I don't think there is any real typical rate. As with so many things in the
world of cancer, your results will vary.  Yes, the 3.1 sounds very good to
me. The therapy is working.

DP

I don't think that there is a typical reduction rate.  I started at .32 and
it dropped to .07 in three months.  Starting at 44 should take longer and,
assuming there are more hormone resistant cells, probably won't got as far
down.

However, the most important thing is how far it goes down.  I guess next
most important is how fast.

Sounds pretty good, Duke.  Ron's was rising incredibly fast and it was
certainly well over 24 when he started Zoladex & Casodex.  His first PSA
test was 3 months after that and we were thrilled that it was 0.05 which
is undetectible at that particular lab.

It stayed at 0.02 for more than a year but Ron has now gone off the two
drugs and just had his first PSA done after not having the Zoladex shot
due Feb. 10th.  I hope it is still well down.  Dr. Loblaw says he won't
put him back on HT until it hits 10.

Btw....for those who worry about a rise of less than 1.0......Ron's went
up 3 full points in 8 days (13 to 16....and kept on rising to 24 or
more).....don't sweat the small increases!!!!   You can imagine how we
felt with this horrendous increase.  And yet, no one knew why exactly.
The hospital had never seen anyone's rise that fast after "successful
radiation" (wry grin) unless it was an infection.  It had been 3.6 for
six months.  All the scans were clear and we still have no idea where
the SOB had migrated to.

Ron had a rather extreme reaction to the HT and decided that quality of
life mattered more.  This is not an easy time, but watching him turn
into a 90 year old was worse.  So we will take it one day at a time and
treasure every one of them.

Cheers.....Heather

A friend of mine started with a PSA over 300.  His dropped gradually
over about 6 months.  After about 3 months I think he was done to 6.
When I saw him at 6 months he was below 1.

    Alan