Husband disgnosed stage 1: Should he wait 5 months for second opinion?

Once you’ve had Lupron getting a Casodex isn’t gonna help you. The flare would’ve already happened and settled back down after a few weeks.

If you were to get a second drug because you have an aggressive case They would give you an ARPI and it would probably be abiraterone.

If they didn’t tell you about needing Casodex before the Lupron shot, they are not competent to handle your treatment.

If you wanna find an Oncologist who would really care about treating you you need to go here and see this doctor. You will find a totally different type of treatment.

Atish D. Choudhury, MD, PhD GU Oncologist
Dana Farber Boston

You don’t mention anything specifically about your prostate cancer case.
What was your Gleason score? What was your PSA diagnosis?.
Did you get any tests like a decipher test, ArteraAI or Prolaris To find out your chance of reoccurrence.

Were any of these things found in the biopsy intraductal, ductal, large cribriform, Seminal vesicle invasion, EPE or ECE. (Extraprostatic extensions extra capsular extensions). They can make the cancer much more aggressive.

@jeffmarc thank you for your reply. I had Gleason 7 and Gleason 8 had radical prosectomy and bio chemical recurrence PSA doubling time was 6 months. A year later the spinal fusion leaves me with pain and difficulty with every day activities. I know the Dr's were absolutely incompetent and have gotten other opinions but not sure that act my age I want to have radiation and weaken myself, I think that quality of life over quantity of life is important to me my lack of trust with the medical field has me deeply concerned. I still have time as my next appointment to schedule radiation is mid September, so I'm trying to make my decision. Thank you.

@twes
Your case is a perfect example for someone who should contact that doctor that I recommended. You have questions about your future treatment and he can really help with making a decision and giving you a great doctor to handle it. You said you’d go to Massachusetts for treatment so this is a place in that state.

You are a Gleason eight the seven isn’t really considered, The higher number is what counts. You’ve had surgery you’ve had a reoccurrence that calls for a good GU oncologist to help manage your case. Please try to contact this person.

Atish D. Choudhury, MD, PhD GU Oncologist
Dana Farber Boston

@jeffmarc thank you for your reply. I had Gleason 7 and Gleason 8 had radical prosectomy and bio chemical recurrence PSA doubling time was 6 months. A year later the spinal fusion leaves me with pain and difficulty with every day activities. I know the Dr's were absolutely incompetent and have gotten other opinions but not sure that act my age I want to have radiation and weaken myself, I think that quality of life over quantity of life is important to me my lack of trust with the medical field has me deeply concerned. I still have time as my next appointment to schedule radiation is mid September, so I'm trying to make my decision. Thank you.

@jneylon

Thanks. They can take a while to get an appointment, but once you have biopsy results it is more likely to get in sooner. What impressed me was that at my first visit they said "we aren't going to treat your cancer, we are going to cure it". They are at the forefront of technology and can provide many treatment options with their team approach. I may have had a little help getting in since I already had a cardiologist there.

I got another blow this Tuesday when I got a positive colon cancer test, and now have to see a gastroenterologist next Tuesday to simultaneously handle both situations at once. My doctors said that it is unlikely that the prostate cancer metastasized to the colon, and there is a 10% chance that colon cancer test may be a false positive. Fingers crossed.

Good luck.

@keithl56

Was that test a cologuard ? I had a positive finding and after a colonoscopy my GI stated upto 50 percent false positives. He said you have the cleanest colon I have ever seen

@twes I found radiation to have very mild effects. 8 weeks. Mild incontinence now, just a slight dribble sometimes, I don’t even need pads or anything. It also affected bowel movements but I have learned the signs of it and the routine to accommodate it. I know the radiation helped me, along with Lupron, which was the worst part of my experience with cancer.
Still, after 2 1/2 years I have maintained an undetectable .013 PSA and now get a test every 6 months for 2 years, and if it is still undetectable, 1 test a year for the rest of my life.