YANA - YOU ARE NOT ALONE NOW

PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT SITE

BRONZE

Brian Vigars and Beverly live in New Hampshire, USA. He was 65 when he was diagnosed on December, 13, 2008. His initial PSA was 13.0 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 8 and he was staged T4. His choice of treatment was ADT (Androgen Deprivation Therapy). Here is his story.

Hi,

My name is Brian from Salem NH. Last June my doctor thought he felt something when I had a rectal exam, and sent me to a urologist. My PSA the past two years was 2-3. The urologist did another rectal exam and said it was a calcium deposit. He also did another PSA and it came back at 6.0. He did another PSA a few weeks later and it was 8.0.

At this point he thought I should get a biopsy. It came back at a Gleason Score of 8 and my staging was T3 and now my PSA was up to 13.0. I had a CAT scan and everything looked contained, so I scheduled surgery. Before surgery they wanted a bone scan and another CAT scan. I was shocked to find I hade a hot spot in my pelvis, so surgery was cancelled and now I was staged at T4.

Now my options were hormone therapy which I started in December. I just got my first PSA back after three months and it is down to 0.7 which is good. I have changed my diet a lot and am taking Graviola Max. I just got my second shot.

Here is the kicker. I fell out of a tree three years ago and fell 12 feet and landed on a log across my lower back. My new oncologist said I should get scanned again to see if the bone cancer had spread. The scans came back the same showing no spread, plus I have no pain which I should have. I am now going for a bone biopsy. We shall see.

I have been up and down with this for almost a year. The time between test and results is unforgiving. I am at the point now that I forget I have this thing most of the time because I feel OK. I do have very bad night sweats and power surges during the day. That's what my boss tells me they call them now. At least my voice is not higher. By the way, DO NOT TAKE EFFEXOR for nights sweats or daytime power surges, very bad side affects and to get off this stuff is almost impossible. Look it up on the web. I tried it for four days and got off it. It should not even be on the market.

I am lucky after trying different doctors that I found one that goes along with other things other then what the drug companies are pushing. If the bone biopsy comes back negative then maybe now I can have surgery. I guess what I am saying is not to give up and check ALL your options and find a doctor that you can trust and will spend the time with you.

I will post again when I find out if it has really spread to my bones. If it has, then I will continue on. You have to be pro-active with you doctors and your diet. Next time I will tell you what I am doing on that front.

I also believe in God and that to me at least is the biggest thing. Put your trust in him and you will make it through it.

I wish you all luck. I know how hard it is to go through this, but your not alone, nor am I.

God Bless you all.

 

UPDATED

August 2009

 

 

Hi again, it has been a while. What they found in my pelvis was not the cancer from my prostate. At first they thought it was renal cancer. They could not find out where if came from, so now they are calling it clear cell cancer. Lucky me now I have two cancers. They said I was unusual, great just what I wanted to be. Anyway what they decided to do was to radiate the pelvis which they did with 5 treatments. I will not know the effects for three months. They used a new Varian machine called Trilogy. It's the only one in New Hampshire.

Now I have to do something with the prostate which has been on hold for nine months with hormone treatments. I have two options, surgery and radiation. After seeing this new machine for radiation I think I might go for that. Don't know yet, meeting with other doctors in a few days. Want to make the right decision. Something has to be done soon.

So far I feel fine, just tired from the hormone and radiation treatments.

If you have problems with night sweats and day sweats, I tried several things and the one that works is "Megestrol" [aka Megace] 40 mg twice a day. It took about two weeks to kick in and they are GONE. Now I take half a pill twice a day and, no night sweats or anything, and I use to get them real bad. Ask your doctor, worked great for me.

So now my cancer in my pelvis is waiting to see and I will be doing something with my prostate cancer very soon. I will let you know what I decide.

God Bless you all and hang in there. There are always options. By the way my Gleason score was 8 and I expect a good outcome.

Brian

 

UPDATED

November 2009

 

 

I finally opted for radiation treatment. I just had five weeks of radiation treatments and will now have seed implants December 7 2009. Because of my clear cell cancer in my pelvis for which I had five radiation treatments they are being careful of the treatments. Before radiation on my prostate my PSA was 0.41 because of the hormone treatments. After the radiation treatments my PSA is down to 0.14. We will see what happens after the seed implants.

Even though my PSA was 13.0 and my Gleason score was 8 a year ago, I am told my prognosis is good with many years to go. I am just worried about the clear cell cancer in my pelvis. I will know more about that in January. They have no idea where it came from. Again, I had it radiated back in August 2009. We shall see. I feel good, just tired which is normal with radiation.

I thought a year ago things were lost and I would die from this, NOT TRUE. I actually feel better then I did a year ago. True the hormone treatments have change me a lot, but I am alive. I am told I have to continue that for another year, YA. My wife has been through a lot but is now getting better, God love her. We have a lot of faith and a lot of people are praying for us, and it works.

I am very positive things will work out. You have to be pro-active with this, very important. I was and again I have a good team, which I picked. If your in New England I would recommend the Norris Cotton Cancer Center in Lebanon, NH. In Boston your just a number, sorry. It took me 1 1/2 hours to drive up there every day for five weeks for radiation but was well worth it. They are very personable and have the latest in technology.

I will update in January after my implants and I will know more about my pelvis clear cell cancer, which I hope is gone.

God Bless you all and stay positive.

Brian .

Brian's e-mail address is: K1VVM@comcast.net