Bone Mets Only... more chemo??? Options?

Posted by jjzc @jjzc, 18 hours ago

My husband, Jerry, was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer with Gleason 9 (4+5) July 2024 - he was 66. He had lots of pain in his back and pelvis area - could hardly sit or walk. His 1st PetScan was literally black from neck to pelvis - very scary. He started 3-mo Lupron injections and Nubequa pills. He completed 6 cycles of Docetaxel chemotherapy which were very hard on him. He seemed to age 10 years during this time but his cancer did reduce visually on a PetScan approx 60% and pain was alleviated. He also did 10 rounds of radiation. This was all completed by Nov 2024 with his PSA down to .5. The cancer was responding well to the treatments. The local drs were thrilled and wanted to wait until he his PSA became resistant to the meds before continuing.

As we knew there was more cancer, we got other opinions and decided to start Pluvicto at a large medical facility Jan 2025. It was a miracle treatment for Jerry... he tolerated it well (drank a gallon of water the day before helped), his PSA became undetectable Feb 2025 and was clearing the rest of the cancer. In Sept 2025, after 6 Pluvicto treatments, the doctor did not see any active cancer... it was a miracle! We cried - our prayers were answered!!! Please don't take this as bragging as I know this is an extremely tough journey for all of you men dealing with it.... I just need you to understand where we are now and also have hope that it's possible to clear at least for a bit.

Our next follow-up 3 months later (Dec 2025) found one spot on his right iliac which was radiated.

Jerry started having pains in his original pelvic area last month, March 2026. Coincidentally it was the first time he did a 1-mo Lupron shot - but the Dr. said it had nothing to do with his findings. Our follow-up this week found many bone mets... iliac bones, sacrum, scapula... all on bones only. His PSA has still been undetectable for over a year. So we assume that these cancer termites are still crawling thru his bones. The Dr. wants to restart docetaxel with carboplatin and Zytiga plus prednisone. We are very hesitant to do more chemo. It was so hard on him - he's finally feeling strong and working out, we hate to go so far backward. He'll also be in the middle of treatments during our son's wedding. It just doesn't seem logical to us to kill all the good and bad cells in his body when the problem is only currently in his bones.

Does anyone have other ideas for us to ask our Dr about? I read on this forum about Radium-223 works on bones, but for some reason our Dr. didn't mention it as an option. Thanks for any insights.

God bless all you men going thru this horrid disease.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Prostate Cancer Support Group.

chemo may be only best option...what did doc think about another round of Pluvicto ? also, alternatives: If the cancer is no longer responding to PSMA-targeted therapies, other options include PARP inhibitors, Xofigo, or chemotherapy.

Good luck..dont give up !

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Difficult journey; hope he finds a good path.

When you mentioned that “… His 1st PET scan was literally black….”, was that a PSMA PET scan or some other type of PET scan? (PSMA PET scans usually “light up like a Christmas tree” when there is prostate cancer present.)

Yes, Xofigo (Radium-223) is another isotope therapy that is only for bone metastasis. It’s been around for over a decade and has shown to be successful with bone mets.

Beyond hormone therapy (ADT & ARPI), chemotherapy, isotope therapies (Pluvicto, & Xofigo), there are Immunotherapies/Checkpoint Inhibitor therapies and PARP inhibitor therapies (if he’s had the tests to determine if he’s a candidate).

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Unfortunately, there are really no known treatments once the case has gotten to this point. In some cases, people look for clinical trials that might match their situation.

Instead of having docetaxel You might ask to have cabazitaxel with the carboplatin. It is supposed to be a little bit easier with the side effects then docetaxel.

Xofigo Which was recommended by @brianjarvis Does work for people that have only bone mets, If there are any tissue, mets then you normally want to go the chemo direction.

Definitely talk to your doctor about these options.

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