First of all, I have never heard of blood in the urine being associated with
prostate cancer.  Could you ask the doctor specifically what the cause of
that blood in the urine was?

Second, what is the usual lifespan of the men in your family?  And are there
any other factors which could help you estimate how long your father could
reasonably be expected to live if he had a PSA of zero?

jimhoney

Hi Andy...Your dad sounds like quite a fighter!  PSAs as high as your
dad's usually indicate advanced PCa disease.  Despite the negative
bone scan, the disease may have metastasized.  You may want to take a
look at the Advanced PCa discussion group at the Prostate-Help website
(see http://www.prostate-help.org/cadisgr.htm for a link to the
group).  Posting questions there will bring answers from others with
advanced disease that have "been there, done that."  They will be able
to provide / direct you to information on various methods of fighting
advanced disease.

It's possible that over time your dad's PCa has mutated to an androgen
independent form so his current hormone therapy is no longer
effective.  You didn't specify if your dad was using a single hormone
suppressing drug or multiple drugs (ADT3 or ADT4 programs), so it's
possible that if your dad is currently using a single HT drug, then
using a ADT3/4 therapy might be a helpful step.  Of course, HT is just
a milder form of chemo, so chemotherapy would be another option to
consider with your doctor.  All of these therapies will lessen your
dad's quality of life, to varying degrees.  So one would also need to
compare how much longer your dad is likely to live and the quality of
that time both with and without further treatment.  Best wishes and
good health to you and your dad...Ron

Having never bee deaf and blind, I don't know how bad it is.  But going from
40 to 125 in six months is a bad thing.  I certainly would not die from PCa
if I had a choice.

Unfortunately, after hormone treatment there is not much left that is tried
and true.

   Hormone therapy is almost always temporary in its effect.  Your father has
had an unusually long success with it.  Stopping and starting again might
extend its effectiveness.  Chemotherapy seems usually effective in providing
some further delay.  But chemicals such as adriamycin,  ketokonzole,
estramustine, dexamethosone, ..., impose a life-interrupting rigid and
time-consuming schedule, and often have very uncomfortable side-effects.  I
have so far experienced virtually NO SIDE-EFFECTS from these- I feel great.
But I may be very unusual.  'tis funny, all of the guys I meet at the infusion
center every week are upbeat and cheerful, in spite of the fact that some seem
a little sick.... I smile the most of any of them ;-}
 It is a dificult decision, and should be up to your father.  He has to decide
between the possibility of death from cancer rather than from heart problems,
or delaying the cancer by incurring the possiblity of side-effects and a tough
shedule, while tolerating bad hearing and bad eyesight. Advanced prostate
cancer is a slow and painful death, and I would rather die of stroke, which is
what I expected from my family history.  But I want to live as long as I can
while avoiding those final painful months, ie, live long enough to die of
stroke....