My SBRT journey begins today.

Thanks again Mike for continuing this thread and informing others of how your process went - will clearly go a long way towards helping others who may be considering your path understand things.

BTW I know what you mean about the strength and endurance thing - frustrating on how long it take to get to a certain level, and how quickly you can lose it and fall back! Stick with it, you'll be back where you were (and I'm betting even beyond) in no time.

Continued best to you Mike.

Well, got my first PSA test results back a little over 5 weeks after my SBRT treatments ended. 3.1, which means it was cut in half. My doctor is delighted and so am I. I have my next PSA test in 90 days and hopefully that begins a downward trend to my nadir. I'm very happy with the results so far. The best part is, I've had next to no side effects. A little diarreha that lasted about 10 days after the last treatment, but nothing that was all that bad. No urinary problems and no ED. My RO and I discussed the possibility of something down the road, but that's exactly what it is, a "possibility". So far, I couldn't be happier!

Great news Mike.

Great news Mike. I hope I do as well following SBRT. My PSA was only down to 4.0 after being 4.2 at treatment time 4 weeks ago. But at least that's in the right direction. Keep updating us.

TA--The only reason I had my PSA tested was because I went to a local health fair and PSA was part of the overall test. It wasn't ordered by any doctor checking out my SBRT outcomes.

Mike, Happy anniversary.

Your timing is excellent as I start my SBRT at UCLA on Oct 6 with 1 of 3 Provenges last weekend and next one the weekend of Oct 3-6 before SBRT starts Mon Oct 6, and final one the weekend of Oct 17-20 after SBRT ends on Wed Oct 15

This is all thanks to wise advise and counsel from my Mentor Tall Allen to leverage the "Abscopal effect"

www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/242784.php

My situation is a little different. I have much higher Gleason 9 (4+5) and much lower PSA = 0.02, but still 5 fractions of 8 Gy each by Dr KLing at UCLA to prostate, to what we would call the prostate bed had it been removed and to the entire pelvic girdle (not just to the 3 micro lymph nodes contained within the pelvic area, no bony mets any more).

My SBRT's are Mon-Wed-Fri-Mon-Wed rather than your Tue-Thur-Mn-Wed-Fri.

Since I am 66, I had no issues with Medicare/ UHC AARP gettign insurance approvals.

The cradle at UCLA was a little different, just to my feet not a full body cast, and no use of balloon which is what Univ of FL & Shands would have done had I stayed in sunshine state for IMRT/IGRT over 7-9 weeks.

As Tall Allen said, UCLA does not have any special diet recommendations, Milk of Magnesia etc, but I may just follow yours. The treatments shold be over in less than a half hour is what I am told. I did get 3 tattoos to go with the gold markers (you described the process well) and a CTscan for dosage planning.

Per Tall Allen post, I will ask Dr. King for a copy and share it with my mentor Tall Allen.

The only part that concerns me is the diarrhea since I live iN FL but being treated at UCLA, I found it was cheaper to stay with my son and family and advance plan SW Air flights @ $69 each way than to pay LA hotel rates, also better comapny than the 4 walls.

So hopefully I can endure a one hour flight without making too much of a mess, will pack carry on bag accordingly. Also complicates the fleet enema part of the prep. Easy enough to get the fill bladder part done en route and I did pay the extra $12.50 for early boarding to get seat in bulkhead aiseseat closest to the airplane restroom.

As I mentioned before I was born and raised in STL and still a Cardinal fan, then moved to one of your former stomping gounds New England Boston in 1975 after a 4 year stop in Philly area. Left Boston in 1983 for Hartford and in FL since 2000 the year they had the hanging chads in Presidential eleections. Took a lot of grief from friends in Hartford and relatives in STL about inability to count votes.

Going to be in your native Syracuse in upstate NY for GFMPH Rochester the last weekend of Sept which is why there are 2 weeks between my 1st and 2nd Provenge treatments.

Thanks Mike for chronicling all of this and I will let you know the similarities or lack of same with my process.

LupronJim

Mike- thanks for the update - great news there about your PSA. Dr. Katz is now reporting that the median PSA for low/intermediate risk guys falls to .1, which is very encouraging.

Jim, I think most guys find that the bladder and bowel irritation don't set in for a little while after the last treatment ends. As Dr. King told you, the internal fat may be protective - so you have an excuse to eat up, at least until the treatment starts. You can drink the water 20 minutes before each treatment - you don't want to pee it out. I found that my treatments lasted about 5-10 minutes each with RapidArc. It's shorter the less internal and external movement there is, because the system is constantly monitoring the prostate position and re-adjusting for movement.

- Allen

Mike,

Great news on your results.

Thanks for the link to this thread and for the full picture of how your treatment went. It's hard to get to the reality of the process without a 1st person account.

Walt

No real change since last post other than officially as Tall Allen calls it "post-toastie" with SBRT #5 of 5 completed last Monday and 3rd of 3 Provenge cycles on Halloween weekend.

Have learned to agree with conventional wisdom to never trust a fart.

Only minor urgency issues this week. so wearing one Depends per day as insurance, very minor compared to what my friend 142 is going through.

LupronJim

Email sent Dave. Best of luck, you'll like Dr. Baglan