@mkulkarni065
I am in Southern CA so UCLA was the closest hospital offering TULSA at the time that I started looking into it. Follow up after the procedure goes on for years if not for a life time. UCLA is not next door for me but it's within a couple hours drive. Dr. Raman has been involved with the Tulsa Trials from the beginning, he is very competent and I have a lot of faith in him. He is a radiologist so he knows how to read MRI's. You'll be getting a lot of those. I did consider the other doctors as well but when I was first interested, insurance was not covering the procedure. I knew that it would be covered by original Medicare starting Jan 1st. 2025. I started my inquiry in early 2024. Dr. Raman felt I could wait as my cancer was not aggressive. I had a Blue Shield Advantage plan in 2024 and UCLA was out of network. I didn't know if I could get a referral or if I did, whether it would be covered. I was very fortunate in being able to switch to original Medicare in early 2024 as Blue Shield allowed me to add their supplemental plan. With original Medicare, I can go to any doctor and it covered the entire procedure. One of the requirements at that time was that the procedure be done at (I think) at a major hospital, not a clinic. So, for you, unless you want to pay out of pocket (I considered it, $40K-ish), you should find out if your insurance will cover TULSA where ever you decide to go. Dr. Raman has a lot of experience, UCLA is either the best or certainly one of the best medical institutions in the country. I am so happy that I chose TULSA, no side effects at all other than no ejaculate but orgasm feels the same and urine flow is better than ever in my life. No problems with continence, no problems at all BUT, to be totally upfront, I had a total ablation and my PSA level has risen from .7 immediate after the procedure to 3 over the year post TULSA. MRI's don't show any tumors and this rise could be due to a couple of things other than cancer. My last 2 psa tests were 2.9 then 3 so acceleration has definitely slowed which implies that it's not cancer recurrance. Dr. Raman is very calming and is keeping a close watch on it. I'm not too worried. If I had it to do over, I would do exactly the same. If you have any other questions, I'm happy to answer them. Best of luck.