I have just been told I have PC, $M question what to do?

lewvino said:

My insurance denied paying
My insurance denied paying for Proton. If I would have went with Proton I would have had to pay the expense out of pocket. So went with Davinci instead.

Larry

lewvino said:

Glad to answer your
Glad to answer your questions. I had a Gleason 7 (4+3) Pre sugery. As mentioned my first thought was Proton since my dad had such good success with it. I sent my records to Loma Linda Proton center. They did pre-authorization check, etc. then insurance denied. At first I was very dissappointed...but then started looking at the other options and educating myself by reading, reading and more reading! I even had several different appointments with the majority of other treatment options. I did look at another form of radiation combined with seed implants that is being done in Atlanta Ga. When this Doctor ran my numbers through his extensive database he only gave me a 56% change of being cancer free in 10 years following his treatment. To me that was a deciding factor. I wanted better odds. That doctor asked me if I was ready to decide and I told him no that I had one more Doctor to interview (The man that did my Davinci) He asked me where and which Doctor. When I told him he told me...he is one of the best surgeons you will find on the Davinci robot and please tell him hello from me when you see him!

Another deciding factor was the research I did on Davinci. I had received numerous glowing reviews on this Doctor that did my surgery. With the Davinci, I liked the factor of the magnification, less blood loss, etc. Also as you most likely know with radiation it will leave scaring which makes a follow up surgery more complex. So I went with the Davinci Surgery for my first line of defense. Post surgery my Gleason was changed to 3 + 4 (7). Still a Gleason 7 but overall not as bad as the 4 + 3 (7). Also they did find a positive margin which means the cancer went to the very edge of the surgical specimen removed. Is there cancer left behind? Don't know....Dr. Patrick Walsh (Good book on prostate cancer if you haven't read it) Talks about positive margins. I'm pulling 0's on my PSA at 22 months post surgery. If the PSA Does come back then I can start follow up radiation. If I would have had radiation 1st and then a recurrance I'm not sure what my options would have been accept perhaps more radiation or hormone therapy.

That's why this disease is so unique for each person,,,take into account your gleason score, number of cores positive, etc. If you ever want to talk offline just let me know.
We have free long distance calling on our phone plan.

Larry

lewvino said:

Glad to answer your
Glad to answer your questions. I had a Gleason 7 (4+3) Pre sugery. As mentioned my first thought was Proton since my dad had such good success with it. I sent my records to Loma Linda Proton center. They did pre-authorization check, etc. then insurance denied. At first I was very dissappointed...but then started looking at the other options and educating myself by reading, reading and more reading! I even had several different appointments with the majority of other treatment options. I did look at another form of radiation combined with seed implants that is being done in Atlanta Ga. When this Doctor ran my numbers through his extensive database he only gave me a 56% change of being cancer free in 10 years following his treatment. To me that was a deciding factor. I wanted better odds. That doctor asked me if I was ready to decide and I told him no that I had one more Doctor to interview (The man that did my Davinci) He asked me where and which Doctor. When I told him he told me...he is one of the best surgeons you will find on the Davinci robot and please tell him hello from me when you see him!

Another deciding factor was the research I did on Davinci. I had received numerous glowing reviews on this Doctor that did my surgery. With the Davinci, I liked the factor of the magnification, less blood loss, etc. Also as you most likely know with radiation it will leave scaring which makes a follow up surgery more complex. So I went with the Davinci Surgery for my first line of defense. Post surgery my Gleason was changed to 3 + 4 (7). Still a Gleason 7 but overall not as bad as the 4 + 3 (7). Also they did find a positive margin which means the cancer went to the very edge of the surgical specimen removed. Is there cancer left behind? Don't know....Dr. Patrick Walsh (Good book on prostate cancer if you haven't read it) Talks about positive margins. I'm pulling 0's on my PSA at 22 months post surgery. If the PSA Does come back then I can start follow up radiation. If I would have had radiation 1st and then a recurrance I'm not sure what my options would have been accept perhaps more radiation or hormone therapy.

That's why this disease is so unique for each person,,,take into account your gleason score, number of cores positive, etc. If you ever want to talk offline just let me know.
We have free long distance calling on our phone plan.

Larry