THERE WAS NO RESPONSE TO AN UPDATE REMINDER IN 2020 SO THERE IS NO UPDATE.

It all started with a physical for my job. The urine sample I submitted in my physical indicated that I had a small amount of blood. The physical was administered in late 2004. My doctor had me complete some more tests for lab work, including blood and urine tests, all came up normal with exception of the small amount of blood in my urine. My doctor referred me to a urologist to have several more tests, They checked the inside of my bladder, kidneys, DRE (Digital Rectal Examination), and more blood tests with negative results.

I went on with my life and in 2006 I went thru another round of tests similar to what I stated earlier, this also produced nothing significant. My PSA was about 3.1, but the doctor I had said that it was within normal range, so, since I didn't know what a PSA was I just agreed with him and said ok. (Big Mistake).

In 2007 I transferred with my job to Cleveland, Ohio and where they have great medical care.(Cleveland Clinic). In early 2008 I started having trouble urinating so I went to my doctor and explained to him what my last doctor did and what all the results were. He checked my Prostate and stated it was normal. As the year went on and my urinating became harder and after Flomax wasn't working my doctor sent me to urologist. He ran me through a gauntlet of tests and checked my prostate and also stated it was normal size for my age. He checked my PSA and it was 68.0 so he had a CT of my pelvic area. This is were he new something was wrong, my lymph nodes were enlarged in the area of my prostate. He immediately scheduled a Biopsy of my prostate, and a bone scan. The bone scan showed that I had something in my pelvic area and the biopsy confirmed that I had Prostate Cancer that had metastasized. That was the worse day of my life.

I slowly gained confidence that I will fight this and win this battle and I am living a semi-normal life with very few limits. I have a great Doctor at the Cleveland Clinic and have confidence he will keep me going for years to come. My current PSA is less than 0.40 ng/ml.

I'm sorry it took so long to update I was awaiting my PSA results from the Doctor.

The previous treatment that I was getting (Zoladex injection/Casodex Orally) stopped working. My PSA started to rise last September so the Doctor took me off the Casodex and left me with just getting the Zoladex injection every 12 weeks.

After being totally off the Casodex for 12 weeks, my PSA started to decrease rapidly from 2.52 to 0.46. Twelve weeks later it is currently 0.43, so it indeed dropped without the Casodex. Six months and it is dropping again. A year ago today it was 0.30.

I feel great and remain having a positive attitude. I appreciate this YANA site, it has given me confidence and a positive attitude. Another thing I've done since diagnosis of this disease, I have used ACAI berry and Pomegranate Juice.

Thanks, Tim

In the last part of 2011 my PSA has started to slowly increase to 1.51. Every twelve weeks at my checkup, it has went from 1.01 to its current in about a 9 month period.

I feel great right now, although I do get fatigued easy but as my wife says I go full force at everything I do. I think the biggest thing that has helped me is eating healthy. I drink a lot of Acai juice and Pomegranate juice. I try to keep my immune system strong by eating and drinking fruit and natural juices. I know there are a lot of studies to this and most doctors won't put it in concrete, but I believe in my mind that this does help. Pomegranate fruit is very good, the problem is I can only get them 3 months out of the year. I drink the juice all the time.

All this and my Zolodex injection have helped me considerably. I know the Zolodex is not going to work forever and eventually have to try new things, but so far it's working and I'm enjoying life.

God Bless to all the Men with this disease. Stay Strong!!!!!

It has been almost 5 years since I've been diagnosed and I am still going strong. I was Diagnosed with Metastic Prostate Cancer and it had a Gleason score of 9. I believe the mind can control a lot of things in your body. Mind over Matter. I am currently on the Androgen Deprivation Therapy and have been since the very beginning. I was also supplementing with Casodex but that worked for only 18 months. I am on a clinical trial thru the Cleveland Clinic and Ohio State University for a promising drug. It is a blind test though, so I don't know if I'm on a placebo or the real drug. My Doctor is monitoring me closely and every 3 months I get a Bone Scan, Ct Scan, Chest X-Ray, and Blood work. My doctor said that there are NO new tumors or, the current tumors have not grown since I've been on the Clinical Trial. They don't really pay attention to my PSA with the trial I am on, instead they actually run the tests that I stated. They monitor all the tumors and my body as a whole. My Doctor doesn't know if I'm on the placebo or real drug, it is conducted thru Ohio State University Research. Bottom line is, I feel great, I'm Happy, and I will keep fighting until the end and hopefully the end is far away.

