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Significant disagreement between 1st and 2nd opinions, what to do?
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: 3 days ago | Replies (16)Comment receiving replies
While I am fully aware that radical prostatectomy is not guaranteed to cure my cancer, hearing that 30-35% percent of RP patients experience a recurrence does surprise me a bit, if that is indeed what you meant. Does surgery equate to RP, or is it a broader category? And am I correct in assuming these percentages include all RP's, regardless of whether or not cancer had spread beyond the gland?
I'm sure I am guilty of some level of rosy thinking about my own case, but I'd be curious if people disagree with my perception that RP has the best chance of being a one-and-done treatment for a cancer that has not moved beyond the prostate? Probably too many variables to say with any certainty (and again, there is the unpleasant issue of continuing follow-up biopsies with focal therapies).
I'll just say it...radiation really scares me. I can't help thinking that a precisely wielded scalpel
will be more likely to remove all that is needed without going beyond what is needed than some poisonous, semi-predictable, particle-emitting chernobyl-seed being plunked down into a cozy warm bed of fragile soft-tissue. However, I need to learn, so I will take your advice and read about real people's experience with the treatments you mention. Thank you, Phil.
Replies to "While I am fully aware that radical prostatectomy is not guaranteed to cure my cancer, hearing..."
Hey man, no need to apologize: radiation IS scary!! I practiced dentistry for 42 yrs and hid, ran and ducked from it in all that time…..BUT!
That kind of full body low level dosing is much more dangerous than a precise ultra narrow beam of photons (or protons which do NOT extend past the target) aimed by sophisticated computer technology, tested daily. It is NOT Chernobyl any more than robotic prostatectomy is a Civil War amputation.
But what happens if you have your prostate cancer (confined to the gland with no evidence of spread as mine was) removed by one of the best surgeons in the world (like mine was)…..and wind up with recurrence 5 yrs later? You then have to do radiation. The irony was not lost on me that I had to lie on a table and voluntarily have myself zapped with 10,500 units of radiation after running from it for most of my adult life! I really had no choice if I wanted to get this shit before it got me, so that’s the long and short of it.
Whatever you decide on - whatever treatment choices you make - will be the correct decision; there are no wrong choices. But just remember that you always need a plan B whether you thought you did or not….Best
Phil
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Studies have shown that an RP and radiation have about equal long-term results. With your case, it’s probably unlikely you’re going to have reoccurrence with either technique since It is so slow growing.