1588 journey starts

Good to see you again, George,
Hope all went well. Take it easy and get well. My prayers for a good pathology report.

Tony

George: It's good to hear things went so well. Thanks for letting us know you better. Despite the way you FELT you didn't let that fear overcome your mind. You're brave.
Peace,
Susan

Hey George

Glad to hear that that surgery is behind you and you can now look forward. I have the greatest respect for those that choose surgery considering the challenges it presents afterwards. You stuck with your original choice of a local surgeon to which you are to be commended. Bravo! I hope and pray that your post-opt pathology indicates that they got all of that bad stuff out of you. Good luck and best wishes for a speedy recovery and a lifetime of PSA zeros from here on in.

Dave

11588ap
Just catching up a little and see you made it through in great shape, good job and isn't it a great relief to get that part behind you. All I can tell you is the time flys by and in my case this is my 5th week back at work already and the problems come and go little by little but nothing major and you learn to take them in stride and move on knowing you are getting better everyday. I hope you have a continued great recovery and you will be back in the saddle again real soon.

norskie

Hi George,

Good luck on your follow-up treatment. Please keep us posted when you feel up to it.

Your friend...

Jim

thanks Jim, et. al. Post-op biopsy shows gleason 6 down from 7 and stage 3Tb up from 2Tb, so the PCa is still there. Received a Lupron, 3 month injection last Friday--few side effects, some night sweats. Going to hold off on the Casodex for now------could have waited to get a post op baseline PSA but MD suggested shot now---Good news is I only needed a pad for one day post op-fully continent at this point. Hard to keep my mind off all this so not posting alot--talked to another Urologist, who confirmed for me, treatment for PCa is part science, albeit a majority, but also part art, meaning no one case of PCa is exactly like another----works for me because I don't want to make bad or wrong treatment choices. As he said, the only wrong one now, is no treatment. I'm ready for green tea and celebrex before my first post-op PSA, instead its Lupron and reading Haruki Murakami, The Elephant Vanishes. Anyhey, maybe I can help someone else here, get out of my own head for awhile.
-George

hey George, somehow I lost track of your post and just wanted to say hi. I'm glad you're done with your surgery and very happy to hear you are pad-free. I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers....kat

Hi George, Sorry about the pathology. I am very sorry we are now brethren in such a way. We have been looking for you and were hoping you were clear of this path. But instead you and I get to compare notes as we go down this treatment. My staff's have been all over the place with what treatment and when. My radiologist is suggesting to keep the hormones in the back pocket as long as possible. But I won't have this nailed down until I meet with the oncologist on the 26th. I have had two PSA's and have continued a downward trend to 0.1 and possibly lower by the time I go in next week. If it is lower then I could be taking Taxotere then radiation and then doing another checks and balances. We are almost identical in this journey. My em address is **** Feel free to send me your info and we can chat about it real time. God Bless and good luck on this. Tony **** Post edited:   For safety reasons e-mail addresses are now available from the moderator or click radio button in profile to show e-mail address.   This allows members access only.   Post Edited By Moderator (bluebird) : 7/9/2007 6:29:28 PM (GMT-6)

I just had a great conversation with George over the phone today. It's quite the experience to talk to one of us directly and share the experience. We can't type fast enough to share our thoughts and variances in our experience with PC. We could not specifically define the reasons for so much contraversy about treating advanced prostate cancer but we could help each other. George is a great personality and now a good friend. I am very glad we spoke.

I spoke with someone else today also. He is someone who has T4, 4+5=9 with bone invasion as well as bladder involvement. I was speaking to him while he was awaiting a plane to SF. His PSA was relatively low at 6.x but he was refracting hormone treatment he had been on for two years. I hope he joins us here as I told him about this group. He needs ideas and support I could not give him. If you see this, guy, his name is Roy, listen and try to help. He too sounded like a great guy who is very unfortunate and more advanced than any of us would ever want to be.

God Bless, George, I'll talk tou you again soon after my oncology visits next week.

Tony

so sorry ... i don't know what to say, but feel like i should say something. i read and then almost wanted to click away. guess i just want to say i did read it, and i am sorry. and that sucks big time.

and i guess isolating is the worse thing you can do, even though it is really hard. I went through a painful divorce a long time ago in my "too young" days, and remember the "i want to hide feeling". now i am just blabbering, cause i don't know what to say.

anyway, i should just say i read what you had to say, and i am so sorry. (wish i had comforting words and platitudes and all that)

Tanya :(

You have friends here, in Vegas. I am very sorry you could not work this out with your wife. You will always be in our thoughts. You must take care of your body and your mind. Stay positive for your health, there is a brighter day coming.

Tony

Dear George

I am deeply sorry to hear the news you have given us about your post surgery pathology and your personal life.  One or the other is bad enough, but to have to deal with both of these matters at the same time is monumental.  You have a great support team here and I hope and pray that you have others in your life who will support you at this time of need. 

It appears that more and more of our members are having to face advanced PC which is often diagnosed after surgery.  They are often put on hormone therapy immediately which, as you probably know, will slow down the cancer but not cure it.  I continue to encourage members in this situation to explore whether beam radiaiton (IMRT x-ray or preferably proton) can be administered to wipe out the remaining cancer.  I don't know whether you have explored this option yet.  Many doctors will say no, but you may find some that will say yes.  It appears that Loma Linda in California has treated more advanced cases of PC with either x-ray or proton or a combination of the two, for post surgical patients.  In your area, you might consider contacting Sloan-Kettering in Manhattan to see if they would consider radition for you (they only do the IMRT x-ray radiation), but it is a top cancer center in the U.S.

Beause of situations like yours and others, I started a new thread recently entitled Recurring Prostate Cancer After Surgery and Radiation Treatment.  The thread is only a beginning, but it might contain some information useful to you. 

What you are facing will require you to be stronger than you have ever been in your life.  Hopefully you will find strength not only here, but elsewhere in your life.  We are all routing for you. God Bless you in your continuing journey to fight this disease and may you be a winner.  Just keep the faith to get you through this thing.

Dave