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Just joined your club and trying to decide on treatment
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Sep 16, 2011 - 9:39 pm
I found out today I have pc. 50 yrs old psa 9.3 Gleason 6 (3 and 3) 15 cores 1 positive with less than 3 percent of tissue volume. 14 negative. T1c B0 Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. |
Joined: May 2011
Well welcome to our little club. We will try to support you as best we can. The first thing I would say is study. Look over this site very carefully such as the resource library and community resources sections. The second thing I would mention is ask questions of doctors nurses, administrators or anyone else concerning your cancer. Keep an open mind. Come back here and we will help all we can.
Joined: Sep 2011
I recently updated my essay to include 2011 results. The information in the essay was reviewed by several doctors and presented to our Dean Ornish Prostate Cancer Support Group several years ago. It is not entirely up-to-date because several drugs hare being tested and HIFU is becoming more mainstream.
You can find the essay at: http://home.comcast.net/~joseph.a.brennan/2011MyJourneytoDecision.pdf
Best,
Joe Brennan
Joined: Apr 2011
With those figures there is no reason to rush in making a decision. Take your time, relax, keep your spirits up, continue to enjoy life. Obviously, being diagnosed with pc is a life changing experience. Nevertheless, we can and must deal with it when it happens. It might interest you to know that I am a 20-year pc veteran, now age 85. Thus I am 35 years older than you, but I am probably no wiser!
Good luck to you.
Joined: Mar 2010
Don't get me started on why NOT surgery!
I'm an outspoken opponent of it for men like you who have early stage PCa -- Gleason 6, PSA less than 10 and Stage T1c. The best thing you can do is read the following article, which sums up why you should NOT consider surgery unless ABSOLUTELY necessary:
http://www.hifurx.com/prostate-cancer/prostate-cancer-after-effects.
It's written by a physician who currently uses Hifu (high intensity frequency ultrasound) to treat PCa but has prior experience as a surgeon. FWIW, the article is not a puff piece for Hifu. It's a very candid and honest discussion of what's wrong w/surgery as an option for treating PCa, which is something very seldom seen in the literature and seldom discussed w/PCa patients.
His opinions regarding surgery and identical to mine and if you want to some personal data about why NOT surgery -- just read the many threads posted in this forum by men who still have ED and who have to use pads years after their surgery and/or who have to wear slings or install an AUS (artificial urinary sphincter) in order to regain any form of urinary control and/or penile implants in order to have sexual intercourse again.
There are many more alternatives available to men like you. They include but are not limited to: Cyberknife (CK which a form of SBRT - stereotactic body radiation therapy), Proton Bean Therapy (PBT), IMRT (intensity modulated radiation therapy), 3D Conformal Radiation Therapy, Low Dose and High Dose Rate Brachytherapy (LDR BT/HDR BT) and HiFu.
Read up about them (and anything else you can find) and decide for yourself which to these methods would be best for you. Your decision also may or may not depend on the availability of insurance for the method you choose. All of the methods mentioned (except perhaps HiFu) are covered by insurers but NOT all insurers cover all of the methods. So, you'll need to do research on that too.
Good luck!
Joined: Apr 2011
While you have become a member of the club no one wants to be a member of, your "lower risk" classification is fortunate in that it allows for virtaully every treatment weapon available.
No one here will tell you exactly what to do, as that is your decision, and each of us is different. We will tell you that you have time to research radiotherapy, surgery and watch-and-wait strategies. As you do your homework, your decision will become clear.
One thing I think all of us will agree on...whatever your treatment option decision, make sure the individual treating you has tons of experience. The more experience they have (say 1000 surgeries or brachytherapy or radiotherapy treatments) the better your odds of skillful delivery and an excellent outcome. If you choose to do nothing....watch closely.
You will be fine. Good luck and God Bless You.
robert1
Joined: Apr 2006
There's lots of choices. Ultimately, you have to decide what feels best for you. None are perfect. Having watched my father in the 1960's agonize with this disease, when it was my turn, I learned about robotics and didn't look back I simply wanted it out. I was T2,3+3 and had 1 of 12 cores forgot the psa.
Had the robot, while I have sensation I don't have erections. I wear pads for sneezes etc I leak more when I drink wine but not beer, go figure.
It's been over 5 years, PSA less than .01, I can do everything I want (with one exception) I'm 65 and life goes on. While sex is/was great, I've learned life goes on besides at my age it was more of a dream than fact.
I spend my time doing what my wife and I want,jeeping, travelling, fly fishing and playing with grand kids.
For me the key was not agonizing but deciding and moving on there's much to life yet to do. jj
Joined: Sep 2011