Searching for treatment (cure) info for prostate cancer

Searching
Aloha LarryMi,
A good site to ask questions is
http://www.yananow.net
Lots of experience.
I was diagnosed at 65 (2007), G9, PSA 12, all 12 cores 5 to 70% PC.
I do not know much about ProstRcision. Spend lots of time asking about what are the possible outcomes that screw up your life during & after treatment. This last year was very difficult for my wife and myself. One of the 10% that got radiation burn in the rectum. Get second opinions, especially on the biopsy. For a small percentage of us, life gets very unplesent after treatment. I was in good shape before treatment, lots of bicycle trips & hikes. Just begining to get into it again. Long struggle.
Joe 67 Hamakua Coast

Emory
Hi Larry. As a prostate cancer survivor in Atlanta I welcome you to the site and wish you the best of care. There are alot of people on this site that can provide a ton of information, experience speaks so much louder sometimes. As far as Emory I am glad you have confidence in the facility. They have some excellent doctors and means to treat cancer. I however have had some very bad experiences with them as you can read in my post "diagnosed at 40." My main complaint overall is commmunication, they have no concept of it at all. I'm still waiting on a call from my urologist at Emory, one that I requested weeks ago. I called again last week and spoke to his nurse and secretary and they both said they would remind him to call me. I only want to ask two questions about the surgery. Oh and this is not the first doctor I have worked with at Emory. My first doctor at Emory had a way with words, when he informed me that I had prostate cancer he walked into the room and before I could be seated blurted out,"So I hear ya have some cancer in ya prostate!" My advice to anyone being treated at Emory for any medical reason would be to stay on top on things and follow up- follow up-follow up with the calls. I even went outside my state and contacted one of the premier urology centers in America to ask about surgery, both by phone three times and by email four times, have I recieved a response? NO As far as your inquiry about the RTCGA. I've heard some really good things about the Radiotherapy Clinics of Ga. I spoke to a survivor recently who was treated there and seemed to be very pleased. This survivor was in your age range and he seemed to think it was a better option for him. I can say that getting opinions from different sources is extremely helpful, both from survivors and doctors. Sitting through a consult does not mean that you are obligated, but it sure gives you more information. I have located two surgeons in Atlanta that are rated very high in the area of robotic surgery. Dr. Nikhil Shah at St Joseph's and Dr. Scott Miller at Northside. Both have an extensive background using the Da Vinci robotic method. Dr Miller was the first surgeon to use this method in the state of Georgia. I have an appointment with him on Tuesday and so far his office staff have been great. Atlanta has alot of options, we just have to locate and utilize them. Larry you have alot of support in this group and we all wish you the best. Let us know of your progress.

Cyberknife / Radiation
Welcome to an awesome group of people here, you definitely are among friends and you'll be surprised by the amount of information buried inside all of these posts, take some time and search around.
During my investigative process I came across Cyberknife (http://www.accuray.com/)radiation treatment. It's an amazing new treatment that robotically locates thin beams of radiation using MRI imaging of the tumor in relationship to tiny gold implants.
Insurance may not cover, but worth the look.

I chose robotic prostatectomy due to my young age (42) and concern of erectile and urinary complications associated with all other treatments.
Oncological results are similar with robotic, if organ confined. Mine was organ confined.
If not organ confined, radiation type therapy essentially is the gold standard, but will damage nerves associated with erectile function, and bladder tissue associated with incontinence.

It seems that Cyberknife is the most accurate and least damaging of radiation treatments, as opposed to 'seeding', which puts many small doses right in the prostate that emanates outward, which damages the nerves, bladder and sometimes the rectum.
I would suggest looking into this procedure, it is very compelling.

Please ask as many questions as you can, and let us know how you are, what your learning and how we can help.
All the best.
Wayne

Judge said:

Choosing


Last Friday I was diagnosed with PC. My PSA had risen from 3.7 a year ago to now 16. A byopsy resulted in the finding of a Gleason Score of 3+4=7 overall. The local urologist recommends IMRT. I will get another one or two opinions, hopefully from MD Anderson for one. My Texas-based health policy carrier has denied coverage for any treatment for anything urological. It's criminal. Have others chosen IMRT for treatment? Have others faced treatment without insurance coverage?

Judge

EBRT/IMRT
Aloha Judge,
That was my treatment of choice, for the pelvic cavity treatment, not much for aiming at, but when they did the second half, the postrate, they used an ultra sound image to guide the IMRT. I wish someone had told me about hemorrhoids and uretha strictures prior to treatment, it might have saved me a year of my life. No problems with the bladder, big problems with the rectum & anis.
JoeMac

BDJC said:

options
Judge, are you saying that your insurance wouldn't cover a radical prostatectomy (RP)? I've never heard of that, as that is the most commonly-utilized procedure for prostate cancer. I wouldn't recommend IMRT alone as a treatment for cure - it has not proven to be one of the most effective treatment modalities. You need to speak with your insurance carrier to get some clarification on whether RP is covered or not, and if not, you should consider contacting your state's insurance commissioner.

Another place for you to go to get information online about radiation treatment is http://www.prostrcision.com/ - they can give you your own projected Individual Cure Rate based on their procedure. I highly recommend the Q&A section with Dr. Frank Critz, as he is one of the most prominent radiation docs in the country for prostate cancer.

Best of luck to you.

Sharing experience of choosing treatment
Thank you, all, for participating in this process of sharing ideas and suggestions for all of us with PC. I hope what I've heard today,at a San Antonio urologist may help others.

I'm 58 and in otherwise excellent health. My PSA is 16.52 up from 14.5 just 2 months ago. After a byopsy, 1 core of 12 samples tested positive for PC. The Gleason score is 3+4=7. The doctor and I discussed various treatments, and he strongly suggested that Robotic Radical Prostatectomy is the best option given age, health and degree of cancer. He believes that this procedure will also assure the greatest chance of "normal" post operative recovery and erectile functioning.

I hope this helps.

Judge

jem777 said:

I am having great time in
I am having great time in this discussion. Indeed very helpful for my additional reference. I have gain a lot of knowledge here.

Post Surgery - A Great Time (sometimes)
I totally agree, this is a very helpful discussion board. It is a good feeling to know that we are PC survivor club members!

Jim (shubbysr)