@lacraig1 In 2021 they told me 3-5 years life expectancy (maybe 6 or a faint hope of 7 since I was young and healthy) when they found the big lesion on my spine, with serious progression starting in 18–24 months.

But that was based on old SEER data, from before new practices (like treating oligometastatic cancer aggressively) and new treatments (like the -lutamides).

I'm over 4 years now NED — no evidence of disease — and the oncologists no longer give me a specific life expectancy. My family doctor told me to plan for old age.

Things have changed that fast with advanced prostate cancer treatment. We're not sure if it's fully there yet, but it's rapidly becoming a medically-manageable chronic disease, like HIV, disbetes, or Parkinson's, rather than a terminal one. More here:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/treating-prostate-cancer-at-any-stage/
We live in exciting (and hopeful) times.

@lacraig1
The fact that you are on Lupron and Zytiga so quickly means that you’ve got an aggressive case of prostate cancer . It was six years after my prostatectomy before I went on Lupron and 2 1/2 years after that I went on Zytiga. I have A genetic problem called BRCA2 which causes my cancer to keep coming back and that’s why I’m on ADT for eight years.

After radiation, you can frequently stop the drugs after a year or two if your PSA stays undetectable for over a year. I think they are really worried about your aggressive cancer so they may want you to stay on the drugs longer.

Have you had genetic testing?

You could get genetic testing to find out if it could be a factor. Does anybody else in your family have cancer? You can get it here for free if you live in the United States, takes 2 to 3 weeks to get the results and a genetic counselor will call you. They will send you a kit that you return in the mail. Don’t check the box that you want your doctor involved or they won’t send you the kit until they talk to your doctor.

Prostatecancerpromise.org