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Is treatment for 88-year old Dad too aggressive for his age?
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: 4 days ago | Replies (28)Comment receiving replies
Hello everyone! Hope you are all doing well, and thank you for your helpful comments.
Just an update:
We took dad to Sloan yesterday for radiation oncologist appointment. As a reminder, his Gleason score is 9, and he has extensive cancer within the prostate as well as lymph node involvement, and seminal vesicle invasion.
There are hot spots in the lymph nodes near the spine. Also, one bone met in the pelvic bone.
The RO recommended spot radiation (SBRT) now to the bone met. He would like dad to be on the hormone treatments (Orgovyx, and Abiraterone with prednisone) for 3 months before he orders another MRI and PSMA Pet Scan to see the results of the hormone treatment. (Dad's PSA has gone from 38 before starting Orgovyx, to 1.35 after one month of taking it!)
HE would like to do 26 treatments of IMRT based on the results of the pet scan/MRI... to the prostate, lymph nodes, seminal vesicles.
I would love to hear your comments! Thank you again...
Replies to "Hello everyone! Hope you are all doing well, and thank you for your helpful comments. Just..."
The treatment itself sounds excellent and his results so far are very encouraging. Only YOU really know if your father is up for 26 radiation treatments. The treatments themselves are easy - 10 mins on the table; it’s the bladder and bowel prep that can be a challenge.
You need a very full bladder and sometimes they run behind schedule and you need to hold it for a longer time. If Dad can do that ( not wearing pads or diapers now or has some incontinence) he’ll be fine. The bowel prep is just a ‘no gas’ diet that was a challenge for me (love my fiber!) but maybe not for your father.
The drugs are probably the biggest wild card, as they do have side effects. The Orgovyx not so much but the other two need to be watched very carefully.
Nobody has a crystal ball, but Dad may have 10 more years in him and treatment will give him that. Or maybe he would live another 10 with no treatment - blasphemy to even say that🤫- but we’re all different.
My friend’s father passed recently (in his80’s) and he was very active. One day he had a pain and then was dead a week later. The docs told my friend that his dad had cancer everywhere - every organ, every bone, you name it. Never even tried to figure out what kind of cancer it was.
My friend was at peace with this turn of events because his father was never subjected to any medical treatment, lived a great life, and then passed peacefully in a week on pain meds.
You, my friend, are not as lucky because you KNOW your Dad has a problem and now it’s up to you to decide…. “TAG, YOU’RE IT!!”🫣
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As seriously Advanced as his cancer is the treatment makes sense. Keep a close eye on his blood pressure, abiraterone Can really aggravate it.
You should ask the doctor if it’s possible to do some SBRT to the prostate, so you do not need as many IMRT sessions. 26 is not a lot, Are they doing the whole prostate bed?
Getting a second opinion would be a good idea.