Posted 8/7/2010 4:50 AM (GMT 0)
Tony, doctors can present confusing and conflicting info. Before I underwent the SRT, I talked with 3 radiation oncologist. Two felt strongly not to include HT before, during, or after at that point in time. The one that advocated including it before the SRT, was basing it on a single report, and when I pushed him on the subject, he backed down and basically said that he couldn't prove that I needed the HT, and he couldn't prove that it would help. That was enough for me to put it off the table at the time. You know far more about this stuff than I do from a technical point, so I was interested in your opinion.
If needed, I still have access to my original Medical Oncologist from 10 years ago, he's among the best in this part of the woods, Dr. Larry Gluck. If my Novemeber PSA is still trucking upward, no matter how small a rise, I may agree to consult with him to get his take on it. He took good care of me in the past, when dealing with my previous ultra-rare cancers.
With my rapidly rising pre-treatment PSA scores, its important to remember that I didn't have any prostate related problems or infections during any of that time from age 50-56. That last year's rise before surgery was the most darning of all, shocked even my PCP. If I wasn't such a firm believer in PSA screening on my own starting at 50, there is no telling how severe a case I might have been if it had been undetected the past couple of years or so.
The only thing I would do different, from hindsight, is that when my PSA quickly crossed the old school standard of 4.0, that my first biopsy had been a saturation type, instead of a 12 core. It might have found it 18 months earlier. Also, after the 3rd biopsy, which found 7 of 7 cores positive, knowing what I know now, I would have liked to have gotten a second and higher level opinion of the slides. But its easy to be an arm chair coach at this point.
My uro/surgeon knew it was a long shot when we started this path. He was disapointed when my first post surgery PSA came back at .05, as he had hoped it would be lower. It didn't take long for that to double and move upward. The radiation oncologist was a straight shooter too, and lowered the odds for sucess about the SRT, I knew that going into that as well. But unless I am wrong, they were the only curative treatments I could do.
Like many men, when I had my first biopsy in 2007, I honesty didn't know where my prostate was located, or even what it did. Had never thought about it before. Never had any UTI's in my life, and had the stream of a mighty hose all my life, and never ever got up at night to pee. So it was a major shock when I knew what I was getting into.
Thanks for your opinion though.