Further information

Further information furnished by the group member:

I gave you only the PSA numbers because that is just about all one has
to go by in terms of a cancer marker when it comes to prostate cancer.
Let me give you a bit more data show you see the picture more clearly.

When I was diagnosed with PCa by needle biopsy on 6/26/06 my PSA was
14.9 – with six prior PSA tests, as follows:

Date | PSA | PSADT (doubling time)
Ref. | <4.0 | >2.51

08/02/00 | 04.2
02/16/01 | 04.7
09/10/01 | 03.4
04/25/02 | 04.7 baseline
09/17/02 | 04.7
05/19/03 | 05.5 |
03/29/06 | 13.9 | 2.51 years
06/29/06 | 14.9 | 2.51 3-month injection of Zoladex

You will note that when I had my first PSA test August 2, 2000, I
already had a PSA above the reference range. When I went back for my
2nd PSA test February 16, 2001, I did so because a younger brother had
just had a prostatectomy for PCa. Consequently, I had a biopsy
performed that came back negative. There was no evidence of cancer
even though my PSA at 4.7 was elevated. My PSA remained more or less
constant at about 4.7 for some months. I thus selected the second of
my 4.7 PSA scores on 4/25/02 as my baseline and simply plugged in the
numbers in the PSA calculator to get the PSADT (doubling time). See:

http://www.pcngcincinnati.org/psa/index.htm

The PSA doubling time at the time of my PSA test of 13.9 on 3/29/06
was thus 2.51 years. Assuming that the doubling time remained the
same, the calculator indicates that my PSA was probably 14.9 at the
time of my biopsy on 6/26/06 (and the Zoladex injection on 6/29/06).
PSA tends to rise almost exponentially with PCa, so my assumption that
the doubling time is constant is very conservative.

Now notice what happened with my PSA as a result of ADT (androgen
deprivation therapy), which also lowered my testosterone to castrate
level.

07/25/06 | 05.9
08/11/06 | 02.0
09/07/06 3-month injection of Lupron
10/03/06 | 00.9
11/16/06 aborted ADT (and chemo)
01/04/07 | 00.24

My PSA dropped quickly to near zero, but this does not mean that
cancer as such was removed. I asked my urologist at the time how long
it would take for my body to recover from those two injections
(Zoladex and Lupron) and learned that it would take 18-24 months. His
estimate proved to be accurate, as my subsequent PSA tests reveal:

05/22/07 | 01.8
06/01/07 started testosterone replacement
06/29/07 | 04.8
08/14/07 | 07.2
10/23/07 | 16.8
11/27/07 | 18.2
01/02/08 | 19.4
01/24/08 | 25.0 | 2.39

If one assumes a constant PSADT (doubling time) of 2.51 years, my PSA
would have been 22.7 but it was 25.0, which indicates that the cancer
was still present and apparently growing at a more rapid rate than it
was at the time of diagnosis 19 months earlier.

I left the country for a four-month residency in Jerusalem at that
point in time, and I complicated the matter further by going on
Avodart temporarily to control my DHT level, which had spiked along
with my testosterone as a result of the gel-cream I was using. I was
in Jerusalem from February 9 through June 7, 2008. Here are my numbers
after then:

Date | PSA | PSADT (doubling time)
Ref. | <4.0 | >2.51

02/12/08 started taking Avodart to control DHT
03/11/08 | 20.9 | 2.73
04/30/08 stopped taking Avodart [after 79 days]
06/10/08 | 26.6 | 2.29
07/22/08 | 31.3 | 2.28
07/31/08 went back on Avodart to control DHT
08/16/08 stopped taking Avodart [after 16 days]
09/02/08 | 20.6 | 2.98
09/23/08 | 25.0 | 2.66
11/11/08 | 22.9 | 2.87
12/11/08 | 21.3 | 3.04

One thing is clear: Avodart lowers PSA, but does not get rid of the
cancer.

My PSADT (doubling time) reached its lowest point of 2.28 years on
7/22/08 when my PSA peaked at 31.3. If I were to assume a doubling
time of 2.51 years at that time, my PSA would have been 26.4. None of
the PSA tests since then have reached 26.4, so it would appear that
the rate of growth of the cancer has slowed down. I apparently turned
the corner, as it were, sometime between July 22 and September 23. It
is interesting to note the fact that this coincides almost exactly to
my urologists prediction so far as my body getting the results of the
ADT (androgen deprivation therapy) out of my system -- that is, about
24 months after my last Lupron injection on September 7, 2006.

I was on Laetrile (Vitamin B17) therapy January 11 thru May 16, 2008,
and I am still on maintenance therapy consuming 3 heaping teaspoons of
ground apricot kernels every morning with my barley flakes cereal (and
a level teaspoon of cinnamon). I stopped using Protocel and switched
to Essiac Tea, IP-6, and Flax Hull Lignans on June 20. I then added
Sutherlandia OPC on July 25, after my disappointing PSA count of 31.3
on July 22. I subsequently added the Budwig FOCC (flax oil & cottage
cheese) on 9/17/08 and Ayurstate on 10/2/08.

Something is causing my PSA to go down, but it is not altogether clear
what that is, nor is it yet clear exactly what this means. If I were
to assume a PSADT (doubling time) of 2.51 years, my PSA on 12/11/08
would be 29.4 rather than 21.3.

I am scheduled to get an MRI of the pelvis on January 5, 2009, to get
some idea of what is going on in my body so far as the cancer is
concerned. My oncologist wants to do a bone scan as well, but I am
unwilling to expose myself to that kind of radiation at this point in
time. I may be able to persuade my oncologist to do a color doppler
sonogram but the Alta Bates Comprehensive Cancer Center (Berkeley)
does not have that testing equipment.

We will just have to take one step at a time and see what happens. At
this point in time, I tend to agree with your assessment that the
Sutherlandia OPC is an important contributor to the progress that I am
apparently making in my struggle with prostate cancer.