Prostate Cancer Survivors

 

YANA - YOU ARE NOT ALONE NOW

PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT SITE

 

 

This forum is for the discussion of anything to do with Prostate Cancer.
There are only four rules:

  • No fundraisers, no commercials (although it is OK to recommend choices of treatment or medical people based on your personal research; invitations to participate in third-party surveys are also acceptable, provided there is no compensation to YANA);
  • No harvesting e-mail addresses for Spam;
  • No insults or flaming - be polite and respectful at all times and understand that there may be a variety of points of view, all of which may have some validity;
  • Opinions are OK, but please provide as much factual evidence as possible for any assertions that you are making

Failure to abide by these simple rules will result in the immediate and permanent suspension of your posting privileges.

Since this is an International Forum, please specify your location in your post.

General Forum
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
Update on My Prostate Cancer Prognosis

An update FYI. Talked to my urologist other night at 7:00 pm. He is dedicated. 4/6 samples on the left side of prostate cancerous. Six on the right okay. Gleason score is 6 and considered very low grade cancer that will not spread very quickly. Mine probably is not outside of the prostate because of type of cancer and detected early. Dr. Bailly recommends that because I should live > 10 years, good health that removal is better/more certain for the long term. Howver I am a candidate for radiation as well rather than surgery and it is totally up to me. Radiation has come along ways since Dad ( he was burnt badly and does no happen now) and you get 35 treatments over 7 weeks for 5 days/week. Dr. Bailly also said that once men reach 70-72 usually do not do surgery but radiation. He suggested and I agreed to meet with both surgeon and radiologist, ask questions then make my decision. If you get it removed do an analysis on it to see if cancer goes to the surface of prostate( may have spread and if it does will followup with radiation( on 20% of cases this happens). I am 80/20 in favour of surgery right now. Any sage advise for me please?

Re: Update on My Prostate Cancer Prognosis

I had surgery 3 years ago when I was 59. Mine was thought to be contained but some got into the fatty tissue. A year and a half later I went through salvage radiation treatment after my PSA started rising. Other then the drive, the radiation was a piece of cake. The surgery I had a difficult 2 week recovery and another 2 months until I felt really recovered. If I had it to do again and knowing the genie was out of the bottle I would have probably opted for radiation. With evidence that cancer is contained I would go with surgery. I just wish I would have had the surgery 2 to 3 years earlier. The one big plus with surgery is your PSA level will be undetectable if they got it all. This takes a lot of guess work out of deciphering PSA. There are a lot of other considerations and a lot of opinions so good luck with your decision.

Re: Update on My Prostate Cancer Prognosis

Paul,

It seems to me you are still looking for quick solutions where none exist. You ask for sage advice - I can only refer you to my last response to you where I set out in some detail what I thought might be the best path for you to follow - my version of sage advice . Of course we all approach problems in diffferent ways, and you may think that advice was not sage but......if you want to gain some control over the decision making process, you need to understand more about your diagnosis and options.

When I see a statement like Radiation has come along ways since Dad ( he was burnt badly and does no happen now) and you get 35 treatments over 7 weeks for 5 days/week. I shake my head. Men are still damaged by radiation which is done by people who are not too good at it, or who have old machinery; it is not essential to have radiation over 7 weeks - there are at least two other options and so on and so forth. I won't try to cover all the points that are on the website - or all the options open to someone who appears to have an indolent form of the disease.

Re: Update on My Prostate Cancer Prognosis

Paul,

Terry is rarely wrong as I have noticed over five years of reading his advice. I would just add that men are also damaged by good radiotherapy technicians using the latest equipment. Men are also damaged by premature or unnecessary surgery. Don't believe that your love life will ever be the same again after taking either of these options. When you reach the age where there are no terrors in taking such a route you will be ready for it. Meantime, take your time, keep abreast of treatment developments (there have been many over the last five years and based on the research taking place I reckon that there will be many more over the next five) and don't jump over that cliff until you have to.

Dunno if that is sage advice, but it is heartfelt. Good Luck.

Ed in England

Re: Update on My Prostate Cancer Prognosis

I sometimes attend a local gathering of prostate guys and the speakers are often radiologists and urological surgeons. The consensus is that if one is treated by an "expert" in each field ( brachy, radiation and surgery ) the cure rate is pretty well the same. Surgery used to be the best option. The key is to have an "expert" perform whichever you choose. I chose surgery and now need viagara for sex ( and it's still not the same - about 60 -70 % of prior ) but had no pain and no incontinence. Morceau de gateau really. I did choose the top guy in my part of the world. Some don't have this luxury.

Re: Update on My Prostate Cancer Prognosis

I won't offer advice other than to say that each person has to make their own decision as to what is best given their situation. My urologist left the decision up to me and had me talk to both the surgeon and oncologist. He did urge me to get treatment due to my young age. I went with surgery because I wanted to know the definitive pathology. Although all the Dr.'s a thought mine was slow growing as it was grade 6 and biopsy showed low % involvement, it worked out to be more aggressive than thought and had moved outside the prostate. All were surprised. I did not wait for my PSA to rise, but proceeded directly to radiation. So far I have tolerated radiation well and have 8 more sessions to go.
I was very happy with my surgeon who had done more that 1500 robotic prodedures and am also happy with my radiation oncologist who is associated with a top hospital group.
Good luck with the decision.

RETURN TO HOME PAGE LINKS