DH will be starting on hormone therapy for prostate cancer. He had prostate removed followed by radiation. His PSA values began rising shortly after that. So hormone therapy is the only option. Does anyone have experience with this? How bad are the side effects? Any suggestions to prepare and cope?
No experience, but good luck to you and your DH.
Kickit18, I wish you and your husband good luck too.
A friend’s husband had this treatment a few years ago. I did not know him, but she said it made him very emotional and he cried a lot, which upset her to see. You might ask his doctor if this is something you should be prepared for. Wishing him a speedy recovery.
No first hand info on hormones, but familiar with prostate cancer and wonder if there is a support group for spouses at your husband’s hospital or oncologist’s office. These can be very helpful.
Best to you both. This is tough stuff.
Best wishes for a full recovery for your DH.
I’m interested in this topic now, since hubby is scheduled for a biopsy. Best of luck to the OP’s husband.
Mstee, your husband has a high PSA?
Yes, high PSA, and just had an exam, and it was recommended. Hoping it is nothing, but will find out in a couple of months. Since he just broke three ribs falling on the ice on Mon., scheduled the biopsy for a couple of months from now. And thanks for the link!
I agonized about replying to this and I’ve decided to be honest about my familial experience with this. The overall moral of the story is that the standard of care has improved vastly and continues to improve.
My father was diagnosed with prostate cancer in his mid 60s. This was circa 1991. He had high PSAs followed by a biopsy. In those days, they did only three cores. Unsurprisingly, the first biopsy didn’t find the tumor. Months later, he had another biopsy, which found the tumor. He had a prostatectomy. The tumor had spread to the seminal vesicles, which were also removed, of course. All was well for a while, but his PSA started to climb, and he was treated with hormone therapy. (I don’t think radiation was used first, but I might be wrong.) Hormone therapy caused night sweats, muscle loss, shrinkage of the genitalia. To my knowledge, it didn’t cause any extreme emotional changes. Nevertheless, he remained active and pretty healthy for a long time. Eventually, he developed a tumor behind the bladder that was treated with radiation. (IMHO, the diagnosis of this was unacceptably slow. I don’t think his then-urologist was on top of things, to say the least.) Later, mets to the bones that were treated with radiation. He eventually died of the cancer at the age of 85. So he survived, in good shape for most of the time, for over 20 years. His health was excellent other than the cancer.
Nowadays, he would have had a biopsy with 12 cores, which would have found the tumor earlier. That might have avoided the spread to the seminal vesicles, which would make a big difference statistically. If it had spread to them anyway, followup radiation to the prostate bed as a precaution would now be standard after surgery, which would have had a good chance of knocking out stray cells.
My H (56 then) had a biopsy after increasing but not really high PSAs–in the 4s, IIRC–and cancer was found. His samples put him on the watch-and-wait borderline according to one pathologist (3+3), and over it (3+4) into the treatment sector according to another. He went ahead with treatment in 2010. We decided to go with the traditional surgery rather than radiation or robotic after a lot of research, since a) you couldn’t follow with surgery if radiation doesn’t work, and b) the traditional surgeon can actually feel roughness that indicates where the tumor is along the borders and the robotic surgeon cannot. As it turns out, H’s tumor went right up to the bladder and nerve bundle on one side, something that the robotic surgeon couldn’t have detected. Last year, he had a couple of PSAs that indicated some activity. He had scans that showed no detectable masses. (At first there was a possible hot spot in his hip bone, but that turned out to just be arthritis. Whew.) He then had a course of radiation of the prostate bed, and the microscopic activity ceased, according to the PSA. So far, all is well.
If H had listened to all of the currently fashionable advice about not having PSAs, not having biopsies, not having surgery, etc, there is a good chance that the cancer would have spread to his bladder by now. Or sooner. I think there is a huge difference between a diagnosis in an 80 yr old man and a 50- or 60 yr old man.
I know that since his surgery even more new methods have been used. The care keeps getting better. Advances continue to be made. Re hormone therapy, one thing that seems to help is to do whatever you can to get in and stay in good shape.
Best wishes to you and your H.
Consolation, thanks for your post. It is very helpful.
I am 58.
I had a PSA test in Jan. I almost declined the test. Came back 5.4. I was shocked. I have symptoms too. I thought I was just getting old. 
Cut sex out. Didn’t exercise 2 hours on an elliptical the day before the next PSA test.
Took another test in Feb.
My PSA dropped to 4.8. Still too high.
Urologist wants me to have a biopsy. I said I will after I go on antibiotics. So, I am on antibiotics. I don’t think the antibiotics are doing anything. Took another test before the antibiotics in March. PSA is 4.7.
I asked the doctor how bad is the biopsy?
How much do these needles hurt?
The doctor said it is not the needles. It is the ultrasound device that is stuck up the rectum. It is very uncomfortable. Most men get through it. Everybody is happy when the biopsy is over.
I have talked to a few people. People I respect. I am leaning towards surgery if necessary and I qualify for surgery.
I told my wife I might have some permanemt problems down there.
My wife said that’s fine with her.
Well, all high PSAs do not indicate prostate cancer.
DH had a very high number – somewhere in the neighborhood of 12. He had a biopsy, which showed nothing. The PSA continued to be high. He was also having some – ummmm – urinary urgency, let’s say. Long story short, he was put on a med for benign prostatic hyperplasia which shrunk his prostate, eliminated the urinary problems, and sent his PSA down to normal. He has also had another biopsy, which did not show cancer.
So, one step at a time.
VeryHappy, very true.
My cpa had a PSA of 10. He had two biopsies. No cancer.
A PSA of 4-10 gives somebody around 30- 50 percent chance of cancer. Depends on age and who knows what else?
A little above a 10 PSA reading and the chances are around 50 percent. So yes…people with these levels have a decent chance of not having cancer.
Ok…I had a biopsy today. It wasn’t that bad. Had an enema. I had 3 shots. The ultrasound device goes up your tush. Then you have the biopsy needles take pieces of your prostate for diagnosis…
The only thing that hurts is the three shots. The shots still hurt 3 1/2 hours after the procedure. However, there are quite a few things in life that hurt a lot more.
The actual biopsy takes about 4 or 5 minutes. After the biopsy, I can do whatever I want.
Also, the ultrasound gives a doctor a great idea whether you have cancer or not. It looks like I have an enlarged prostate. Not that big of a deal.
If I knew the biopsy wasn’t so bad, I would have done it earlier. I would not like to do these on a regular basis. 
Good to hear you made out well, dstark. Very happy for you.
I hope that the news continues to be good.
Hooray, hooray. Apparently all men after a certain age have an enlarged prostate. Welcome to the club.
Glad to hear it went OK.