mikehe said...
Doctor advises that I am on the cusp of watchful waiting or treatment
Hi mikehe, and welcome to HW/PC!
It sounds like you've got a tiny the Gleason 4, which bumps you barely out of the "low-risk category" and into the "intermediate-risk category." This is why your doc suggests you are "on the cusp," which I would agree with.
Your mention of "watchful waiting," though, tells me that you could definitely benefit from reading the collective works of several HW/PC members from a couple years ago when they created the "sticky" thread titled,
Newly diagnosed with PC? – read this thread first, which includes a definition of "watchful waiting" and "active surveillance." Go check out that "sticky" thread to jump-start your "patient education," because you have several critically important steps to take before you start talking about
any sort of treatment. The sticky thread is at the top of the list of all threads, back on the main HW/PC page.
So, once you've read that thread, you know that watchful waiting (WW) has a very specific meaning and is definitely not for you...but that active surveillance (AS) very well may be for you. But you also now know about
the critical "Step 0" (so important that it should be done before "Step 1"). You've had a biopsy, but which prostate cancer pathology expert read your slides?? If you can't name who, then you aren't ready to move to "Step 1."
I already reference a bit about
"Step 1" above...the part about
knowing
exactly what risk category you are in. The NCCN is the team that defines the risk categories, and today's doctors are a lot smarter about
PC then the docs from the past...and they have split the "intermediate-risk category" into two groups. The 3+4 group they call the "favorable intermediate-risk category" because it acts a lot more like the low-risk category, and the 4+3 group they call the "unfavorable intermediate-risk category" because it acts more like the high-risk category. The 4+3 guys definitely need treatment; the 3+4 guys are "on the cusp" and may or may not...and probably would be smart to look closer at their case before jumping into an aggressive treatment.
I really don't know much about
cannibis oil for fighting cancer, but I do know that the most satisfied patients are the ones who educate themselves the most about
the contemporary medical facts on the disease. The "sticky" thread may have some links that are now out of date, but the concepts written there are very solid today. Be sure to read that thread and follow-through before going further.
Again, welcome, and good luck
Post Edited (JackH) : 11/19/2016 4:37:29 PM (GMT-7)