Friday I was diagnosed with Unfavorable Intermediate Prostate Cancer....Yes, I was overwhelmed to say the least as I have NONE of the traditional symptoms.
The two main solutions seem to be removal, and radiation treatment. I also noticed some activity in the use of laser to treat the hot cells.
There were several other options that included Hi Frequency Ultra Sound, Cyro-genic treatment and something called Proton treatment. My Urologist nixed the Ultra sound and Cyro......don't remember as to why, will call and ask tomorrow.
So, my fellow forum members that have been afflicted with this type of diagnosis, what treatment course did you elect and why?
Randy
Randy, First off let me express my sympathy for you in your diagnosis.
At the ripe old age of 53 I was diagnosed with a highly virulent case of prostate cancer. I was fortunate in that my female physician noticed the odd feeling of my prostate and sent me into one of the best urologists in Spokane who after giving me a Gleason score of 9 out of 10 told me I had about a month to decide what avenue to go down. He told me I could freeze it, nuke it, watch and wait, etc. I asked him what he would do and he told me that he was a surgeon and had done hundreds of removals. The disadvantage of a prostatectomy is the inability to obtain a normal erection or truly anything approaching what I would call a pre-surgery erection. The advantage is that once it is removed and the cancer is retained within the prostate its game over for the cancer getting to you later. Prostate cancer specific antigens or PSA are often found through out the body once the cancer metastases' through out your system. It tends to settle in the bone or lymph glands, hence the reason guys that do not get an annual handshake with their doctor end up with a back ache that will not go away. I have lost three friends that way and it ain't pretty. If you radiate it or install radioactive seeds to essentially burn it out and your PSA comes back a surgeon cannot help you because everything in the area of your prostate has been cooked and a surgeon cannot identify good from bad tissue. Freezing produces similar results that a surgeon cannot rectify on a good success ratio.
I elected to have it removed and within a week was on the table, both cut ends of the prostate were clean and I was given a good chance for survival. I have survived eighteen years this past July with a 0.0 PSA, Life is Good...I lived to see my grandkids, etc. and enjoy my retirement. I ran into my original surgeon the other day and he welcomed me into his "Rose Garden". I asked him what that meant and he said that in the years of practice the odds of survival are not great for everybody and those that survive eight years or more are technically out of the woods as far as Prostate Cancer goes. He told me years ago that if Prostate Cancer does not kill a man by the time he is 72 something else will, often tripping over the cat to get up and pee a couple times a night, etc.
The new techniques are truly amazing, I was basically gutted like a fish eighteen years ago...felt like I had an axe swung up between my legs for a month or more. Nowadays they got this thing called a Divinci Machine that puts you on a table, turns you upside down and a robot removes the gland via three small holes. A friend of mine just went through that and went for a three mile walk within a couple days, no joke...he was up and on his feet the next day. I was on a catheter for three weeks, in the hospital for three days and sore for over a couple months, had to basically learn to walk again because of the pain.
I'd still do it over again over anything else...nearly everyone I know that did not have the gland removed is dead, I mean dead, game over and quite of few months of misery, taking female hormones, bloating, crying...no thanks. One of my buddies had his backbone disintegrate after going through all that ****, they were going to give him some kind of injected concrete to support his spine....no thanks. If your PSA is still below 25 get it removed, nuff said. If you want to talk, go ahead and PM me.
