Back from lengthy visit with Radiation Oncologist

What a day, many severe bladder spasms despite the med for it.  Met with my new Radiation Oncologist, part of Cancer Center of the Carolinas here in Greenville, SC.  We spent 2 1/2 hours together total, but one on one was about 90 minutes.  He got called out of my meeting 5x for emergencies.  He has been a Rad. Onc doctor for 30 years, he said that 85% of his practice is prostate cancer only.  He said he there use to be a Prostate Oncologist in this area, but due to lack of biz closed down his practice and moved to a larger area.

He said after reveiwing my entire case from biopsies, through surgical notes and pathology reports, etc, if he had been me, he would have had surgery, based on my age, and the  agressiveness of the PC.  That kind of made me feel good.  He spent time drawing pictures for me of how things looked before and since surgery inside.  He's very up to date and stays that way.

He wants me to have 2 months of Lupron, then two months of radiation (70 grys) for 35 treatments over 7 weeks, and two more months of Lupron after.  He did say however, that he is not convinced that I need the HT portion, but more that it was standard procedure for his practice.  He said it may or may not help or make any differnece.

He will see me in a month.  He is going to consult with my surgeon next week and compare notes.  He agreed that we can not move ahead until these blockage issues are resolved.  He said if need, he could radiate with a catheter in place.  Instead of me drinking a bunch of water to fill  the bladder while they zap, they could fill the cath full of water, zap, then release the water.

He said in my case, having a positive margin was a good thing. Because if there wasn't one, and my body was producing psa, then it would probably mean that it was distant instead of being in the prostate bed.

Based on his 30 years, his magic cutoff number is a post surgery psa of .50, at that level he mostly sees 100% sucess, from .50 to 1.0, he said its down to 50%, and anything over 1.0, not much point doing it.

I told him about our group, hes thinks thats a great idea, and he said I was probably one of the most informed patients he'd ever talked to.  Kind of made me feel good.

He did say, there is no doubt in his mind, that I do have reaccurance.  He mentioned other tests available, but he said that none of them could absolutely confirm or detect reaccurance with a psa of .16.  Below, I will post another thread about some of his other comments related to PC.

Glad to be home,

david in sc

Thanks Jeff, I told him in the first 30 seconds, that I was a reality person, and not to blow any smoke up my a**. I was blunt with him and he was blunt with me. If I have to make a tough decision thats how I want it to be.

David

Greetings, David.  Glad you had a good consult and everything he said sounds very favorable for you. Now get that blockage taken care of next week and then you can get ready for this next round of treatments.  It's always good to get confirmation that you made a good choice.  Look forward to hearing some good reports next week.  David

Yeah guys, I was left with a lot to think about, but fortunately, don't have to make a rash or super fast decision. Again, not a trace of denialism in my body, just want to do this right, and feel right about it when I do it. If I were 20 years older, I might choose to do nothing more, but at 57 with a beautiful loving wife of 35 years, 3 great kids and 2 grandchildren so far, I want to live as long as I am allowed to.

My youngest son, the one with the most empathetic heart, said dad, sounds like you are in for a hell of a fight ahead, but you are strong and your whole family is behind you.

Right now, I got to get through this corrective surgery, a little nervous ,be a fool if I wasn't, and I know there will be pain after for a week or two or more, but I am a big believer in responsible use of pain meds when needed.

Hopefully when I meet the rad oncologist again in a month, I will be well on the healing side of this next step, and hopefully peeing a decent stream on my own.

Today was day 25 on this catheter, and the spasms were wicked bad most of the day, my poor bladder and weiner are just so tired of this unwanted visitor.

Thanks for all your support and care.

David in SC

David, I love that 100% number!

I'm thrilled for you. I can sense things are turning, and I'm never wrong about my gut feel unless it has to do with women, the stock market, or if I've got enough gas in the boat to make it to the marina for a fill.

Now, on to the blockage being a thing of not so fond memory,

Sheldon AKA Sleepless

Barry, not sure I am up to it, but the alternative still sucks at age 56

Sheldon, actually in my life, my gut feelings about anything were usually the right choice, its when I thought around them I get into trouble

Dan, thanks. My wife, youngest son, and I , are going over into NC across the mtns to Hendersonville to do something I like, some serious antiquing and lunch at a great german resturant. Hoping the cath gives me a greak so I can enjoy myself.

David in SC

good info there ohio state, thanks.