I've been off of ADT for 7 months now. Man-o-man what a difference. I
took myself off of the clinical trial that was supposed to last 24
months. I got as far as 8 months before I pulled the Zoladex and
Casodex plug. I qualified for the trial with my Gleason of 8 and my
<0.1 PSA at my first blood test. Since my RP in January of 06 I've
been recording PSAs of <0.1 including this last one a week ago. I hate
talking about this for fear of jinxing my good fortune for the last
year and a half but I do want to contribute when the subject warrants
it.

Todd

Hi Burney.....

Just got back from Toronto where our cancer hospital is (there are 2
major cancer centres in that city, plus others).

Ron was on Zoladex and Casodex from October of 2004 until Xmas of 2005.
Dr. Loblaw took him off Megace (for hot flashes) and Casodex at that
time, but Ron was too nervous to quit the shots so had one more which
lasted until mid February of 2006.  So he has been off all of the ADT
stuff for 18 months.  It took about 7 months for his testosterone to
start rising again and it is now normal, I assume.  I will check all of
the numbers if you wish.

His PSA had been at less than 0.02 for all of the time on the ADT, but
he suffered badly from total weakness and couldn't do anything.  Plus he
kept passing out when it was hot in the summer.

The medical oncologist in this City (we are on the outskirts of Toronto)
insisted Ron HAD to stay on the ADT and I insisted he DID NOT!!  Male
doctors don't like that....(VBG)

I called up Sunnybrook and told our original radiation oncologist what
was going on and the fact that this doctor was not adhering to the
strict 90 day interval between shots, etc., so we were back down and
under his wing immediately!!!!  Dr. Loblaw is a brilliant research
oncologist and has worked at both major cancer hospitals.  I trust him
200%.

He immediately took Ron off all ADT as I said above, and said we would
just do 6 month checks on his PSA and T levels and address any problems
if and when they arose.  He did quote a number and I believe he said
they could let his PSA get up close to 10 before putting him back on
Zoladex.

So we saw a slight rise in his PSA (up to 0.05) last Sept. which was 7
months after the shot wore off.  But I also saw a MAJOR physical and
mental change in him..... my old Ron was back again.  He hated the way
he looked and felt.  I can't read my writing properly, but it did show
another slight rise in March of this year.  Not sure where it will be as
of today.  But no point in worrying about it.

Ron is a bit of a mystery to the prostate cancer doctors due to his
rather bizarre PSA rise in the summer of 2004 (a year after HDR
radiation treatment).  At that time he went from 11 to over 25 in 3
months and once they checked everything out (ultra sound, bone scan,
x-rays.....nada showed up) they put him on ADT and he plummeted to 0.02
immediately.

So we are on an undefined period of watchful waiting.  He is OK with
that now that he feels like his old self and understands that he may
have to go back on it some day.  But Dr. L. felt that this was also a
good thing because it lengthened out the effectiveness of the ADT.  The
thought also crossed my mind that at 75 years old, his Testosterone
levels are probably naturally lessening......yet another good thing.

Hope this helps and wasn't too long and involved.  If memory serves me
right, Dr. Loblaw felt the Casodex was harder on him than the Zoladex,
but I could be wrong.

Cheers.......Heather