Mark,

Unfortunately, that is the usual sequence.  Nothing yet cures PCa, so we try
to kill it while it's in the prostate or cut the whole prostate out.  If
that doesn't work and the PSA starts going back up, we radiate the prostate
bed in the hopes that it is still all contained there.  When that doesn't
work, we go on hormones in order to control it for a few years.  At some
point, in a significant portion of men, the hormones stop working.  There
are other hormone treatments and localize radiation treatments, but the long
and short of it is, there is no cure.

On the bright side, a cure or cures seem to be around the corner.  Some of
us are just hoping to live long enough to see them.  My father's generation,
and all generations before, had no cure to look forward to, but we do, and
perhaps so does your father.  PCa grows slowly and he can be kept alive and
viable for a long time.