John's Cancer Blog
Abiraterone Acetate seems to have stopped working for me.
Since January this year my PSA has started to rise again every 4 weeks, the rises are small, but it has more than doubled in that time. Bearing in mind that that when I was diagnosed as inoperable and very aggressive, my PSA was 5 and other than when Cosidex failed and it rose to 5.8, that is the highest it has been.
In January my nadir was 1.1, February 1.5, March 1.7, April 2.0 and end April 2.6. Not a very welcome trend.
I am still on the Trial and am due for a Bone scan, CAT scan and blood works on 28 May, then I should know if there has been any further spread of the cancer.
I will always be eternally grateful that I was able to take part in the trial, which I am sure has extended my life and I intend to carry on the fight against this cancer until the very end.
Considering I was only given 6 to 12 months to live almost 9 years ago, I am surely blessed to still be alive and active today and for a few more years to come.
I highly recommend Abiraterone Acetate to all suffers of Prostate cancer, but at the price of around US$5,000 per month, I fear that unless it is approved to be subsidised by the PBS, it will be out of reach for the average patient.
There certainly should be more effort made to raise awareness of Prostate Cancer in the community, in the same way that the women have done with breast cancer and then the research into a cure would attract the funding it requires, instead of the case in Australia, where medical research funding is being reduced by the Government.
So to all you sufferers, families and supporters, grab the pale blue banner, wear your pale blue ribbon with pride and shout about this silent killer of men, from the rooftops, until this happens, we will always be way behind, in the amount of funds made available to research a cure.
Maybe miracles do happen, when my PSA more than quadrupled in 12 weeks, I was convinced that Zytiga plus Prednison had stopped working for me, but it has dropped in the last 8 weeks, from 4.7, then 4.1 and this week to 3.6. It just goes to show, that you never take things for granted.
I know that Zytiga is very expensive at US$5,000 per month, but if you can find a way to get on this drug, I highly recommend it to all of you with advanced and aggressive Pca and the discoverer of this drug Professor Gerry Potter, should be acknowledged for his magnificent and tenacious efforts in pushing forward, even though it nearly destroyed his health and life. My biggest regret is the millions of people, who were not able to get access to this drug, since he discovered it over 20 years ago and it is still not available in any country other than the USA, Even then it is only available to those who have failed Chemotherapy, unless of course you are wealthy enough to purchase from J&J direct.
If I had my way, I would nominate Gerry Potter for the Nobel prize for medicine.
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John
I pray that we find a cure to this killer. We as men will never get proper recognition for this family destroying killer. I was given five years and now it’s around 3 and half years now. I stopped taking my hormone treatments about a year back and still feel great but it never leaves your deep thoughts. But we will never beat are own drums. That’s just the way we work. Sorry John. We are very stubborn this male race. I wish we could get a much better shot at finding a cure but I doubt it my friend in arms. I hope the treatment turns around for you. We are really no joking all together in this battle against prostrate cancer. It is truly a husband killing affliction. Be strong my friend we are a team in reality.
Ed