THE DECISION

First, a quick review of my stats:

I am 51 YOA in otherwise excellent health

Yearly DRE and PSA test since my Father died of PCA @ age 59 in 1994.

Biopsy- 09/12- 12 cores all benign, 3 cores HPN

DX'd 04/13-

3/12 cores positive on needle biopsy- 5% cancer in all 3 samples

All other samples (9) were benign, no HPN

Gleason 6 3+3

PSA- 3.6 - 03/13

Asymptomatic- DRE Normal on exam

05/13-

Meeting with my URO to lay out the options after DX:

06/13-

2nd opinion @ John Hopkins.

Slides reviewed and concurred 100% with the 1st lab.

06/13-

Georgetown to discuss SBRT/Cyber Knife as an option.

Today-

Volume study completed- ( No fun- Worse than the biopsy IMHO)

Have decided on Brachytherapy-

Prostate is 55 grams in size-

120 seeds-Iodine125  to be implanted by my RO in 2 weeks.

All pre-procedure work up tests were fine including a colonoscopy.

Hopefully, this will be just a bump in the road left behind in the rearview mirror in a few weeks.

I realize that there will be SE's  now and in the future.

I did a lot of research and have made the decision.

My URO pushed hard for RP based on my age.

Not happening- the positive outcomes for BT vs. RP someone my age , where my cancer is

staged are about equal based on my research and what I read in the studies posted on the

board. URO agreed with that after our earnest discussion.

This board has been very helpful and informative and I just wanted to say THANK YOU for the

guidance and keep fighting the good fight!

 

sounds like you did your homework and you made a wise decision.  good luck to you!

ed

 

I think you have made a good decision. From what I have read, brachy for those with your stat have similar results to surgery with less side effects. Now that you have decided, go on with it and don't look back. I wish you luck.

The prep for the colonoscopy is always the worst part. I had HDR brachy and you have to do a similar prep, although not quite as bad. Not sure if that's the case with LDR brachy. Good luck!

1811, Congrats on making your decision, I found that to be the hardest part at first. You really did your homework, GOOD FOR YOU! We have similiar stats and I chose SBRT, but BT was also very high on my list. I've done a lot of research and came to the same conclusions as you did regarding chances of sucess and low chance of SE's with BT or SBRT in our cases. There are a lot of guys with BT experience that I'm sure will weigh in shortly, and answer any questions you might have. This is a great site for support and info. Good luck with your journey!

Mike

1811 - welcome back and congratulations on making your decision.  You mentioned that the full volume study was worse than the biopsy and I would agree!  You'll also find that the volume study will have been worse than the actual seed implants so you're past that!

Your stats are better than mine were going in and I'm doing great 9+ months post implant - and I'm sure you'll be the same.  If you're interested in how the actual process of LDR BT goes here's a link to a thread I started some time ago, that includes my narrative (on page 2 of the thread) of how my day went:

https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=35&m=2499920&p=2

I also had I-125 seeds implanted so as you move along the path post implant and have any questions I'd be happy to help out, my e-mail can be accessed in my profile by clicking on "A Yooper" in the top left box of my post.

Yes, this should be nothing but a minor bump in your review mirror so my very best goes out to you.

Dear 1811:

Sounds like you thought this through well and have made a solid decision. Yeah, re the volume study I agree that was the worst part of the whole deal. For a long winded version of my brachy "journey" feel free to copy and paste from my signature...you will see that I was none to fond of the volume study!

You said that you realize there will be SE's now and in the future. Well...maybe not. There are more than a few of us on this board who had some minor SE's early on but very little later on. I'm not almost 5 years post procedure and the ONLY SE I'm left with is reduced ejaculate. All urinary and sexual systems are A-OK. I trust and hope the exact same for you.

Please feel free to ask any questions going forward and we hope you will post about your experience. And...please stick around to help others make this difficult decision.

Jim