you did not include his psa, gleason score or staging.  not only does
his age make a difference, but the above factors do too.

~ curtis

knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional    
"Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is
invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."

I think your father should get a second opinion.  Hormone therapy
is normally only effective for a limited number of years.  Usually it is
only given as a monotherapy (i.e., no other treatment) to people who
have metastasized cancer that cannot be reached by surgery or radiation,
or to people who are near enough to death from some other cause
that other treatments are dangerous or unnecessary because the
patient is likely to die of something else first.

If no other treatment is given, the HT will normally become
ineffective after some period of time and the cancer will metastasize.
Once that happens, surgery and radiation will be of little use and
the patient will eventually die of cancer.

The good news here is that if your father gets radiation, the hormone
therapy he is getting now will assist in making the radiation more
effective.

For men over 70, or men in poor health, radiation may be easier
to recover from than surgery.  It is often the treatment of choice
for older men.  I had both external beam radiation and implanted
seeds (of the temporary "High Dose Rate" variety).  There were
side effects but, in my case, they were not too hard to handle.

I suggest he get a second and maybe even third opinion from one
or two prostate cancer specialists.  I would recommend that
at least one of them be a radiation oncologist.

   Alan

May I suggest you visit a site that might answer a lot of your questions.
You might need to navigate A LOT of pages; however, the owner has
experience, and answers many of the questions you might have............
Following is a recent email to all subscribers to his site........
_____________________________________________________-
To All
Since my original "Prostate-Help, Patients Helping Patients" web site
has grown to be a rather large site and somewhat difficult for a person
just diagnosed to find there way around, a couple months ago I started
developing a Website for the newly diagnosed.  It is called "Prostate
Cancer - Its Diagnosis" and it is at
http://www.prostate-cancer-help.org/.  Although it is will constantly be
updated and changes made, it is now pretty complete and, I believe, very
well done.

This site is an ideal place to send someone recently diagnosed to help
their process of making decisions.  It is all there in a Step by Step
order in which a "newbie" can follow in a logical order to a treatment
decision.  Here is a listing of the Steps (and the URL) and the topics
under each of those steps.

For example under "The Diagnosis and Its meaning" is the topic "Gleason
and its Importance".  It is here that you could refer someone to learn
why it is important to have an expert review the biopsy slides and
further information about the various Gleason grades and the
understanding of the different types of prostate cancer cells.

Step 1 - Basic Knowledge
        at http://www.prostate-cancer-help.org/pcbasic.htm
   The Prostate - What It Is and Where
   Don't Panic Just Gather Information
   When is good enough "GOOD ENOUGH" for YOU
   The Sins of This Industry
   Abbreviations, Acronyms, Glossary
   The Doctors Appointment

Step 2 - The Diagnosis and Its Meaning
        at http://www.prostate-cancer-help.org/pcdiag.htm
   The PSA and Its Idiosyncrasies!
   BPH (Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia)
   Prostatitis
   The Staging of Your Cancer
   The Prostate Biopsy - What it Means
   Gleason and Its Importance

Step 3 - Other Diagnostic Tools
        at http://www.prostate-cancer-help.org/pcother.htm
   Partin Tables
   Bone and CT Scans
   Endorectal - MRI/MRIS
   ProstaScint
   Color Doppler Ultrasound

Step 4 - Recap
        at http://www.prostate-cancer-help.org/pcrecap.htm
   Things you should know and have.
   Data To Make a Treatment Decision

Step 5 - Help With Your Diagnosis and Treatment Decision
        at http://www.prostate-cancer-help.org/pcditrt.htm
   Treatment Choices
   Understanding the Definition of Failure
   How Do The Clinics/Doctors Measure Up
   Centers of Excellence - The Very Best

Step - 6 - Support For You
          at http://www.prostate-cancer-help.org/pcsupp.htm
   Prostate-Help - It Is Here To Help
   Prostate-Help Quick Clicks - Searching
   Help-Lines for You
   Discussion Groups For Your Questions

Use this to refer the newly diagnosed to help them in their research.  I
believe this site is the ultimate answer for someone to start their
research once they have been diagnosed (or are about to be).

Don

Prostate-Help "Patients Helping Patients" (PHPHP) Quick Clicks
Gateway:   http://phphp.org   /  PCa Info:  http://phphp1.org
Groups:    http://phphp2.org  /  Chats:     http://phphp3.org
Just Diag: http://phphp6.org  /  Help-Line: http://phphp4.org
Research:  http://phphpqc.org / Local Supp: http://phphp5.org
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It is hard to be sure without knowing all the details, but I agree that
he might be wise to seek another opinion from an independent doctor.

If a man's life expectancy is not over 10 years, often doctors will
advise doing nothing unless symptoms develop.  Many men over 70 can live
out their normal life spans without the cancer ever bothering them.
Usually, more aggressive therapy designed to cure the disease will be
employed for younger men or men with a life expectany of 10 years or
more.  But the treatment does have side effects and some older men in
ill health may not be able to tolerate it.

Hormone therapy is usually employed after the cancer has spread.  Most
doctors don't believe it can cure the disease, but it can keep it under
control for some time.  How long can vary a lot from patient to patient.
Even if there is no evidence of spread, doctors may, in some cases,
start hormone therapy early because the cancer looks so aggressive that
the doctor feels there is a good chance it has spread or will spread
soon.   That would be a case with a very high PSA and/or a Gleason 8 or
higher tumor.  A few doctors recommend the use of hormone therapy early
even for non-aggressive cases, but they are in a small minority.

A good source of information is Patrick Walsh's Guide to Surviving
Prostate Cancer.