Hey, my husband is stage 4 as well and newly diagnosed. Devastating! He's 55 and in good health and only symptom was peeing frequently which we thought was just an enlarged prostate and part of getting older.
PSA in Feb was 300 or around there, that triggered a pelvic CT scan which showed cancer in lymph nodes and outside prostate so stage 4! Then a biopsy and most of the Gleason scores were 8-9! so fast growing aggressive cancer cells!
Then finally a PSMA scan and it showed it all over his body, his lungs, spine, pelvic bone, lymph nodes near lungs and I forget where else, sounds like he lit up like a Christmas tree! (I did suspect the lungs because he's had this very mild ahem cough for YEARS!)
We don't GO to the doctor, he probably went last in 2019! Ever since Covid, we've REALLY NOT wanted to go to the doctors....
Anyways, here we are.
Treatment has been ADT shots and ADT pills, my husband was VERY against being chemically castrated! He works out at the gym daily and really thought it's his manhood, that he'd rather die than being castrated. But after long arguments and talking to different people, he finally agreed to do the ADT hormone shot, Firmagon (which I'm finding out is an OLD shot, but unlike Lupron it doesn't raise testosterone first and then plummets, the Firmagon just lowers it, and with such severe cancer it was the best option) He was supposed to just get the Firmagon once and THEN switch to lupron, because the side effects (anger etc) are not as severe once the testosterone is already lowered, but my husband hasn't switched yet, so we go monthly to get these injections.
Early on, he researched EVERYTHING online and tried supplements and lots of things, resulting in his liver ALT numbers going way up, to the point where he was in liver failure (blood work wise) but felt totally fine and had no symptoms, but he quit everything!
Then after his liver got almost normal he started daily ADT pills (Zytiga) and Prednisone (steroids)
He IS a lot weaker and more tired but he keeps going to the gym almost daily and does stuff around the house and we walk the dog every morning etc.
almost 2 weeks ago he started chemo (Docetaxel) and it's supposed to be 6 rounds 3 weeks apart! (He refused chemo for a while too but finally relented)
I don't know about radiation, they talked about it briefly at our first visit, but I think they'll see later, because it seems radiation is pointless if he's riddled with cancer! but hopefully this triple therapy gets things under control and scans will get better!
It's been tough, but we're hanging in there, he's very conscious of quality vs quantity of life but has also realized that it's not just about him, it's also about me (his wife) and our 4 kids (9-22yrs, 3 still live at home)
Hang in there!