It's been along time since I last updated! I'm still feeling awesome, especially after being diagnosed almost 6 years ago. Late 2012 they placed me on a experimental blind study. I had to take 6 pills (placebo, or the real drug) everyday. They didn't use the PSA to actually study the effects. Instead, every 12 weeks I received a chest X-ray, Bone Scan, Blood work, and CT Scan. This went on for about 9 months and every bone scan and X-ray and CT scan I was clean from any observed tumor growth. However, about 5 months into the study, I began to have urinary issues again (this is what lead to my issues I had pre-diagnosis). I also had issues sitting to long because my hip and tail bone had severe pain. Every visit to the doctor I complained and he noted it and referred me back to a Urologist to scope my urinary tract. Urologist could not find any issues with blockages from my prostate. In fact my prostate has been a normal size since the day I was diagnosed. He talked about laser surgery to remove some of my prostate. Before that was an option, myself and Cancer Doctor decided to stop the study and go onto something that has been approved. My Cancer Doctor prescribed me Zytiga, and Prednisone. I had instant relief after 3 days from all pain and urinary issues. I never had to have any of my prostate removed after all. Thank God, because I didn't really want the surgery. I take the small dose of Prednisone to boost my energy level. It helps me very much. I have been on the Zytiga for about 10 months now and it is going very well. When I was on the Study, my PSA raised up a little and once it reached a specific point, that's when I had urinary issues and pain. Even though my tumor on my hip and other bone wasn't getting bigger, it still affected my prostate. It was undetectable growth. Bottom line, I feel Great and I have an amazing Medical Team at the Cleveland Clinic and a very caring Spouse.

Still Zolodex Injection every 12 weeks. I also have been taking Zytiga Tablets every day. I have been on this medication for 2 years now. The average time for Zytiga is 6-8 months, so I guess at 24 months I'm ahead of the curve. Was diagnosed 9/23/08, and I still feel great. I contribute a positive attitude and eating healthy to my feeling good. Planning a motorcycle trip around the country as I did last year. Helps keep my great attitude.

Everything was going great until November of 2015. I was on Zytiga with Prednisone for the past 2.5 years. The Zytiga was only suppose to work for 6-8 months but I got 2.5 years out of it. I had a bone scan April 2015 and all was well, little bone metastasis. In November my body started to ache but I associated it to doing several construction projects around the home. Upon my routine checkup and Zolodex injection, my doctor was concerned about one of my blood levels (Alkaline Phosphatase) which is suppose to be 40-150 but mine was well into 2000. It's an indication of bone issues. Doctor ordered a bone scan and CT scan. The scan indicated several metastasis all over my bones, which explains the severe soreness and trouble waking up in the Morning. My doctor advised me that I had 3 choices. 1) More pill therapy with an approved drug. 2) Radiation to my bones. 3) Chemotherapy to control it. I chose the Chemo because it had the greatest results and it's actually recommended now for early treatment. in January I started my 6 rounds of chemo with a treatment every 3 weeks. My last treatment was the end of April 2016. After my 3rd round I had a Bone scan and CT scan, both came back negative with no new growths. The bone is still damaged but that's normal, just like if you break ribs when your young, it will still show up years later as damaged bone. I go in a few weeks to have another set of scans. I feel great now and all my blood levels have been coming back to normal. The chemo whipped my butt, but it's normal for that. I'm starting to feel good again and getting my strength back. My message to all, especially with new diagnosed men, STAY POSITIVE, have a great support system.

I'm still doing great, had a couple setbacks but I'm almost back on track. I had the cancer Metastasis to my spine in a couple places and had to get Radiation. The first time was on my Lumbar 3 and it grew to my 5th Lumbar. I had Radiation for that back in December 2016 and by March 2017 it was almost all gone on my spinal cord. Then in May of this year I had it on my skull in 2 spots, it was penetrating into my brain grey matter. They caught it in time and I had Gamma Knife surgery. Now as I speak I have it on my 2nd Lumbar and 10th Thoracic spine. I'm heading in tomorrow for more radial surgery with a high dose of Radiation. Hopefully that'll do the trip. I'm feeling a lot better and getting my strength back, but every time I get to about 80%, I seem to get kicked back down to 50%. I still get fatigued, and very frustrated but I'm dealing with it and still living a great live. Whomever reads this, I got one message for you. "Don't ever give up or give in to this disease!" Fight it with all your heart! Also, don't ignore any pain you have like I almost did with my spine. I could've been paralyzed from the cancer squeezing on my spinal cord. I thought it was sciatica and so did a couple of my doctors.

Been a long 2 years. Cancer spread to Spine and Head. After numerous radiation therapies to Head and Spine I've been holding my own. My Blood counts have been knocked out due to my Bone Marrow being affected from the Radiation among other things. They were unable to treat me with more successful chemo drugs because my Platelets are to low. I am currently on Keytruda to try a slow the growth of the Cells. My advise to all, don't give up and always stay positive. 10 years and still going strong.

Tim's e-mail address is: guardian404405209 AT gmail.com (replace "AT" with "@")

NOTE: Tim has not updated his story for more than 15 months, so you may not receive any response from him.