As for RO vs Surgeon —> What I found was that unlike with a prostatectomy where you want a surgeon who has done a zillion surgeries (because its his/her hands that will actually be inside you, or guiding the robot’s hands inside you), with radiation the RO isn’t doing any of the treatments.

As a point of reference — my RO was never in the treatment room when I was receiving my 28 proton radiation treatments. (Not once, nada, zero, zilch.) We met with him for an hour on Fridays to discuss my status and the next week’s planning.

Yes, you do want an experienced RO to lead the team. But the RO is more like a team manager/captain - he knows all the plays, but he isn’t the one on the field batting, throwing or catching the ball. It’s all the others who are on the field.

I come to find out that it was the dosimetrist, the physicist, and the radiation team specialists who were doing the heavy lifting.

So, my questions for my RO were more targeted for technical answers I wanted to hear from the dosimetrist, the physicist, and from the radiation team specialists.

Those answers, and the physics behind proton beam radiation (e.g. the Bragg-Peak) are what ultimately led me to choose proton (28 fractions @ 2.5 grays per fraction + 6 months of ADT).