jstuartd1

Hi Guys,
I am a new member as of today. I was diagnosed with PC Sept: PSA
4.0, Gleason 3+4=7, Stage T1c (not palpable). PSA doubling rate is
about 2 yrs. Like most of you, I have spent the past months getting
smarter on this. I have made my decision (combined IMRT and Seeds)
and am comfortable with it.
My main reason for this post is that I think most of us who have
made our decision tend to abandon those of you who are just starting
the agonizing decision on treatment. (Reading a post this day from a
'newby' prompted me to join up and share what I now know.) I have the
postings of others for months and now feel an obligation to all the
other men who went to the trouble to educate me. Similarly, I
challenge those of you are a good way down the decision and/or
treatment track to let other know what you decided and how you decided
it.
For the benefit of the newly diagnosed, I was torn for a month as
to which way to go and had surgury scheduled once. Despite this, I
continued to push the system for answers and finally heard from some
world-class radiation oncologists (Dr. Dattoli of the Dattoli Cancer
Institute, Dr. Peter Grimm from the Seattle Prostate Institute, Dr.
Charles Myers, and Dr. Daniel Katin of 21st Century Oncology) urging
me to consider other options. After having done so, I selected a
combined radiation therapy protocol that started with IMRT and will be
complemented in a few weeks with Seeds (Pu-103).
In addition, Dr. Myers has convince me that there are a number of
alternative approaches that have been proven to help prevent and
probably can help cure prostate cancer. They include nutritional
supplements of: Selenium, Vit-E, Vit-C, and cooked tomatoes
(Lycopene). (However, all of my physicians do not want me to continue
the above supplements until after my radiation treatments are done.
Not sure why and I hope some of you better educated members will offer
comments on that.)
I complete IMRT next week here in Sarasota, Fla and it has been a
relative breeze. Complications include: some urethral inflammation
and difficulty in peeing from time to time, some bowel irritation but
nothing to write home about, a feeling of incomplete ejaculation
although that might be in my head, and, increasingly, a feeling of
tiredness. Naps help a lot.
Jack

steve kramer

Happy to welcome you aboard, Jack. Sounds like you've done very well for
yourself. It's great that you are willing to volunteer your time to assist
others in their education and fight.

--
Prostate Cancer Survivor (so far), not a doctor
PSA 16 10/17/2000 @ 46
Biopsy 11/01/2000 G7 (3+4), T2c
RRP 12/15/2000
PSA .1 .1 .1 .3 .4 .8
EBRT 05-07/2002 @ 47
PSA .3 .2 .2 .2 .3
Erection 05/12/2003 @ 48
HTbegins 07/21/2003 @ 48
PSA .1
Lupron 7/03, 8/03, 12/03

leonard evens

Your experience will be useful to others considering treatment, but you
didn't mention your age. Age is one of the most important factors in
comparing different treatments, particularly surgery and radiation.

My cancer was T1c, PSa 4.5, Gleason 7=3+4, diagnosed at age 67. (Very
similar to your diagnosis.) My doctor recommended either surgery or
radiation. From what I have read, at that age, the two are similar in
likelihood of success and side effects. I chose surgery for the usual
reasons. I wanted to get the damn thing out if possible rather than
wait for a couple of years for it to die off. I also saw an advantage
to getting immediate feedback, from post surgery pathology, about my
subsequent chances. But had I been five years older, I would have
chosen radiation because for men over 70 the chances of impotence are
greater after surgery than after radiation, and it is not clear surgery,
at that age, would offer any advantage with respect to recurrence.
Fortunately, I've done pretty well. My post surgery pathology report
showed a cancer confined to the prostate, my PSAs have so far all been
"undetectable", I was continent within six weeks of surgery, and I
regained some erection capability after 18-24 months. A good part of
this is because I happened to be referred to a first rate surgeon.

jstuartd1

Forgot to give my age which was 62 the month I was diagnosed.

Also, I see there is a "Jack" under every rock so I will, henceforth,
use the moniker of "Sailor Jack".

I would like to go back into Google Groups and change my name but
can't figure out how to do so. Any tips appreciated.
Sailor Jack
jstuartd1@aol.com

steve kramer

Another "Sailor" :-)

--
Prostate Cancer Survivor (so far), not a doctor
PSA 16 10/17/2000 @ 46
Biopsy 11/01/2000 G7 (3+4), T2c
RRP 12/15/2000
PSA .1 .1 .1 .3 .4 .8
EBRT 05-07/2002 @ 47
PSA .3 .2 .2 .2 .3
Erection 05/12/2003 @ 48
HTbegins 07/21/2003 @ 48
PSA .1
Lupron 7/03, 8/03, 12/03