My Prostate Cancer Journey...

Sitting here with a low PSA, I think I would ask for the treatment with the best chance of keeping me alive. When the time came, I just might change my tune.

I appreciate those who have addressed the issues involved in making the significant choices when PC occurs. Once more, best wishes for excellent results.
 
Sitting here with a low PSA, I think I would ask for the treatment with the best chance of keeping me alive. When the time came, I just might change my tune.
Definitely a factor but not that simple.
  • You have to consider side effects as well as probability of success.
  • If you’re faced with PCa at 60, that’s different than if you’re 85.
  • And urologist/surgeons, usually first in line, tend to recommend surgery whereas radiation oncologists tend to recommend radiation. I would never follow the advice of a urologist alone for treating PCa. A medical oncologist, who doesn’t treat patients, should be in the loop for decision making.
There are some cases where surgery is the best option, other cases where it should be the last resort, and other cases where it may be too late for surgery (metastasis). YMMV

And again I cannot stress enough.Your decision about who will manage your prostate cancer is one of the most critically important decisions you will ever make.”
 
I had my simulation yesterday. I was very anxious going in, woke up at 3am and couldn’t get back to sleep. But I feel great today, and the procedures were much easier than I was expecting. I had 3 gold fiducial markers and SpaceOAR implanted, but it took less than 13 minutes and I was conscious the whole time. I also had a CT scan and MRI to map out radiation which begins in just over two weeks. All indications are radiation is much easier than the simulation - so hard part is over?
 
Thanks, and we appreciate your updates and your experience going through this procedure.
 
Definitely a factor but not that simple.
  • You have to consider side effects as well as probability of success.
  • If you’re faced with PCa at 60, that’s different than if you’re 85.
  • And urologist/surgeons, usually first in line, tend to recommend surgery whereas radiation oncologists tend to recommend radiation. I would never follow the advice of a urologist alone for treating PCa. A medical oncologist, who doesn’t treat patients, should be in the loop for decision making.
There are some cases where surgery is the best option, other cases where it should be the last resort, and other cases where it may be too late for surgery (metastasis). YMMV

And again I cannot stress enough.Your decision about who will manage your prostate cancer is one of the most critically important decisions you will ever make.”
Thanks. When I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, I was actually "assigned" an oncologist to help make the continuing decisions. I was glad for the input. Surgery AND radiation (Iodine 131) were what everyone came up with. So far so good.

Best wishes!!
 
Definitely a factor but not that simple.
  • You have to consider side effects as well as probability of success.
  • If you’re faced with PCa at 60, that’s different than if you’re 85.
  • And urologist/surgeons, usually first in line, tend to recommend surgery whereas radiation oncologists tend to recommend radiation. I would never follow the advice of a urologist alone for treating PCa. A medical oncologist, who doesn’t treat patients, should be in the loop for decision making.
There are some cases where surgery is the best option, other cases where it should be the last resort, and other cases where it may be too late for surgery (metastasis).
+1 on assembling a team who'll give you your options, pluses and minuses. With some of these guys "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail".

Another consideration is, as the odds of being cured are high, you might have to live with the side effects for 20 years or more. Choose wisely.

I also learned that anything longer than a "ten year" survival is not really relevant because treatments from 15 or 20 years ago are ancient history and the newer treatments won't have good data for a long time. That is, they can only say that your 15 year survival rate will be much better than treatments people got 15 years ago.
 
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