92 year old father has prostate cancer that has spread to bone. Anyone else go through this?

I would contact your local hospice. If he's pain free, that's fantastic, but you want everything in place in case the pain begins. He's 92 and if the cancer is in his bones, he would be considered terminal. They can be an incredible help not only with care, but with advice. I'm assuming you've checked with his doctor about the anti-hormone therapy and are just double checking here? If not, do ask the doctor. The main thing is keep him pain free and his quality of life.
Take care,
Carol

Lots of different opinions in the medical community about what is the best course of treatment for prostate cancer. If it is caught early the prognosid is very good and a TURP can be curative but has unfortunate side effects such as urinary incontinence and loss of sexual ability. getting a PSA on a regular basis is very helpful in that it can act as a warning and the Dr can proceed with a biopsy which will give a definite diagnosis and a treatment plan developed based on age and other medical conditions. Untreated it will proceed to secondaries in the bones which are extremely painful and can break easily. very large doses of narcotics will eventually be needed. Once the secondaries are well establishedthe downhill slope is usually fast and full time care is needed. calling in hospice early can be a great help. They will encourage the patient to continue with activities he enjoys but monitor the pain carefully and are available 24/7 if an unexpected problems shows up or if patient or caregiver needs emotional or physical support.

My mother had stomach cancer that spread to the bone and unfortunately what I saw was there is no such thing as being pain free when it spreads to the bone. We had hospice for her and she was given morphine to the point where she was out of her mind for the last few months and in extreme pain at the same time.

I'm wondering if anyone has had a father that had prostrate that spread to the bone.

Sandy-His type was a gleason score of 9 out of 10. Very agressive type of prostate cancer. His bone mets was diagnosed about 3 months after the prostate cancer. With the shots, his PSA is way down. The physician said the shots would slow down the cancer and that with his age, he would possibly pass away from other age related disease and not the cancer. I am not so sure about that since it has spread to several sites in the bone. He also recieved 10 palliative radiation treatments to the spots on the bones to kill the nerve endings and stopping some of that pain. It is a good day/bad day situation. Everything we have done is palliative and not curing the disease. His younger brother had prostate cancer with bone mets a few years ago and actually got to the point of such severe pain that he killed himself. He did not have any support of his children! Our goal is to keep him as comfortable as possible at his end stage of life. He is only alone for a few hours. We only sleep and shower at our home, otherwise we are with him. Since he lives just down the road, we do get calls in the middle of the night when he wakes up and is not feeling well. We are trying to raise our last daughter who is only 14 years old and want to try to keep her life as normal as possible so moving him in with us or us moving in with him is going to be a last resort. He is grumpy most of the time, which is understandable and we need our space too. His last xray showed spots now on his spine. He has COPD, emphesemia, high blood pressure and arthritist on top of it all. His second wife had him on a lot of herbs which masked the cancer and the outcome would have possibly been different if he hadn't been on them but that is water under the bridge and we are left to pick up the pieces. Just trying to make him comfortable is the goal. From working in Hospice, we know the worst is yet to come,

Are those shots allowed with hospice? Radiation I think is?

Yes they are allowed since it is not a curative treatment but a way to slow down the progression of the cancer and the pain. FYI check his insurance for coverage of both the hormone shot and radation treatment. Each 6 month shot is almost $3000 and Dad's 10 palliative radiation treaments totaled almost $18500. Between his medicare and suppliment insurance we only had a small amout left to pay out of pocket. Just be prepared for hot flashes, moodiness, male menapause symptoms with the hormone shot and the radiation will make him a little tired after each treament. The good thing is a decrease in pain.

thank you very much for the information.

Kaitlyn sorry to have another question. Is there a specific name to the hormone shot?

This is a new question. With so many distressing stories being shared does anyone have any good experiences to share?

Sandy, the injection is Lupron. There is a 30 day dose or a 6 month dose they can give. They gave my Dad the 30 day dose first to see how he would react then we now are on the 6 month doseage. To Veronicas question-this is the process of prostate cancer. Our physician said that 80 percent of men will have prostate issues by the time they are in their eighties. It is with all the new technology and testing, they are diagnosing it. Years ago, most men didn't know they had it and because it can be such a slow growing cancer, the patient usually passes away from someother medical cause. With everyone, each day is a blessing. No one is promised tomorrow. We take each day at a time and handle what is given to us. There are bad days but there are also good days. It puts perspective on the end stage of life and makes each day a gift.