Thank you all for your well-considered replies. Once again I am reminded of the wonderful nature of the people in this forum! Somebody asked about my PSA level since the end of radiation. It's been...
So, here I am, two years after the start of treatment. It began with Firmagon injections every 28 days, then 24 external beam treatments, then HDR Brachy therapy. Details of my diagnosis are in my...
Bobby Mac, I've had four Firmagon injections, administered in the "square around the navel" format others have mentioned. There are a couple of days of some discomfort around the injection site,...
Thanks for the tip about donut pillows, guys ... and for the encouragement and good wishes. I don't think this disease was fully real to me, psychologically, until I had this treatment. And that's...
... and I don't ever want to experience that again! The surgery was uneventful, staying on my back for 36 hours with 18 tubes in me was not fun, and the treatments themselves were nothing. The...
I have probably memorized every scratch on the radiation machine that is saving my life. I now have just five more treatments. I've reached this point with minimal side effects, and I am deeply...
So after two months on Firmagon, which by itself made my PSA go from 21 to 1.7, I'm now coming up on the end of the second week of IMRT (14 of 28 treatments). I've read that the side effects of that...
Did you use Dr. Demanes? I've heard he's done 10,000 of these, and if my HMO approves, he's my first choice....
It turns out that I am going to switch to Lupron after my second Firmagon shot next week. My RO wants to wait for six weeks after starting HT before starting radiation. I don't know yet whether IMRT...
That makes a lot of sense. It's my urologist who recommended the Firmagon, so I'd already planned to discuss that with my RO. I will now definitely ask about such a switch....
Thanks everybody. The advice and words of encouragement/reassurance I've received here and in other threads are actually the first treatment in my journey, and I count that as the first success!...
So, soon it begins. I'll be on Firmagon for 2 to 3 years, IMRT a couple months after that starts, some kind of brachy therapy after that. One step at a time. Deal with the initial injections, then...
SO = Surgical Oncologist. I thought that was in the abbreviation list, but after looking, I see it isn't. Good point about the HDR - I'll definitely ask about that in the first pre-treatment...
Bad news - the MRI showed extra-capsular extension and growth into the seminal vesicles. I'm now grade T3b. RO says that rules out surgery, haven't heard from the SO yet, have meeting this week with...
Thanks Dogdays. I got a second biopsy reading from John's Hopkins - it differed on one core only, changing a 3+3 to a 3+4 (10% 4). I've also had a CT and bone scan, both clean. After bouncing up and...
It's 80% chance of extra-capsular extent. I have an MRI scheduled to get as definitive as possible, but I'm already convinced that HT, followed by IMRT followed by some form of brachy therapy is my...
JNF - I ran the numbers myself, and it came out to an 80% chance...
So now I've talked to a second RO. He recommended an MRI as an essential next step decision tool. If that does not reveal extra-capsular cancer, then surgery and radiation are options. If it does,...
More helpful advice, thanks guys! Michael, your point about escaping the capsule making surgery non-curative is a particularly good one. Regarding HT, the SE's sound horrible, so I hope it isn't...
All good information as always - thanks all! One thing I left out of what my first RO said, thinking it was unimportant, was that with Gleason 7, I "have the option" of HT to get a "10% improvement...
Thanks Michael. To be fair to this RO, I think I misquoted him on the SBRT data. He said that the relative lack of data on long term SE's for that treatment made him uncomfortable recommending it for...
I had my first visit with a RO, and I was favorably impressed by his primary concern, which was to layout all the options I have, explain each and make sure I understood the risks of each. Given my...
Thanks everybody. All along I planned on consulting with a RO and a surgeon specializing in the robotic approach, (more than one of each). I'm now also going to do the same for a different uro....
A big weight has been taken off my shoulders: bone scan and CT scan were both negative. Yay! As I expected, however, my urologist recommended robotic surgery. When asked about radiation therapy, he...
Thanks Jim. I've definitely not decided on surgery vs. other options yet. The need to make that decision won't come until after my ct and bone scans. I'm just gathering info right now. It is,...
Hi all, My urologist recommends this surgeon for robot surgery if it should come to that for me. Based on just this https://www.towerurology.com/our-physicians/david-y-josephson-md-facs/ so far, he...
Thanks, Jim - I did that, and they said it wasn't a problem. The CT scan requires drinking some solution, the bone scan requires an injection that takes four hours to distribute effectively. I'm...
My thoughts exactly, Andrew, thanks. Mark...
Thanks everybody, your advice and comments are much appreciated! I think I was unsure about the followup tests due to not having enough knowledge to judge the applicability of an article here on...
Hopefully my signature shows the data it is supposed to. Anyway, I've read the relevant first-timer posts, and although I think I'm clear on what "clinically localized" means (basically, no evidence...