1. < Prostate Cancer
Profile picture for nemco1

81 with localized grade 3: I want quality over quantity. Thoughts?

Posted by nemco1 @nemco1, Jul 27 12:10pm

I am 81 with localized Grade Group 3 prostate cancer, Gleason 4+3=7, PSA that has doubled in the past year, and a negative PSMA PET. What's your opinion on MARS HDR brachytherapy, watchful waiting, whether ADT is necessary, and realistic urinary, rectal and erectile-function outcomes in men my age. I feel fine & I am active. I am concerned that treating the cancer may be successful, but the lasting side effects will make me feel terrible for the rest of my life. I want quality over quantity. Thoughts?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Prostate Cancer Support Group.

Profile picture for climateguy
climateguy | @climateguy | 5 days ago
In reply to @oldgreenpaint "@climateguy Man, did you really nail it! Especially this excerpt, because the technicians said nearly the..." + (show)
Profile picture for oldgreenpaint @oldgreenpaint

@climateguy Man, did you really nail it!

Especially this excerpt, because the technicians said nearly the exact same thing to me. I was telling them that I was in pain, not feeling well, 3 sessions into a five session sbrt. If I had it to do over again, I would spread the radiation out over a longer period.

Your words below……..

“The operators deal with the fact they know what they do is not perfect by consoling themselves, if they've been around long enough, with how much things have improved over the butchery and mayhem they know has gone on in the past.”

Jump to this post

@oldgreenpaint I had in mind a comment made by Mack Roach in a video. Dr. Roach is recognized as a world authority on RT. He was discussing the history of radiation treatment for prostate cancer.

He said he had been the first to publish, several decades ago, about how the method of putting tattoos on patients to aid machine operators in lining up the patient so their external beam would hit their target, could completely fail if patients were too obese.

The tattoos could not be relied upon to indicate accurately where the prostate was because the thick layer of fat these patients had allowed the skin the tattoos were on to shift too much. He said in some cases the external beam treatment would miss the prostate entirely! !!

Todays RT is light years ahead of this type of thing. However, when RT gets even better in coming years, todays less catastrophic sources of error will become more commonly discussed....

REPLY
1 reply
Profile picture for oldgreenpaint
oldgreenpaint | @oldgreenpaint | 4 days ago
In reply to @climateguy "@oldgreenpaint I had in mind a comment made by Mack Roach in a video. Dr. Roach..." + (show)
Profile picture for climateguy @climateguy

@oldgreenpaint I had in mind a comment made by Mack Roach in a video. Dr. Roach is recognized as a world authority on RT. He was discussing the history of radiation treatment for prostate cancer.

He said he had been the first to publish, several decades ago, about how the method of putting tattoos on patients to aid machine operators in lining up the patient so their external beam would hit their target, could completely fail if patients were too obese.

The tattoos could not be relied upon to indicate accurately where the prostate was because the thick layer of fat these patients had allowed the skin the tattoos were on to shift too much. He said in some cases the external beam treatment would miss the prostate entirely! !!

Todays RT is light years ahead of this type of thing. However, when RT gets even better in coming years, todays less catastrophic sources of error will become more commonly discussed....

Jump to this post

@climateguy

As I did AS for 15 years, all forms of treatment got better, and new ones were developed. I am no fatty. Prob skinnier than most. Had the skin tattoos and also carbon markers in prostate. Did everything as “right” as I could and still got kinda fried. Now I am 8 months post radiation and mostly OK for now. Never any guarantees in the PC world, other than you have PC. I tell my sons, that I am hopeful by the time they need to treat their cancer, that things will again be exponentially better. PC has hit every male in our family. But we have all found it while still localized. Batting one thousand, as they say.

REPLY
Please sign in or register to post a reply.