Proton Therapy for prostate cancer

Thx 🙏 giving me positive outlook

@ken82 Ken, what other than a PSA blood draw do they do every 6 months?

@dandl48 for the first year after the Radiation the PSA blood tests were every 3 months ... and a conversation with Radiation Oncologist about the symptoms.. I saw the Urologist too at that time.. every 6 months.. conversation and the Probe... my PSA was around 0.5 all year.. Now this second year after Radiation I am seeing the Oncologist every 6 months for PSA and conversation.. Urologist every year... I am 83.... in pretty good health and shape at this point...

I asked doc if I was crazy for not doing Lupron and he said no. Does the 20 sessions make you tired? I start a week from tomorrow. Do I plan like hour of my day?

@rcs You may not be Crazy for not doing Lupron, but you will be presenting a larger cancer to be the target of that beam.. I went to Mayo MN.. they recommended the shot and then we gave it 2 months to work in making the problem smaller.. How old are you? Yes, the 20 sessions makes you very tired.. If you do not take the shot will you have to have more than 20 sessions..? well, the actual radiation session from the time you walk in the door until you walk back out is usually less than 30 minutes... but getting there, waiting for the machine to clear is another matter.. have you been tattooed at this point? Aiming is really important..

Hi @rcs not sure what your situation is. In my case I had a Gleason score of 8 and my radiation oncologist pretty much said that the ADT (Lupron) with the 20 sessions of Proton radiation was highly desirable, like increased my chance of survival from 60 to 80 percent. It does reduce the size of prostrate, making it easier to radiate the prostrate, but it also slows the growth of the cancer and kills any cancer cells that may have escaped the prostrate. I met patients who had Gleason scores less then 8 who did not have ADT. But that's the discussion you need to have with your radiation oncologist. This is pretty serious stuff and you need to discuss with your doctor all of the pros and cons. We can share with you our experience but your situation may be different. When I asked my oncologist at Mayo why my treatment was different from other patients who I talked to, he said we determine treatment for each patient based on their condition. In looking back. I wasn't crazy about having to do the ADT and I'm still not crazy about its effect on me 2 years later, but I know it was the best option. By the way, after the first 5 treatments you will likely have pain during urination. They can give you meds for it, Flomax. Your urinary canal will be radiated along with the prostrate and it could have a long-term impact. I'm still taking Flomax 2 years later and they have doubled the dose. It's tolerable, but they didn't mention that could happen before we started.

Thx for all the info. Can you share the long term effects you are having from the ADT and radiation?

I’m 71 it’s a T-1c with 3+4. It has not spread and very early. He did not say I needed additional treatment if I chose not to do the lupron. Thanks for information

@rcs Perhaps you need to clarify how the treatment would be without the Lupron.. There must be data out there about survival and or success of treatment rates with and without Lupron

That sounds similar to what I've heard from others with the same statistics. What I've read, if you have lupron with Gleason scores below 8, it can help some, but not nearly as much as when the scores are 8-10.