Evan Gray and Lorraine live in Bay
of Plenty New Zealand. Evan was 67 when he was diagnosed in Oct 2001. His
initial PSA was 4.4 ng/ml and his Gleason Score was 3+3=6. He was staged as T2b
and his intial choice of treatment was surgery. Here is his story:
A
lump was found on my prostate after DRE. My PSA was4.4 ng/ml and my biopsy positive
-3+3 Gleeson. I was staged as T2b.
After
prostatectomy it was found that the cancer had escaped the capsule and invaded
seminal vesicles. It was ductal type.
After
3 months my PSA was 0.4 ng/ml but after 6 months it had risen to 2.9 ng/ml. I
had a bone scan, Cat scan and MRI scan and these indicated that the cancer had
metastasized to spine.
I
commenced hormone therapy and had severe side effects but my PSA dropped to 0.0
within 9 months. My PSA remained undetectables for 9 months, when I opted to stop
all hormone.
For
the next 12 months PSA remained undetectable and the side effects disappeared.
Twelve months later it had jumped to 2.20 ng/ml. I recommenced hormone therapy
and am currently waiting on latest PSA tests. Once PSA has restabilised I intend
to stop treatment again.
I will advise further results of this intermittment hormone therapy.
After
15 months of stopping hormone therapy PSA had risen to 2.9 ng/ml. At this stage
I elected to resume Lucrin treatments. After a further 9 Months the PSA had dropped
again to 0.1 and I elected to stop Hormone treatment again.
After
a further 6 months it is still 0.1 and I will continue monitoring it every 3 months.
After trying all the treatments without success to regain potency after my radical
prostatectomy I finally opted for a penile prosthesis implant. This was a disaster
with unprecedented tissue swelling around all parts of the prosthesis. My urologist
has been unable to find a similar case anywhere. After 12 weeks it is slowly getting
better with less swelling and fewer autoinflations.
I
would be pleased to hear from anyone else with this problem.
Still
continuing with intermittent Hormone therapy. PSA falls to 0.0 in 9 to 12 months
at which time I cease all hormone. After a further 9 to 12 months PSA starts to
rise to approximately 3 to 4 at which time I recommence hormone. This gives approximately
50% increase in quality of life with reduction in side effects. I have now completed
three cycles and will be continuing the process.
Evan's
e-mail address is: evan.gray@xtra.co.nz
