Prostate Radiation vs Surgery

IME You won’t feel a thing at radiation, and probably not much in the way of short term side effects until a few weeks in, if then (should be mild if at all with IMRT). All the best, ‘you got this.’
 
Just want to share my story so my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer when he was in his mid fifties, his PSA was about 13 as I recalled. I went with him for most of his treatments including radiation. I remember he was talking to a local Prostate support group chair about seed implants as it was leading edge treatment then. He chosen no surgery, but radiation treatment, and to have 3 month Lupron shots 22.5 ml with daily Casodex. I remember that it was a powerful drugs because the Doctor warned him of the side effects but he took it well. He was strong, active, played tennis then golf into his eighties. He beaten prostate cancer in the end they were giving him just annual shot of Lupron. His PSA was low or undetectable. I kept most of the notes of his treatments to share with my siblings and now ironically I’m seeing his urologist for other aging symptoms. My dad passed in his 90 from dementia few years ago.
 
51togo said:
Just want to share my story so my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer when he was in his mid fifties, his PSA was about 13 as I recalled. I went with him for most of his treatments including radiation. I remember he was talking to a local Prostate support group chair about seed implants as it was leading edge treatment then. He chosen no surgery, but radiation treatment, and to have 3 month Lupron shots 22.5 ml with daily Casodex. I remember that it was a powerful drugs because the Doctor warned him of the side effects but he took it well. He was strong, active, played tennis then golf into his eighties. He beaten prostate cancer in the end they were giving him just annual shot of Lupron. His PSA was low or undetectable. I kept most of the notes of his treatments to share with my siblings and now ironically I’m seeing his urologist for other aging symptoms. My dad passed in his 90 from dementia few years ago.
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So this was maybe 35 years ago? Considering the advances since then, this encouraging. Thanks.
 
@marko yes, seems so long ago. Still got the book my dad gave me by Sheldon Marks on Prostate treatments. Best to you and everyone going thru this but encouraging a lot of success stories and advancements.
 
I'm encouraged by the good reports we're hearing on FIRE Forum. I keep my fingers crossed that I'll not need them, but it's good to know the technology is advancing so rapidly.

Best to all who are dealing with prostate issues. So far - just Tamsulosin for me.
 
Another famous success story is Rudy Giuliani. My dad was years into his stage 3 diagnosis treatment when Rudy’s news announcement came publicly making awareness on Prostate cancer. Rudy was diagnosed before 9/11 and well documented, I recalled he was also a Lupron therapy with seed implanted, plus radiation. I was quite aware of the importance of checking my PSA in my younger day.
 
With the great attitude that you have, you will be live forever.
 
Just a quick update:

Today was my radiation treatment halfway point. Fourteen down fourteen to go. So far, so good with negligible side effects, mostly some headaches derived from the hormones, not the radiation.

I leave my house at 7:30am on the dot and I'm back home at 8:15. Easy. They give you a key card to keep, you card yourself in, go to a little waiting room, in three minutes someone comes to get you. You hop on the table, slide your sweatpants down and in 12 minutes you're done for the day. Extremely nice people working there too! Really impressed with the efficiency of it all.

I've always been a little loopy, but in a very odd way, I look forward to going each morning. At the same time, I often can't believe that I'm going through this...this happens to other people, not me!

I learned that this is a Varian VMAT CBCT machine which is supposed to be the latest and greatest. More benefits, fewer downsides.

I never even think about the cost of such things but @Midpack's posts made me look. So far, I'm up to $81,454 with an OOP of just $94 (yes, ninety four dollars). More to come I'm sure. But it looks like most of the expense is frontloaded in preparation for the treatment. Pretreatment surgeries, tests, consultations, Cat/Pet scans etc.

What was surprising was the price of each day's treatment: $207! Yes, it's only 12 minutes, but considering it's a multimillion dollar machine with maybe another million in support infrastructure and three nurse/technicians, I wouldn't have been surprised to see a $1000 daily price tag.

So I'm on my way to a cure (gotta keep that attitude!) and after April 3, I'll report back. Yes, they have a big bell and I'm going to ring it on day 28!!

Thanks to all for the encouragement so far.
 
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Koolau said:
I'm encouraged by the good reports we're hearing on FIRE Forum. I keep my fingers crossed that I'll not need them, but it's good to know the technology is advancing so rapidly.

Best to all who are dealing with prostate issues. So far - just Tamsulosin for me.
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Tam for me too! Hopefully, at our ages (very old), we won't have any issues requiring more than the pill. (y)
 
You see you will get more good years than your past statement of 75 years.:)
 
Thanks for sharing, marko. We are following your journey with great interest.

Side note: I used to use Varian equipment - a gas chromatograph. State of the art ca 1980.
 
Ouch! Forget about what I said about the $207 daily charge. They just updated it with an additional charge.

