New guy!

Hi all:

Have been lurking for months while undergoing IMRT-Rapid Arc Adjuvant treatment. From what I have been reading here this is a great group and place to get very good information and support. I have been wanting to join but wanted to wait until I finished my treatments, which I did in March with very little side effects. Today I just had my first Post Radiaion Doctor visit. Needless to say my wife and I were both extremely stressed wondering about how the PSA would react to the treatments. It came in at 0.8, which is ok for me, since it was doubling prior to the treatments. The doctor said we probably should have waited a little longer before the PSA since with radiation treatments it takes some time before you see results.

Welcome Jersey,

Just had my 6 week post IMRT and I guess different Dr's have different ideas about when to take the PSA. But from what I gather most like to do a 6 week PSA to see if there is a downward trend and then a 6 month PSA test. It looks like you have made progress on your PSA with the SRT so 6 months from now we can both post and hopefully both celebrate.

Michael

Welcome to the site even are you are from the North

Hi JerseyGuy,

Just wanted to add my name of the list of welcomers. Sorry that you have to be here, but glad that you found us. Great bunch of people here with lost of experience, knowledge and compassion. Sure hope that your numbers will remain low or go even lower on your next test.

All the best to you in the years to come and stay in touch.

Magaboo

Hey Jersey Guy,

Nice to "see" you and glad that you are having some success with your treatment.

This is a great group. I hope you find the friendship here that the rest of us have over the years.

Kind regards,

Barry

Wow Guys, thanks for the warm welcome. It is nice to have people you can share our journey. It was interesting that REGAL's doctors would not perform the surgery because of a hernia mesh. I also have a Illingual Hernia mesh on the right-side and that was one of the first questions I asked the surgeon prior to the surgery, whether he could work around the mesh, which he did...thankfully. I am just surprised that Regal's doc didn't.

Yes it has been tough, as you all know, because I chose the surgery, you go through the anxiety of preparing for it only to find out that it didn't get it all. Then you have to go get radiation and the bugger is fighting back. This is an incredible journey for all of us, and it is very frustrating to deal with. I told my wife yesterday after the doctor visit and the PSA didn't move that this will be a battle for the rest of my life. Thank God I have a wonderful wife and family who support me. Well, I am rambling on so again to all...

Thanks for the warm welcome.

Purg:

I was surprised by the rapid rise, too. When the Rad. Oncologist doctor told me that I would be receiving 36 treatments, I though, why so many? He told me that is the standard for the type of margin I had, the microscopic Apical. What do I know, in speaking with the other guys who were getting treatment with me, the ones who still had their prostate all seemed to be receiving 42 treatment, however I didn't know what their dosage was. Like I said, this is extremely frustrating to deal with, we constantly second-guess ourselves, at least I do. I sometime wonder why I didn't go to UofP (Dr. Lee), would my results have been different? Don't know. In reading all the information that I could in the last 1.5 years, you see that every doctor seem to have a differnent approach to the same treatment. When you ask a doc, "if it were you, what would you do"? They will not commit, so we all have to become experts in something, before being diagnosed, knew nothing about and hope we make the right decision. At my next visit in July, I will ask him why I didn't get higher dosage of radiation.

Thanks,

Burlcodad:

Thanks for the best wishes, it is appreciated.

I assume you are from Burlington County, if so we are definitely neighbors (Gloucester county).

Joe

Hi Joe

Yep burlington county it is - lumberton

Ray