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11 anniversaries since diagnosis of stage 4 prostate cancer
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Sep 2 6:11pm | Replies (113)Comment receiving replies
I with you on that! I am a retired Radiologist so I know more than the basics and know the Imaging side inside and out. I can read and understand the literature pretty well. But, prostate cancer and its current state-of-the-art treatment is very complicated. I know maybe a tenth of what my experienced MO at Johns Hopkins knows about prostate cancer and its treatment. I believe in being informed and a co-decision maker (it's our life), but when some laypersons start believing they know more than knowledgeable, experienced MO/RO/Urologists at a COE, they are off the reservation. Articles that came out even a few years ago may be outdated. Find a physician you trust, ask questions, decide how aggressive you want the treatment to be but let the treating doctor drive the bus. My opinion, anyway.
Replies to "I with you on that! I am a retired Radiologist so I know more than the..."
Well put. The patient chooses the destination, but the oncologist drives the bus.
That said, I don't think it's a bad thing that we patients are sharing info here. It's clear from posts that not everyone is getting the same quality of care — some of us are lucky enough to be under the care multidisciplinary teams at big research centres following the latest best practices, while others have a single small-town urologist who might or might not have kept up to date on developments over the past 5–10 years.
Knowing what questions to ask helps level the playing field a bit
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Indeed. Your prescription may or may not be change over time with treatment. These studies are either a snapshot more or less, or has limited 'parameters' which may not be applicable.
What is annoying, and even dangerous is that a person who had read a few articles and assume the air of authority. Worse, when other people bring up more recent studies that is in discordant with his, then trouble starts.
Anyway, I am getting long winded.