Diagnosed and conflicted on treatment options

Good summation gjw, sounds like you did your homework and went ahead with the best treatment for you.  Hopefully you have many undectable psa readings in your future.

Dave 3+4

I WAS 58 YEARS OLD WHEN I WAS TOLD I HAVE PROSTATE CANCER!!!IT IS THE END!! NO IT IS NOT.I WENT TO A RADIATION ONG. AND HE SAID WITH MY NUMBERS OF 8.2.IF WE'RE HIM HE WOULD GO TO A THROUGH SURGERY.I DID BUT IF YOU ARE WORRIED ABOUT THE SEXUAL PART,THE PILL AND A MEDICAL VACUMN PUMP AND THOUGHT-YOU ARE ALIVE AND DO T HAVE IT INSIDE YOU AS I TYPE THIS I AM IN MY 2ND WEEK OF 9 WEEKS OF HI DOSE RADIATION.I HAD SURGERY IN 2011 BUT THE CANCER CAME BACK IN 2017.OH WELL TIME TO KICK ITS BUT AGAIN.LISTEN WHAT EVER CHOICE YOU MAKE,MAKE IT YOUR CHOICE!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY,PAT

" I never though that within 4 weeks I'd be in this good shape and improving. I know I am lucky.  Based on everything I had read...if you decide to go with RP make sure you get a doctor that does many of these procedures and is affiliated with a top hospital.  "

Just my opinion... judging from yours and other very recent Prostatectomy experiennces being reported, it sounds like surgeons are getting ever more expert at narve sparing whenever possible. Recovery times are getting shorter, that seems to be trend now. If the cancer is confined to the prostate, there is no reason why every operation cannot be just this successful. 

Clevelandguy said:

Lets get the facts straight

Hi All,

Hopeful wrote "Radiation cure rate is comparable to surgery with less side effects" is not really a completely true statement, let me clarify.  Surgery and radiation treaments have different side effects.  Surgery side effects usually start right after surgery and then get better over time(hopefully) where radiation has less side effects after treament but can develop stronger side effects in the coming months and years.  Here are just a few of the later side effects of the various forms of radiation treaments:

Buzzworth Nov 2017:  It has been three years since I went through cyberknife for prostate cancer.  All is well and my PSA has dropped to acceptable levels almost immediately after the procedures.  Since then I have always encountered a burning sensation while urinating.

Rob Lee Jan. 2018: I completed eight weeks of radiation last October and the side effects are just now finally wearing off, specifically the proctitis that happens with some men. Diarrhea started my second week and by the end of Tx I was bleeding rectally. I don't know exactly what you mean by abdominal pain, but for many weeks I would go all day feeling like I had to defecate, and often would several times a day. Often there was a lot of gas too.

Max Jan. 2018:  I asked him about a friend who had received radiation years ago and later had to periodically have his colon cauterized to stop bleeding.  The surgeon told me that this was extremely common, he had done many such cauterizations on men who had received PCa radiation over the years.  

Vasco Jan. 2018: Radiation treatments for PCa typically create scar tissue in the urethra and bladder. In most of the cases these areas burst into wounds causing bleeding till it repairs by itself. There is no fixed period on occurrences and many guys experience bleeding many years after treatment. Doctors call it RT late side effects. 

Bluepac6 Feb 2018:  The radiation I 2011 had damaged my urethra and bladder beyond repair and my only choices were to wear a catheter bag out my penis the rest of my life or have bad part of urethra removed and my bladder removed.

Joesephg Feb 2018:  My condition was diagnosed as hematuria, and my Urologist advised that this is not an uncommon occurrence for people who have received radiation therapy near the bladder. 

Las711 March 2018:  Just had 39 tretments Prostate Radiation 4 months ago.. All went well PSA now at .08.. but I now have Radiation Proctitis.. Lower bowel area.. Dealing with it using Surcaltate enemas.. 

Surgery has side effects as well, ED & urine leakage, sometimes severe, sometime not.  I am sure that you could find just as many bad turnouts for surgery as I have listed above for radiation.  I guess my point is both surgery & radiation treaments have different side efffects and you need to understand them before you make your choice.  Your side effects also depend on the doctor(s) you choose + the facility, and how much cancer needs to be removed, so choose wisely and take your time.  Whether you choose surgery or radiation be prepared to live with the side effects, sometimes mild, sometimes severe depending on each individual case.  Some people think I am a advocate for surgery and I am not.  I am an advocate for free choice based on the correct facts and not someones idea of how they think it is.  We can each only talk here about what our doctors have told us and our own experiences dealing with these treaments.

I wish there was a treament that had no side effects and got rid of my cancer, I would have chosen it hands down.

Dave 3+4

just saying seems like a lot of radiation bashing going on here ...which is fine ...but who did the radition...where was it done ....I think this has a lot to do with it ....radition treatment has come along way ..its safer now and on a lot of cases has better cure rates than surgury as well...I can’t remmember where I saw the number but radition treatment and I don’t mean alone I mean combo Ibr and EBR  seem to be catching up to surguries.    The combo seems to do a real number on a lot of organ confined cancers ....I know here  in the San Francisco Bay Area. Stanford and UCSF #8 and #4 respectively are book 3 months out for brachytherapy combo ....must mean something And I was told by both the cure rates are over 90 % ..something to think about ....surgury isn’t always guaranteed either ....that’s for sure