On June 2nd, Dr. Michael Schweizer (Assistant Professor, Division of Medical Oncology University of Washington School of Medicine) spoke at our Active Surveillance Virtual Support Group with a presentation titled “Meds: A potential new path to keep men on AS?”
As a medical oncologist of the Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle, he usually sees no patients on active surveillance for low- to favorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer. But this changed when he conducted a study of how apalutamide, a drug used in men with more advanced cancer, on men on AS.
Dr. Schweizer said: “My goal is to help reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with diseases like prostate cancer through developing novel drug therapies.” He plans to study the impact of other meds on men on AS to offer a new way of managing AS.
We want to thank Dr. Schweizer for answering questions!
Watch here:
To view the slides from this presentation, click here.
For information on our peer-led video chat ACTIVE SURVEILLANCE PROSTATE CANCER VIRTUAL SUPPORT GROUP, click here.
To SIGN UP for the Group or any other of our AnCan Virtual Support groups, visit our Contact Us page.
Hi-Risk/Recurrent/Advanced PCa Video Support – Men & Caregivers Recording, June 7, 2021
Editor’s Pick: Wow – over 50 in the Room this week, so lots of great stuff!!! From conventional vs unconventional ways to treat advanced PCa to multiple testimonies on how exercise combats fatigue; and, LHRH & heart risk – you decide! (rd)
Topics Discussed
ASCO ’21 Quick Highlights; Centers of Excellence vs independent GU Med Oncs; LHRH comparisons; compassionate use for Lu177 PSMA; combatting fatigue w. exercise; itching and rash site reaction to Lupron; enzalutamide vs apalutamide; predinisone use when diabetic; how long can you stay at your PSA nadir?; mistaken testosterone reading gets a laugh; lipid panel considerations; more & more chemo … & still more!; LHRH & heart risk again today; health anxiety raises its ugly head.
Chat Log
AnCan – rick (to Organizer(s) Only): 5:32 PM: 47 online + callers – I think that’s a record!
Jake Hannam (to Organizer(s) Only): 5:33 PM: I think so too
Len Sierra (to Organizer(s) Only): 5:33 PM: Yes! Amazing! Btw, now you can see why I could never regurgitate Howard’s incredibly strange and complex journey!
richard wassersug (to Everyone): 5:46 PM: Rick, You are right!
Bill Franklin (to Organizer(s) Only): 5:48 PM: This might be the biggest group I’ve seen yet. I still had a little a day or two after the treatment. I was good for a long time but then, unfortunately it came back. I’ve actually been having a lot of issues lately. Hopefully you’ll get to feeling better soon.
Mark Perloe (to Everyone): 5:55 PM: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00859781?term=LU+177&cond=prostate+cancer&cntry=US&state=US%3ACA&city=Los+Angeles&dist=50&draw=2&rank=3
Pat Martin (to Everyone): 5:59 PM: Resistance training also builds BONES. Absolutely necessary while on ADT
Joel Blanchette – Reston, VA (to Everyone): 5:59 PM: We are at 50 in the room.
Mark Perloe (to Everyone): 6:02 PM: If you are on a statin, Co Q10 can reduce muscle issues.
AnCan – rick (to Jimmy Greenfield): 6:29 PM: What did we do for you today,
Jimmy G Jimmy Greenfield (Private): 6:30 PM: Just being yourselves, fantastic.
Paul Freda (to Everyone): 6:46 PM: I have the belly problem too. It is very frustrating and I have not been able to get rid of it. ….. I do feel better about it when resistance training exercsing at the fitness center.
Jimmy Greenfield (to Everyone): 6:48 PM: I’m with you Paul. Better to be strong-fat!
Bill Franklin (to Everyone): 6:51 PM: I did just shy of 2 years on lupron and never experienced any type of itching, rash, or hives after my shots.
Jeff Marchi (to Everyone): 6:53 PM: 4 years and I have no issues, can’t even remember which hip it went in
Pat Martin (to Everyone): 6:53 PM: How big of a percentage of T production is covered by Abi alone?
Herb Geller (to Everyone): 6:56 PM: Theoretically, Abi alone should do the job. But it requires some risk taking to go that route. Abi should block all T production independently of LHRH.
Jake Hannam (to Everyone): 6:59 PM: Androgen Deprivation Therapy: An Essential Guide for Prostate Cancer Patients and Their Loved Ones by Wassersug, et al
Mark Perloe (to Everyone): 7:00 PM: BNP is used in US to monitor CHF, but not in healthy people.
