GOING FOR PROTON

Swingshiftworker said:

Brotherhood of trhe Balloon (BOB)
I read Robert Marckini's book and learned about BOB from it. I'm sure you and all of the members of BOB are GREAT guys, but frankly there are other ways that I'd prefer to bond w/you.

Having PCa in common is bad enough, but basing a relationship on the fact that you all have had a balloon stuck up your behind 40-45 times while being zapped w/protons while encased in a body cast just isn't what I have in mind when I think of "male bonding" and, I for one, am not sorry that I missed it.

ROTFLMAO!!!

So Sorry You Missed it
SSW, Getting the balloon inserted into the behind is a lot more fun than the way you make it sound. Believe me, I was there and you really missed a great experience!! All patients rave about it. Itsort of gives you the rush of an enema feeling without the mess. There, that should settle your doubts about the pleasure of such an experience. Nice is as nice does. I know, a meaningless statement, but I use it to elevated the value of the balloon experience above the so-so stuff that we face every day.

Trew said:

So Sorry You Missed it
SSW, Getting the balloon inserted into the behind is a lot more fun than the way you make it sound. Believe me, I was there and you really missed a great experience!! All patients rave about it. Itsort of gives you the rush of an enema feeling without the mess. There, that should settle your doubts about the pleasure of such an experience. Nice is as nice does. I know, a meaningless statement, but I use it to elevated the value of the balloon experience above the so-so stuff that we face every day.

Balloons...yes, yes
I heard of recreational drugs......I guess, the future is now recreational balloons.

Trew said:

SSW, One gets use to the balloon pretty quickly and it is actually a bonding experience among patients. You can imagine the comments, perhaps, that such an experience generates, and it is a good diversion from all the cancer stuff around you.

I"m sorry you missed it. LOL

I want to clarify something
I want to clarify something for everyone: That balloon up the rectum really wasn't THAT much fun.

I don't want anyone to come to the wrong conclusion about that unique experience. like a lot o thngs connected to cancer, it is just something else that one must endure along the way.

ROTH said:

considering proton


what were your reasons for choosing proton therapy instead of radiation therapy?










































do you know of any side effects? Also is the equipment up to date?
would appreciate you and the other posters giving me any information.

PBT is just another form of radiation
Roth:

Proton Beam Therapy (PBT)is just a different form of radiation and the side effects from PBT treatment are similar to other forms of radiation used to treat prostate cancer, such as brachytherapy (BT), IMRT and EBRT and CyberKnife (CK).

The short term side effects of radiation treatment most commonly include fatigue, urinary urgency or incontinence, ED, bowel movement irregularities and rectal bleeding. The long term effects are unclear, but people suggest that collateral cancers -- such as bladder cancer -- may be associated with prostate cancer radiation treatment.

One short-term side effect that I've seen reported specific to PBT is some focused skin irritation (or burning) along the thigh at the point of delivery because the proton beam is focused at only one point of entry and does not move during treatment. I don't think that this is a significant problem w/PBT, but it is something unique to PBT.

I assume there have been some fine tuning and upgrading, but I don't know if there have been any major advances in PBT technology since it was first used about 10 years ago. However, here have been other technological advances in radiation treatment of prostate cancer that I believe have improved upon PBT, specifically CK, which you should explore if you are looking into PBT as a method of treatment.

There are other threads on CK already posted on this forum that you can do a simple search for and you can get further info from the Patient's Forum on CK's manufacturer's site at: http://cyberknife.com/Forum.aspx?g=topics&f=2586.

Feb2010 said:

A YEAR AFTER PROTON
Time flew by, and it has been over a year since my treatment ended at Loma Linda. I have had two blood tests since.
My post treatment PSA was 4.91. My first blood test indicated it at 2.21, that was last December 2010. Second test was at 2.55, it went up by about .30. My next test is in January, hopefully the upward trend will reverse itself.
Observed side effects, greatly diminished ejaculate, peeing seems unnaturally "low pressure" in the morning but becomes normal after that. Zero bleeding, no ED, no pain.
I'm currently working and leaving overseas. I'll post more later. I just want to say hello to everyone out there.
Please feel free to ask me questions about my proton experience. Thanks folks. Oh, and Happy Halloween!!

Similar Results w/CK
Just wanted to say that my 1 yr results w/CyberKnife (CK) are similar to yours.

My pre-treatment PSA was around 4.5 but has only dropped to around 3 since treatment w/CK. The side effects you've observed for yourself are also similar for me.

And, like you, I also hope that the PSA level will drop further. Many men report post radiation treatment PSA levels below 1 w/in 3-6 months following treatment and research suggests that a reassessment of the status of the cancer (via biopsy, MRI, CAT, bone scan, etc) is advisable, if our PSA test results do not drop to that level 2 years after treatment (which is just 1 more year for us).

Good luck!

stale thread....Feb 2010 last posted in 2012

Probabl best for you to start a new thread

click discussion board above, then click "add new forum topic" upper left corner under discussion boards