Hi Daddy's Girl,

I am not a doctor, so I can't really tell you what your father (I am assuming) might have as far as hope. He's got you for starters!  What I can give you is some information about the medications he's working with and some other information about the disease itself.

Just remember that this information is great for making sure you ask all the right questions of the doctor, so that together you can better manage your friend's care. Nothing should take the place of the doctor's expert advice and care.

There is a great overview here about prostate cancer, particularly the staging and grading section here. In this section, the treatment for stage four prostate cancer is outlined. They do indeed use hormone inhibitors to treat this.

You can read about Casodex here, and the side effects here. Trelstar is a luteinizing hormone. There is an informative article here called Hormone Therapy for Advanced Prostate Cancer Not For Everyone, that talks about luteinizing hormones, written by Ed Edelson, a HealthDay writer. 

The side effects listed at the www.trelstar.com owned by Wilson Pharma are:

"Safety Information The most commonly reported adverse events associated with the use of TRELSTAR^® Depot/TRELSTAR^® LA included hot flushes (58.6%/73.0%), skeletal pain (12.1%/13.2%), impotence (7.1%/2.3%), headache (5.0%/6.9%), leg pain (2.1%/5.2%), and edema in legs (0.0%/6.3%) . TRELSTAR is contraindicated in women who are or may become pregnant as well as patients who are hypersensitive to triptorelin, other LHRH agonists, or LHRH . Infrequent postmarketing reports of anaphylactic shock and angioedema have been received since 1986 (global experience) . As with all LHRH agonists, triptorelin causes an initial transient increase in testosterone levels. Patients may experience the onset or exacerbation of symptoms during this period, including bone pain, neuropathy, hematuria, spinal cord compression, or urethral or bladder outlet obstruction. Patients with metastatic vertebral lesions and/or urinary tract obstruction should be closely observed. "    

I hope this helps somewhat! Science has made great strides over the years in treating prostate cancer. The survival rate is far better than it used to be. Take care, and stay in touch. Let us know how you are doing!

Vicki M