Pat Martin (to Everyone): 7:03 PM: I’ll be getting an Eligard shot and PSA test this Wednesday.
AnCan – rick (to Len Sierra): 7:09 PM: SSRIs are anti-depression; he needs an anti anxiety
Len Sierra (Private): 7:09 PM: They are also anxiolytics, Rick. Anyway, anxiety and depression go hand in hand.
AnCan – rick (to Len Sierra): 7:11 PM: don’t agree with you – I don’t suffer from anxiety
Jimmy Greenfield (Private): 7:11 PM: Yes! Not nervous, I’m just excitable you know. Shingles vaccine shot is killing me!
Len Sierra (Private): 7:12 PM: Because you’re taking an SSRI or SNRI.
Aloha, friends! We have some wonderful thoughts once again from our Board Chair, moderator, and most important, our dear friend Peter Kafka. We love you, Peter!
THE LEARNING CURVE
Yesterday I made the leap and upgraded my smart phone from my old Samsung android which was not functioning or charging very well to a new I-phone. I was warned that there would be a learning curve to navigate, and I feel I am up for the challenge. Of course, I have mentors close at hand like my son and daughter-in-law and grandchildren, but their fingers fly so fast over the keys and apps that my brain just can’t keep up and I get lost. I suspect you know the feeling well.
I bring this experience up because it reminds me of the steep learning curve that most of us face when diagnosed with prostate cancer at any level. There is a hell of a lot to learn to say the least! Our AnCan motto for our support groups is; “Be Your Own Best Advocate”. This admonition can be quite an ambitious goal for many of us. I noticed my own over eager attempt to “educate” a recently diagnosed man who found his way to my phone number the other day, not unlike my grand daughter’s attempt to furiously try to teach me the secrets of all the apps on my new phone. How quickly the mind can zone out.
Then there are the numerous inherent “handicaps” (if that is still a politically correct choice of words) that we face including;
Age: Prostate cancer seems to strike most of us in our 60’s when our mental capacity and acumen is not in its prime. (Go ahead and say; “speak for yourself!”, just saying….
Medical Terminology: Few if any of us are trained as medical professionals and acquiring understanding in the field of cancer can be quite daunting.
Advancements: The field of medicine is changing and progressing rapidly. “Warp Speed” is no longer a science fiction term.
Brain Fog: The treatments that many of us endure certainly don’t help the cause.
Add your own: Be my guest…
If you have attended any of our live online AnCan support group meetings you will have noticed that many of us are “regulars”. We are not GROUPIES following bands like The Grateful Dead around the country, but rather just guys trying to wrap our heads around this strange disease and better understand what our options are going forward. The light doesn’t come on with a flip of the switch, at least that has been my experience.
For information on our peer-led video chat PROSTATE CANCER VIRTUAL SUPPORT GROUPS, click here.
To SIGN UP for the Group or any other of our AnCan Virtual Support groups, visit our Contact Us page.
On April 29th, we had the utmost pleasure of having the highly esteemed Dr. Lawrence Fong (Efim Guzik Distinguished Professor in Cancer Biology, UCSF. Leader, Cancer Immunotherapy Program, and Co-Leader, Cancer Immunology & Immunotherapy Program, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center) lead a presentation about immunotherapy for prostate cancer, from active surveillance to advanced disease.
What is immunotherapy?
“Our immune system is designed to defend us from foreign attacks, such as viruses and bacteria. Immunotherapy for cancer takes advantage of the immune system to kill cancer cells by directing immune cells to recognize cancer cells by specific proteins on their surface.”
We want to sincerely thank Dr. Fong for the excellent presentation and education he provided!
Watch this fascinating presentation here:
Special thanks to Myovant Sciences for sponsoring this webinar.
Hi-Risk/Recurrent/Advanced PCa Video Chat Support – Men & Caregivers Recording, Apr 19, 2021
Editor’s Choice: Lively discussion on mental health brought on by treatment, especially in the Chat. And later on, hot & cold tumors (rd)
Topics Discussed
Recurrence 5 years after RP; recurrence after brachy + IMRT; Provenge; Caregiver discusses depression and anxiety; prostate in teh bladdernech impacts RT choice; 2nd opinion from Dr. Morgans may change treatment; Xgeva dosing; hot vs cold tumors impact immunotherapy; end of chemo in sight; Lu177 PSMA working; cyclophosphamide; HT holiday appears over
Chat Log
Bruce Bocian (Private): 5:04 PM: Wearing my new T-shirt tonight!
Rick Davis (to Bruce Bocian): 5:06 PM: I see …. nice job! Give it a plug …..
