Hello, I am new here

did you also talk to a radiation oncologist? my guess is you'll most likely need radiation too since you are high risk so I'm wondering why surgery? anyhow the best to you. sorry you have to be here but its a great place for us.

ed

Organic Farmer, Welcome to HW. Best of luck with treatment. This is a great group and many will toss out ideas to you. Like most of us we hear the word cancer and we are all ready to cut it out. Been there done that.

Feel free to ask as many questions as you wish. So many here have so much knowledge about all the different and new treatments.

Do keep us posted on you post surgery recovery.

Cajun Jeff

Thank you everyone.

My wife and I just did not like the risks involved with radiation therapy. Both of her parents died of cancer, within a year of each other, when she was a child, so 'cancer' has a much bigger scare factor for her.

I like the idea of possibly getting it all out in one process. But obviously if he misses bits of it, then ...

JNF -- I was up late but not that late .

ed

Hi organic farmer, welcome to our little corner of the world. I'll add you to the roster of our Gleason 9 crew on this thread:
www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=35&m=3182035&g=3182504#m3182504

You may find it interesting and probably comforting to read through so many stories, with quite a number of Gleason 9 folks here and most doing pretty well. There's a prior thread with even more stories, link in that thread.

As a Gleason 9, it's something that has to be addressed, and aggressively; usually multiple modes of treatment are performed. Those type 5 cells are quite rogue, and thus you'll be dealing with a high recurrence risk.

As a surgery selection, let's hope your PCa is well contained and they can catch it all. As others have mentioned, you'll be watching your PSA for any rise for a long time, and if it happens will probably be treated with radiation later. It's a kind of difficult situation, with no real good choices. Everything has its risks, and various side effects. We sometimes prefer treatments based on the spectrum of likely risks and side effects as much as on the probability of success.

Stay with us, lots of experience here and support. Ask, vent, whine, cheer, complain, whatever you feel there's probably someone here that's been in the very same spot. We're here for you.

Organic farmer, just want to reiterate what F8 said, that radiation can have more side-effects after the prostate has been removed, I suppose because there is nothing there to protect the bowels (prostate sits in front of the bowels). It would be a good question to ask a radiation oncologist, when you weigh your options. We have men here that have really been hurt by salvage radiation, and ones that are doing ok.

If you have patience to search Dr.Myers blog on videos radiation vs surgery, please do, I can guarantee it will be worth it (unfortunately there is no search function on the site): askdrmyers.wordpress.com/

But I do remember watching one of his videos where he called the approach "well, we´ll take it out, and if it doesn´t work, we´ll do radiation" a wrong approach, saying "why would you subject yourself to side-effects of two procedures when you can defeat the disease by radiation only?". Again, he claims there is time and place for surgery, but that it is no golden standard, like some claim, and data from available studies (surgery vs. radiation) support that they are equally good approaches.

Dr.Charles Myers is a PC survivor himself, with not-so-good stats, and he opted for aggressive radiation, and is fine 10+ yrs down the road. He has an oncology practice specializing in PC, and is one of the most intelligent minds on PC in the world today.

Another point that I wanted to bring up. Only now, we are starting to see some doctors actually try to locate the tumor by very precise scanning equipment that has recently become available and do a more targeted approach (before that it was somewhat blind: radiate prostate or prostate+pelvic reigion). In this way some possibly affected lymph nodes can be identified and added to the field of radiation or taken out surgically if possible. Again, the method is not perfect: there could be micrometastasis in lymph nodes that scans do not identify, or scans can be false-positive, BUT, these are still better than what we had before. Again, these sensitive scanning methods are not a standard, so you would have to ask. If it were me, I would visit a few experts in PC (surgeons, radiation oncologists, oncologists specializing in PC), ask provocative questions and make an educated decision in the end.

Best to you, and we are here if you have more questions.

Redwing, well said!!
Cheers, Doug

redwing you need to become a mod maybe . comments that you don't find acceptable could just help the next guy. ya never know.

ed

Organic,

Haven't had a chance to say hello to you before. Welcome to the forum, sorry you need to be here but glad you found us. And, by the way, welcome to the Gleason 9 club -- one of the suckiest clubs in the world, and probably the worst of all if you rule out "travel discount" clubs that advertise on the Internet.

If things went as you expected when you made your first post three days ago you will have had your surgery by now. So let me be the first to welcome you to the other side. When the nurses tell you to get up and walk they are not just being sadistic; walking really will make you feel better. So will farting (the surgery leaves you a bit bloated) and the walking helps you pass wind (and thus feel better.) During the first week or so of your recovery you should

1) Walk when you are not in your recliner.
2) Recline when you are not walking (makes the swelling go down).
3) Take some time to really hate on that catheter*.

* (I threw in number three because it is the easy one that you will be doing anyway.)

Keep us posted. Feel free to complain. Most of us have been there.

I am home now.

My stomach is sore, coughing hurts. Life with a cath is different.

Hi organic farmer! Welcome back.

If you would like any tips about recovering from surgery, check the thread above for some suggestions, and also feel free to ask anything on your mind. Many folks here have had the same surgery, and have gone down the very same road to recovery.

Sounds like a good path report too, so that's great news!
Jerry

Organic Farmer,

Welcome to the other side!

They usually wait 3 months for your first PSA test for everything to clear out, so to speak, so they can get a good reading.

Now don't sit in that recliner all day, get out and walk every now and then. Walking is your best friend now.

Bill from Florida