Newly diagnosed checking all options

My husband was just DX last week PSA 9, Gleason 3+4 in left side of gland with adenocarcinoma 80-90% of a 1 cm biopsy, 2nd area Gleason 3+3 of 1.5 cm same side with suggestive malignancy. Small town urologist suggests we see local guy and we are inclined to go to Detroit at Henry Ford where there are high end surgeons. Why go to someone who you have no clue even after researching online? Didn't care to experiment with Brachy since a family member died of complications of radiation nucleus after having seeds placed(it was years ago though). Ultimately it will be his decision but he values my inquisitive nature to check everything out and ask 50 million questions. He had a CT scan Monday, and was told there was nothing to worry about and the cancer was slow growing. I just don't trust one opinion. Any advice would be appreciated. Oh, the MDs at Henry Ford are Dr. Menon or Peabody.

Hi
Welcome to the HW forum.
As what your info, there are many options & time is with you.
Let the other SRs come in with their suggestion
Up this thread for you.
All the best....

The best thing I did was go to a large hospital with a great staff. My biopsy was done by an oncologist that I knew wasn't the person (sounds like the people you have dealt with). The people on this HW pc site give you an enormous amount of great information. Sorry you have to be here.

Hello and welcome! I would start off by saying that I agree/support what Mel posted. If you go the surgery route, you would indeed be in good hands with Dr. Menon, truly one of "The Best." During those early days of my own journey I actually had a "pre-scheduled" date with Dr. Menon, and as Mel stated they are truly world class in terms of not only experience but also with accomodations as I looked into those as well.

Now, having said that, I would still encourage you to look into ALL of the options. As you can see by my profile I ended up going with LDR Brachytherapy and continue to do incredibly well. I chose that path because for me, I found that LDR BT (in the hands of again, one of "The Best") had an equal to or better chance of a cure along with much less chance of onerous side effects. In the case of a G9 however, you would probably look at a combination therapy of BT and SBRT.

Finally, I would first suggest that you go and peruse the two "Sticky Threads" at the top of the opening page here. And at the same time have his slides sent out to Bostwick or Epstein for a read as they (sorry for the redundancy here, but IMHO very, very relevant) considered "The Best" at reading PCa slides.

Hang in there, take your time to become educated, don't panic. We're here for you guys.

Best,
Yoop

Sorry you had to find us, but good luck. Please stick around and keep us posted.
My surgery was done by a Dr whom I inderstqnd to be one of the best in the world, Ash Tewari. He was trained under Dr Menon. So no doubt you would be in good hands with him.

I would agree that with Yooper that you should not discount Brachytherapy. Your relatives experience was a one off, and unusual. If you find a top guy, it would be worth exploring, as I did, even if only to satisfy yourself that surgery is the right option for your husband. This way, no matter what happens, u will know you did your due diligence, and will never say woulda, shoulda, coulda.

With that said, my experience with the usual side effects of incontinence and Erextile dysfunction after surgery, was very positive, pretty much resolved after 5 weeks. But that was me, I was lucky.

I believe that with where we are today in treating this disease surgically, if you have a top surgeon like Menon, it's unlikely that incontinence will be an issue long term. Erextile function is part surgical skill, but also part luck, part location and extent of the tumor.
None of the treatment choices are a walk in the park, but with proper research u will find the one that is right for YOU (your husband)
What's most important, is getting the best chance of cure. And keeping I mind, even in a bad situation (which yours seems not to be by any stretch, this is a highly treatable disease, that most men live with, not die from.

Good luck and keep us posted

"Didn't care to experiment with Brachy since a family member died of complications of radiation nucleus after having seeds placed"

With a high Gleason score and high volume, other treatment modalities may offer a better chance for a cure with less side effects than surgery. As for your reason for not exploring Brachy, it's like saying you know someone who died during a routine dental procedure so therefore you will never have dental work ever again.

I advise you to look at all options and weigh them very carefully, you want the best treatment with the least possible side effects for the type of pc that you have.

Focus on that and make a decision. I would think the risk for complications and/or death from surgery are much higher than for Brachy which is minimally invasive compared to surgery

ps
I am a newby to blogs, what is a sticky thread?

I sticky thread is a topic thread that the admins have deemed worthy of keeping accessible to all in perpetuity.

Therefore it is stuck at the top of the listing of topics.