Debbie,

Your prose have taken on a persona of fatalism.  Please understand that this
is not a short term thing.  My PSA went into the 0.30 rang about 1½ years
after my surgery.  That was 5 years ago!  I'm still alive.  I'm still
working full time in a pretty assignment.  I'm planning to max out on my
retirement package.  On my off days, I'm still work around my condo or at
one of my childrens' houses.  I walk 3-5 miles a day, 3-5 days a week.  I
still get down on the floor with my grand children.

By comparison, Allen's failure came 2½ years after his surgery.  With
capsular penetration, I'd say that is outstanding.  And, there is still a
chance that radiation will kill what's left of it.

I think what you ought to do is hope for a cure and get death out of you
head for now.  It just isn't a sure thing at this point.  If, in the next
year or two or three, it comes back a third time, then I might be telling
you to pick a date and plan for that.  Mine is 2012 -- 12 years after my dx
and 10 years after my oncologist said, "50/50 chance of living ten more
years."  But, you have no reason to pick a date yet.

I would be very cautious about making life decisions right now.  You could
retire and find you don't have enough money to keep Allen in the lifestyle
to which he is accustomed twenty years from now.

On 11 May 2007, you wrote in alt.support.cancer.prostate:

Hi there!  Not much reason to panic yet. there should be lots of time. The
reappearance of detectable PSA is discouraging but not life-threatening
just yet. The change you saw indicates the recurrence. However the change
is small. There is time to make sure that the treatment decisions are
correct in your husband's case.

He has had 2 and a half years and it is discouraging. I had less than 3
months. With my RRP in Dec 05 my first PSA in late Mar 06 came back 0.87
A referral to the radiation oncologist in early May saw me have another PSA
reading of 1.1 then, or a raise of 0.30 in 5 weeks. This was to be expected
I guess since I had extrapostatic extension (capsular penetration) and 4
positive margins. I had no perineural invasion nor seminal vesicle
involvement. To say the least I was very, very disappointed with the PSA
results.

After 36 EBRT radiation treatments (65Gy) during June/July 06 and monthly
Lupron shots, my PSA in Sept 06 and Feb 07 has been <0.1 - the lowest my
assay reads. My early PSA results and the pathology of pT3 were not
promising, but the radiation oncologist figured the PCa was still in the
prostate bed, thought there might still be a chance of cure, and treated
that area. I am optomistic that we chose correctly. The PSA's are excellent
in my case. Time will tell.

Do not be discouraged. There might be likewise an excellent prognosis yet.
Listen to what the specialists have to say and make the informed decision
that your husband and you  feel is right.

I wish you the best!

Russ D