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Finished radiation therapy today, how will I know if it worked?
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Apr 6 4:21pm | Replies (34)Comment receiving replies
Unfortunately, you'll never know for sure if it "worked"; you'll just know that it's working (this day/month/year). If it ever stops working, there may be much better treatments available by then.
Neither radiation nor a prostatectomy is a do it and forget it proposition, but the outlook is very good if they caught the cancer at an early stage.
Replies to "Unfortunately, you'll never know for sure if it "worked"; you'll just know that it's working (this..."
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20 years offer my prostatectomy and two years after rounds of cyberknife radiation, I am on systemic therapy, the third attempt to manage the cancer now located in my lymph nodes. The medication I've been prescribed is called "doublet therapy" because it involves the use of a Lupron injection (every three months) and a daily tablet of Erleada. After one month on this my PSA has dropped from 2.9 to .02, so the protocol seems to be working ..for now. If my PSA begins to rise again it seems I'd begin "triplet therapy", which includes cytotoxic medication (chemotherapy). In the meantime, my calcium and PTH levels are abnormally high, so now I'll be seeing an endocrinologist to find out what's going on with my thyroids. Despite all of this I feel blessed, because thus far there is no cancer in my bones ( unless a test from the endocrinologist proves otherwise) and I am not experiencing any discomfort. I can live with that.