bigrich22 said...
Casper, thank you so much for your support. It is great to see your progress and despite my delay, I am hoping to have similar results. One question: If you were 46 years old, would it have changed your treatment decision? Thanks again!
That is a very big question and one that has caused me a great deal of thought.
Back then my life was very different. I owned a very busy company with 32 staff. I had my dear wife by my side and my younger son and granddaughter where here. Sadly that has all changed now. But after giving your question a great deal of thought I can honestly say I would of made the same decision back then, because LDR would of been the least invasive procedure and offer the lowest risk of side effects. It would of been far more important then than it is now. I loved my work and could not imagine taking time out for ANY reason. I loved my wife very much and we enjoyed a very active sex life. My two sons also kept me very busy. Yes, we were a very active family and enjoyed life to the max. So if I had to make the choice back then it would of had to be a treatment that would not take away/change the life I/we enjoyed so much.
I am not sure I have mentioned this before, but in my 40s I lost two very close friends to cancer (not pc) After surgery they both went so quickly! One of them within 10 days! Yet shortly before they went for surgery you would not think they were sick. It was such a big shock at the time. I started to wonder if they left the cancer alone then would they of lived longer. Maybe, maybe not.
Since then I have looked at cancer in the same way as your conman garden weed. If you want to kill it completely you have to remove the roots as well. Just leaving the slightest fragment will cause it to come back quickly and twice as strong. When we moved into my old house the garden was a mess. Neglected and totally over run with weeds. I went out and hired an industrial flame thrower and burnt the lot to the ground. Then I hired a rotavator and turned the ground over to expose the roots. I then hit it again with the flame thrower, sterilizing the soil in the process. After that I don't think we ever had a weed problem again.
This is the way I have looked at my PC today. Surgery could leave a fragment behind that could come back with vengeance at a future date. But with LDR I see it as the blow torch approach. The radiation will burn everything within the prostate and even reach 3.mm beyond. So in my mind the cancer is now dead.
Sorry for the long drawn out reply, but your question brought back a lot of memories from the past. I don't understand the full mechanics of cancer, but I think the garden weed is a good analogy. For me it is anyway.
Good luck as you move forward. You are always welcome to e,mail me if you feel the need.