Bruce Bocian (Private): 5:06 PM: I did before you came on.
Len Sierra (to Everyone): 5:26 PM: Antonarakis and Denmeade
Jake Hannam (to Organizer(s) Only): 5:29 PM: CT and bone scan will probably be redundant if he can get the PET/CT approved
Pat Martin (to Everyone): 5:42 PM: Good night, all. See you next week
Jeff Marchi (to Everyone): 5:45 PM: no CT or bone scan
Alan Dibble (to Everyone): 5:46 PM: Alan does not wish to ask how everyone deals with the emotional aspect of this disease. He had prostate removed, radiation therapy and now on chemo, plus injections of eligard. (Cancer spread to hips and femur after 1 year after radiation).. He goes through much anxiety and depressions. He is 69 and was diagnosed at 56 years of age. He does not wish to speak. I’m getting involved on his behalf. I’m his wife of 20 years.
Jake Hannam (to Organizer(s) Only): 5:50 PM: Alan may wish to join Speaking Freely
Jake Hannam (to Everyone): 5:56 PM: Venlafaxine is used to treat depression. It may improve your mood and energy level, and may help restore your interest in daily living. Venlafaxine is known as a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI).
Tad (to Everyone): 5:57 PM: venlafaxine = Effexor (er)
John Ivory (to Everyone): 5:57 PM: Many people use the brand name for venlafaxine, which is Effexor XR
Rick Davis (to Everyone): 6:00 PM: Let’s not push venlafaxine – we are not expert enough to do that! We have expertise in PCa – we don’t have expertise in mental health. And we know better how men respond to the PCa drugs.
Tad (to Everyone): 6:07 PM: Ok….. all I meant. isthat I have experience in mental health
John Ivory (to Everyone): 6:08 PM: Are you a physician or a therapist, Tad?
Tad (to Everyone): 6:08 PM: A lifetime of personal experience. Are there physicians here for prostate? I’m just offering help like others are
Rick Davis (to Everyone): 6:09 PM: an SSRI can effect one person well and not another. They may need an SNRI.
Tad (to Everyone): 6:10 PM: yep or maoi……or I had shock treatments, etc etc etc. just like there are generalities for prostate, there are generalities with mental….general places to start. Bipolar type 2 since 1988. Been in psych hospitals many times. Electric shock treatments. Every med there is. Best dr’s in the country. This cancer stuf has been. awalk in the park compared to having. alife with. a major mental illness. Haven’t been back here for over a year. Finally was able to get back here tonight…..but this makes me depressed. So I’ll leave. Have a nice night.
Dennis McGuire (Private): 6:24 PM: Hi Rick, Is Dr. Morgans leaving Northwestern ? Heard the end of that conversation. Thanks
Rick Davis (to Dennis McGuire): 6:24 PM: Yup – early July. She’s going to Dana-Farber.
Dennis McGuire (Private): 6:26 PM: Sorry to hear that. Great hire by Dana-Farber ! She is a Superstar. I remember she has a history with Dana-Farber in her earlier days
Rick Davis (to Everyone): 6:36 PM: https://www.fiercebiotech.com/research/epizyme-s-ezh2-blocker-boosts-immuno-oncology-response-prostate-cancer-models Tazverik
Vincent Wilmot (to Everyone): 6:38 PM: Thanks all. Have to jump off now. Will stay in touch.
Jake Hannam (to Everyone): 6:38 PM: Mark your calendars for what AnCan expects to be a humdinger of a webinar on Thursday, April 29 at 8 pm Eastern. Advisory Board Member and Co-Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at UCSF, Dr. Larry Fong, will answer “Will Immunotherapy Change Your Prostate Cancer Treatment?” . Register at https://bit.ly/3thuPmq to learn how Superman came to visit Larry!
Ken (to Everyone): 6:41 PM: Got to go… pilots telling me turn off electronics
Jake Hannam (to Everyone): 6:42 PM: Sorry. Can’t attach the flier. See our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/answercancer/photos/a.1872701729640708/2908943646016506/
Bill Franklin (to Organizer(s) Only): 6:43 PM: I’ve got to drop guys. Need to help my son finish up a little bit of homework so he can get to bed at a reasonable time. Take care all.
Jake Hannam (to Everyone): 6:58 PM: dexamethasone (1 mg/day in the evening) with cyclophosphamide (50 mg/day in the morning). Zofran
Ted Healy (to Everyone): 7:02 PM: Got to go folks, thank you all!
Special thanks to Myovant Sciences for sponsoring this webinar.