Proton Therapy

Happy 4th to all who visit this board,
A quick update to those good people in and around the same boat as myself.
After my visit to M.D Anderson this past April it was decided that I would go off the hormone therapy and stop the Lupron.............but not before I go through Proton therapy. M.D Anderson thought that because of my initial 344 PSA and lymph node involvement that Proton therapy would would be a proactive move before going off of the Hormone therapy. My PSA remains undetectable and has been so since April 2009. Doctors told me that people who respond to Hormone therapy initially will respond to it again when and if they go back on the therapy.
I have just finished up 22 of the 44 treatments scheduled for myself and have no real problems to speak of. I do take Flomax to shrink a somewhat swollen prostate. A common result of radiation, so I am told. Treatments are quick and painless. 200cc of saline are used to stabilize the prostate. No balloons are used.
I appreciate all the positive and insightful posts here at healing well. I look forward to the "Hormone Holiday" in the near future. PSA screenings will done at 2 month intervals instead of the usual 3 month. When and if the PSA rises to 1.0 will I go back on the "Meds"
Thanks again to all,

Fairwind, No surgery since the "horse has left the barn" Just Lupron and Casodex.

Hey Aspen ever skied down Pallavacinni at Araphoe Basin (Denver) at age 51, double black diamond?(gulp) Even the locals talk about this 2.5 mile run with moguls the size of VW's (LOL). Probably should have died back then(LOL) it is called the longest and 2nd steepest ski run in North America. I made it going very slowly and picking my way along, felt like I was skiing for my life and probably was. I had no problems with all the other runs at Araphoe, steep is not a problem, 2.5 miles of moguls added, huge problem. Amazing being up at 10,000-13,000 feet and looking around at the tops.

Well PCa is very similar in this regard. I don't fully trust abstracts because agendas on PCa issues pervade everything, but at www.cancerforums.com Fairwind had a question on radiation and John AzPeaks gave references by leading USA radiologist about comparison abstract data on Proton vs. IMRT-Photon...they supposedly say Proton has no clinical definable found difference. I am not saying I agree with that, just the links are there to read. The Proton ray is more powerful than Photon, logically seems better there and has some different properties which you can read all about in Dr. Strums book A Primer on Prostate Cancer, it has 'all' the radiation protocols that were available in the early 2000's, including Neutron . The docs will usually show their bias as to their machine, protocol, treatment, so in order for you to know the differences you either have to get mulitple opinions or read alot and compare what you can for yourself and decide. Anyway always look at everything, taking nothing for granted PCa does not play by rules or fair, the docs add to this confusion. Be looking further down the road now, as to what do I do 'when' failing Lupron or similar...you have choices to investigate beside chemo or leukine and high dollar protocols, that should atleast precede considering those options.

Hello Zufus,
I know the area you are talking about.....reserved for the experienced skiers. I myself do not ski........yet. My wife does. I am more a hiker who likes to get outdoors away from people, if you get my drift:))
The decision to go Proton was an easy one for myself. Less damage and side effects to the area around the prostate because of the precision of the beam. It was not going to hurt my situation either way. However, I realize that down the road I might have the IMRT done to my lymph nodes, unless of course they devise a way for protons to do the same thing. Either way, I have, IMHO the best team of doctors at my disposal who all have opinions as to what might work best. Going into this decision about Protons I did find out that there are "surgery urologists, radiation urologists and urologist who like protons" I myself opted for the protons.......after much investigation.