into this disease.