questions about pros. can. trt.???

spafsahi

i am 47 and had my prostate removed 6 weeks ago. gleason 9, lymph node involvement. now they recommend radiation and hormone therapy. has anyone done radiation without hormone therapy???
how long should i stay on hormone therapy???
i would appreciate any and all info.

WHW

Having RT without HT
I am just getting started with my Radiation Treatment on the 30th. In fact I went for my scan and mapping today.

I can only tell you that my RO is not planning to use HT with the RT. I asked about it a little, see my previous post about meeting with my doc for the first time.

I didn't really press the issue because personally I have drawn my line in the sand. I told my wife I had the surgery, will deal with the ED, will have the Radiation, will deal with the ED, BUT I AM DRAWING THE LINE AT HT.

It's just me. Surgery and Radiation are curative and HT is not. It just prolongs. I am not knocking it for anybody else. The only way I would even entertain conversations about it was if my wife found out she only had 2 years left and my doc said I had one.

So while I can't speak from experience about Radiation with/without HT, my doc says he is not doing it with mine.

Sonny

spafsahi

WHW said:

Having RT without HT
I am just getting started with my Radiation Treatment on the 30th. In fact I went for my scan and mapping today.

I can only tell you that my RO is not planning to use HT with the RT. I asked about it a little, see my previous post about meeting with my doc for the first time.

I didn't really press the issue because personally I have drawn my line in the sand. I told my wife I had the surgery, will deal with the ED, will have the Radiation, will deal with the ED, BUT I AM DRAWING THE LINE AT HT.

It's just me. Surgery and Radiation are curative and HT is not. It just prolongs. I am not knocking it for anybody else. The only way I would even entertain conversations about it was if my wife found out she only had 2 years left and my doc said I had one.

So while I can't speak from experience about Radiation with/without HT, my doc says he is not doing it with mine.

Sonny

thanks so much for your
thanks so much for your advice. i don't have anything meaningful to contribute at the moment, just wanted to drop you a line and thank you for sharing your experience. i have an appt. with my doc 11/24. i am leaning towards doing radiation but not hormone. i am trying to learn as much as i can before i go forward. my problem is the aggressive nature of my pc: gleason 9, lymph node involvement. would you mind telling me your gleason and whether or not you had ln involvement?
parenthetically and sadly, my gleason was 6 upon initial biopsy and turned into a 9 upon post-surgical biopsy!
well, thanks again and hopefully we can stay in touch. good luck with the radiation.