Stage 4 prostate cancer
Greetings,
A little background: I'm a 68 yr old married gay man with a strong homophobic Mormon background. 12 years ago today (5/5/2023) I met my soulmate and my life changed dramatically for the better. Last year I had a lower abdominal/rectal attack and went to the Eisenhower emergency room in Palm Desert, CA. The ER dr. diagnosed kidney stones. I had one more attack 2 months later and suffered through with over-the-counter pain meds. Fast forward to Jan. 2023, new insurance, new PCP. He ordered lots of tests and PSA came back 13+. Then battling getting apt. that weren't 6 months out with a credible oncologist, MRI, CAT scan, biopsy, etc. MRI set off a fury of doctors' interests. The best oncologist (Dr. D) looked at year ago ER scan and laughed at the diagnosis (kidney stones). I assume had it been correctly diagnosed then, I might have a better chance now. Should I look into a law suit? Dr. D gave me "the news" - stage 4B prostate cancer, spread to rectum, genitals, and lymph nodes. That means surgery (urologist), not an option, or chemo/radiation. The only chance is hormone therapy. The takeaway: waiting for biopsy results to get insurance onboard, then stronger drugs and shots. Maybe target radiation later. Google says 29% chance of survival over 5 years, no matter the treatments. I do not fear death, but hope to bypass pain. Much worse is to leave my beloved 83-year-old husband! It's unthinkable! The other "good" doctor... I'll call him Dr. G, said there is hope. Run hard and get lots and lots of cardio exercise. Research positive thinking, and what other folks in the same situation are doing. He said "eat seeds" and look for people that have tried that and found help. Also, get on the Mediterranean diet. I like Dr. G a lot! I know it's a crazy idea, but I live in the hope that I can manage a relatively painless life long enough to see my old man out of this world before I go. That's all I care about! Any ideas or help would be most gratefully accepted! I live in my email, so if that works for you: mike.karren@gmail.com
I have read a number of articles that suggest a healthy diet and exercise can be extremely beneficial in slowing prostate cancer. ...Is it true? ... I am not sure but in my world i think it is not a bad path to follow along with medical treatment. It is a path I am following as well. So for me the motto is ...Eat well get some fresh air and exercise. Dennis(ProstateCancer.net TEAM) 
Hi
. First, I want to note to not pay too much attention to any survival statistics you find online. They are out of date by the time they are published and, thus, advances in treatment (which have been many in recent years) are not taken into account. In addition, each case is very different. We have men here who have been stage 4 for quite a few years and are going strong. Concerning the benefits of lifestyle on treatment, I want to share with you the bio of our contributor Tony, who has been stage 4 since 2017 and is still quite an athlete: https://prostatecancer.net/community-advocates/tony-collier. Of course, there is no way of knowing what impact his healthy lifestyle has had, but it probably has helped.
In addition, you mention radiation and chemo not being an option. Do you mean that doctors want to see what impact the ADT has on the cancer, before making decisions on further treatment? Also, was your PET scan a PSMA PET, which is the gold standard in finding the exact location of metastatic prostate cancer (see:
https://prostatecancer.net/treatment/psma-targeted-pet-imaging )? There really are plenty of options now - hope is real. Wishing you the best and please feel free to keep us posted and ask questions. Richard (ProstateCancer.net Team)
You are not alone. I have diagnosed with PC and waiting now for staging and histology. See Dr. Scholz videos on youtube. It is beneficiary to take an aggressive treatment path with triple therapy that is shown extreme success rates. Wishing you best of luck.