$5342 per treatment + $207. Yikes. Times 28 days. "Before you know it, this can turn into real money"

Like so many times however, there's a huge difference between the charge, then "what Medicare will allow", what they paid and "your cost" which most often turns out to be a negligible amount, if any.

While I expect this to be covered, I made it clear from the beginning however that I didn't care what insurance covered, I wanted the best and I'd pay the difference if necessary. We'll see.
 
marko said:
Ouch! Forget about what I said about the $207 daily charge. They just updated it with an additional charge.

$5342 per treatment + $207. Yikes. Times 28 days. "Before you know it, this can turn into real money"

Like so many times however, there's a huge difference between the charge, then "what Medicare will allow", what they paid and "your cost" which most often turns out to be a negligible amount, if any.

While I expect this to be covered, I made it clear from the beginning however that I didn't care what insurance covered, I wanted the best and I'd pay the difference if necessary. We'll see.
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If it makes you feel better, my five SBRT radiation treatments were billed at $16,046 each. Cost me $0. I’m guessing the treatments are similar if not the same as your IMRT/IGRT - just 4x the dosage per treatment on me. I was treated with a Varian Edge.

Glad you’re doing well.
 
Midpack said:
If it makes you feel better, my five SBRT radiation treatments were billed at $16,046 each. Cost me $0. I’m guessing the treatments are similar if not the same as your IMRT/IGRT - just 4x the dosage per treatment on me. I was treated with a Varian Edge.

Glad you’re doing well.
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Thanks! We're in the same ballpark then.
 
I just had a CT scan. Not even a "treatment" but a diagnostic. I think it's billed at something like $5K! Took 10 minutes and one med tech.
 
In 2015 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Had cancer cells tested to see how aggressive the cancer was. Non-aggressive. Had calypso beads inserted, MRI done and a program was designed to give equal radiation to all parts of the prostate. Had external radiation guided by the beads. 44 treatments with day off for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Had to drink 24 oz of water within 1 hour of radiation to keep the bladder up out of the way so it would not get any radiation. I did shut off the machine twice and techs had to reset it. The beads did their job. I sailed right through the radiation. Last day left the center grabbed a burger and started a drive to Kansas City 1500 miles away for a casino gathering. After 10 years no problem, PSA checked 2X per year with readings under 1.0.
 
shridog said:
In 2015 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Had cancer cells tested to see how aggressive the cancer was. Non-aggressive. Had calypso beads inserted, MRI done and a program was designed to give equal radiation to all parts of the prostate. Had external radiation guided by the beads. 44 treatments with day off for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Had to drink 24 oz of water within 1 hour of radiation to keep the bladder up out of the way so it would not get any radiation. I did shut off the machine twice and techs had to reset it. The beads did their job. I sailed right through the radiation. Last day left the center grabbed a burger and started a drive to Kansas City 1500 miles away for a casino gathering. After 10 years no problem, PSA checked 2X per year with readings under 1.0.
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Thanks for the good report. Best wishes for continuing good health.
 
In June of 2020 I was diagnosed with PCa after 2 years of above 4 PSA level, 5.1-5.3. My biopsy showed that I had cancer in 3 of 12 samples. My doctor assigned me a Gleason Score of 6. Due to my age and overall health my doctor recommended “active surveillance“. I opted for a second opinion at a larger hospital and received the same recommendation. During Christmas of 2021 my entire family came down with Covid, everyone recover without any issues. I added ivermectin to my daily regimen for the Covid. I had read a couple of studies that had positive results with ivermectin treating PCa. Since I had started the ivermectin for Covid I continued and increased the dosage every day for 5 months. I then cut it back to 3x/week for a year. A year after my biopsy I had a MRI. The MRI showed no changes, so “active surveillance” was recommended to be continued. When I mentioned the studies and my taking ivermectin to my doctor he poo, pooed it and said I probably wouldn’t help nor hurt. In May of 2023 I had my second biopsy. 12 of the 12 samples came back clear. I’m still on “active surveillance” and now take ivermectin twice a week. Was it the ivermectin, my high D blood level, other vitamin/supplements I’m taking, sampling a mm outside the PCa area, dietary changes, some combination or the hand of God? IDK. Would I have chosen this path if my Gleason Score was higher and there was an urgency to act, probably not. Never the less, so far, so good.
 
Some of you may be interested in this Peter Attia interview of Sanjay Mehta, he is a radiation oncologist with over 25 years of experience. I found it interesting and uplifting. Also, as a side note, there was talk about low does radiation for arthritic joint pain, tennis elbow, Achilles tendon pain, and other inflammation caused pain. It seems to be longer lasting than cortisone shots. Also at the end they talk about high end cars and lap times of those, and brake problems with on of the Teslas when trying to stop from over 200mph. (boiling brake fluid)
 
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