My grandad has this kind of cancer....can anyone tell me exactly what it is? I've looked in loads of library books but the definition is either absent or in really complicated medical waffle that I can't understand. If my grandad responds well to radiotherapy he's likely to live for the next 5 years..if not he's ben given 6 weeks to live...I really want to be able to understand what's going on....
Katie xxx

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Don't dream the dream, be the dream.

Katie,
Don't know how much information you want, so I'll keep it simple & if you need more let me know.

Only men have a prostate and 1 in every 6 American men get prostate cancer. It is the 2nd leading cause of cancer deaths for American men. About 39,000 die from it each year. It is normally a slow growing cancer, but sometimes it can be an aggressive one.

What would help you most is knowing what your grandad's PSA and Gleason scores are. The PSA is a substance produced in the prostate and the lower the number the better. The Gleason Score is a number between 2 and 10. If his Gleason score is 6 or less then the cancer is a slow growing one. 7 is a transition number & the cancer can either be slow growing or aggressive. 8-10 are numbers that indicate that the cancer is quite aggressive. See if you can find out his PSA and Gleason scores.

There are over 100 kinds of cancer and prostate cancer is just one of them. It is called that because it starts in the prostate, which is a gland about the size of a walnut. The prostate is part of the male reproductive system. Actually this cancer does not become dangerous until it escapes the prostate. Once it spreads outside the prostate it often goes to the bones & becomes quite painful.

I hope I have answered your question. Please feel free to post any other ones you might have. I was diagnosed with it in 1997 and am still going strong, even though mine has come back.

Sincerely,
Brad

Katie

Has your grandfather had hormone therapy yet?
Chemo? Nizoral? Aredia.
These therapies can buy him a lot of time, if he has not yet used them.
Ron

We looked into this, but he is not eligable for this; his only hope is radiotherapy....the cancer's gone too far to think about any other options. however, if anyone has any other suggestions as to any other methods that might help, they would be more than welcome.