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BRONZE

Bob Safeway and Nae live in Washington State, USA. He was 52 when he was diagnosed on Jan 1, 2008. His initial PSA was 146.0 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 9 and he was staged T4 or D2. His choice of treatment was Hormone - ADT (Androgen Deprivation Therapy) and Lupron shot. Here is his story.

Nae writes and says:

My husband (Bob) was feeling pretty bad for several months with complaints of diarrhoea and vomiting almost daily. He had a "gut" feeling that something was wrong so went to his doctor and asked that tests be run.

On December 31, 2007 his PSA count came back at 146.0. His doctor was sure it was a mistake so ran the test again and two weeks later came back at 175.0!

He was immediately referred to a urologist who ran did a biopsy of his prostate which came back with a 9 Gleason score. At that point they ran a CT scan and a bone scan. His CT scan came back with the cancer in his lymph nodes and his bone scan came back questionable.

He now is taking Casodex daily and will going in for his 2nd Lupron shot mid-April. One important factor is that he is following the Jane Plant diet and has seen improvement with his health in the short time that he has known about this disease.

 

UPDATED

March 2008

 

 

Good news, the meds are working and the PSA went to a nice low 4.0. Blood tests came back good. Had my first Zometa treatment for the bones and as promised it made the bones extremely achey, ran a fever and got a migraine, but am on the mend. On a good note, bought a new motorcycle and am planning on having a good summer (after my knee replacement surgery and hernia repair)!

 

UPDATED

May 2008

 

 

Just had the PSA checked and it came back at <0.14 ... the doctors seem to be very surprised.

I've been to four separate oncologists and a urologist who have all said that there is nothing more they could do for me. It doesn't seem as if I've had a lot of support or even information, but my wife has been doing all of the research and setting up appointments. She got me into the University of Washington in Seattle clinical trials ~ which took some doing ~ so we'll see how that goes.

I'm feeling pretty good, decided not to have the hernia fixed but I am going in to get my knee replaced sinced I can hardly walk and need it done. Can't wait to prove everyone wrong with living longer than the original diagnosis and I've decided that I am going to enjoy my life as best I can while I have it. It sure is hard some days to stay sane, but I'm doing a pretty good job of it I think.

I'd be happy to correspond with anyone who wants to ~~ take the best of care, have a great summer!

 

UPDATED

July 2008

 

 

Just went and got another CAT scan yesterday. Have been on Zolodex for two months now and the side effects do not seem to be as intense as the Lupron was. The hot flashes have not gotten any better. My breast area seemed to get bigger and extremely tender so I had them radiated with two treatments and they are back to being normal. I have sent all of my information to the Mayo clinic in Rochester and they are reviewing my CAT scan and bone scan along with all of the paperwork that I sent to see if I might be a prospect to have this damn prostate taken out. Apparently even if it's in your lymph nodes having the prostate out has proven that it will increase your chances of survival, and at one and a half year prognosis I'm trying everything. I have gone totally organic and live the Jane Plant diet which I think has helped tremendously. I've also just gotten a partial knee replacement and am walking again after only 3 weeks.

I am determined to live and have a good life despite the horror of this disease. I also found out that I have the BRAC 2 gene and have passed that along to my five children who all got tested which means that they will have a 50% chance of getting either breast or prostate cancer at a very young age. My oldest daughter has breast cancer which she got at age 29 but she is doing better now.

I am hoping to have a good summer and hope that every one out ther keeps the faith. My prayers are with you all.

 

UPDATED

January 2009

 

 

Well it's been awhile. My PSA went from very high to very low and then started climbing again swiftly. My oncologist said not to worry, it was just an infections, so I said "adios" to him and got a new oncologist.

He put me on Nilandron, as my PSA was tripling every month. That medication made me so sick that I landed in the ER from throwing up so much that I lost 20 lbs. in a week. The doc pulled me off the meds (this was back in October 2008) and said that there were basically no more tricks up his sleeve. He said to come back in a month. I got my PSA taken in November and it came down to 0.11 !!!

So then my doc said to "watch and wait" and if it gets high again we'll go back on the Nilandron for a couple of days and see what happens. Well I just got the results back from my PSA and it's now at 0.27. So we're still watching and waiting. I have to believe that in part this decline with the PSA is because of the Jane Plant diet which I am religious about.

I will keep you all posted, feel free to email if you like. I keep all of you in my prayers.

 

UPDATED

March 2010

 

 

My husband Bob was given two years to live in January of 2008 and it is now March of 2010. His doctors are somewhat shocked at how well he is doing. To be frank, I truly believe it was the total change in diet to the Jane Plant diet. Bob's tumors in his lymph nodes have all but disappeared and the reason his PSA is rising (it is 18. ng/ml now) is because the cancer is rising in the left sacrum area. He is not feeling any pain from the cancer, just pain from his L & I injuries [L & I = Work Related Injury]!

I feed him an all organic, no dairy, no whey, no red meat, and as much as he has hated it, he is now used to it, and seems to enjoy my "creative cooking" .... oh, and lots of green tea.

I pray for all of you and your families, know that you are not alone and that there is hope and a lot of it out there, so I'm trying to keep our chins UP ... :)

 

UPDATED

March 2011

 

 

I'm Bob's wife and I do all of the updating, researching, everything for him.

His PSA WAS staying fairly steady at around 20.0 for the last year, but it climbed to 38.4 three months ago when he got the flu and could not keep his meds down. Well he got the flu again about two weeks prior to getting his last PSA on March 10, 2011 and was sick for a week, his PSA climbed again. Last time I was able to cut it in half to 19.3, so I am hoping to do the same again by not exposing him to anything that might jeopardize his health.

Bob has horrible acid reflux and has serious L & I injuries to both knees, hips and ankles which make it almost impossible to walk or sit. The cancer is a piece of cake compared to that crap. I bought him a really good recliner which massages him from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head and gives him heat along his hips. It helps with the circulation so he doesn't stroke out.

He was having very bad side effects from some of the medicines that he was on, and because I do research for hours daily, I took him off those meds and put him on targeted organic vitamins. The patches his doctor gave him for the hot flashes were making his breasts so tender that he couldn't be touched and he was having horrible night sweats. Took him off that and put him on a natural vitamin and now the pain is gone and no nightsweats or hot flashes.

He was on Avodart and his blood count for his liver went really high, so I took him off that and put him on two organic vitamins and now his blood count is normal for his liver. They gave him metroclopormide for his acid reflux, which they pulled off the market and his doctor said there was really nothing else. Well I found something, two more targeted organic vitamins and no more acid reflux.

Bob should have died more than a year ago. But he is still kickin' so that's a blessing. I also changed out his diet to absolutely no dairy or dairy cow and boil all of his water and put everything in glass, nothing in plastic. He will be with me for awhile as he is NOT dying on my shift. Good luck and many prayers to everyone and their families.

Renee

Bob's e-mail address is sicilian.baby@gmail.com