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Living with Prostate Cancer: Meet others & introduce yourself
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Mar 16 1:38pm | Replies (607)Comment receiving replies
I found out last November I have Prostate Cancer. I'm considered Intermediate, not dire but need to move along. Have not had any procedures done yet except the PSA tests and a Biopsy but have only a few months of leeway as it is highly recommended I don't wait too much longer. I also had the Genomic testing done which put me above the median stats. I'm not interested in the radiation procedures, but really have no issues with having the surgery done. I was about ready to make the appointment but ran across the Focal Laser Ablation heat treated trials that are being done at Mayo and many other clinics/hospitals around the country. Wondering if anyone has had any experience with the procedure or knowledge to pass along. No one around here seems to know much about it. It has been used on other cancer(s) but is newer to Prostate Cancer. Thanks
Replies to "I found out last November I have Prostate Cancer. I'm considered Intermediate, not dire but need..."
@ronan2011, deciding which treatments to do is really tough. I'm bringing @semeon into this discussion as he has had Focal Laser Ablation for prostate cancer and may be able to answer some of your questions.
You can learn more about treatment decision making in these discussions:
- PSA numbers: Questions about new treatments https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/psa-numbers/
- prostate cancer treatment choices https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/prostate-cancer-treatment-choices/
- Prostate Cancer: What treatments did you choose after surgery? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/prostate-cancer-3/
You may also be interested in this Video Q&A about Prostate Cancer with Dr. Erik Castle and Dr. Scott Cheney – Oct 3, 2019
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/webinar/video-qa-about-prostate-cancer-1/
@stuckonu, that's interesting that in support groups, men tend to rally around or advocate for the procedure that the majority did. Very good to keep in mind when making choices.
Ronan, may I ask why you reluctant about radiation therapy options?
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Ronan, I don’t have an answer for you about the procedure however I’d like to ask a couple questions and share something I heard and found to be amazingly true. So 1 will you share where you live? 2 how did you find out about the Genomic testing?
Maybe you live out west or in a large city or a metropolitan area that include a few bigger cities?
I was very quickly disappointed with my VA doctors recommendation because he was suggesting what I considered to be old news and old procedures. Doing my own research I went outside of the area where I lived and had procedures done that he never knew about and he still doesn’t care about them. I’m sorry if my opinions disappoint others but I’m confident in what I found out and to me it is obvious that medicine is dynamic and it is changing/advancing often.
One of the best suggestions I ever received was from the president of a men’s group who advised me, more like warned me about support groups by saying that groups tend to rally around the procedure that the majority did. That same night that he warned me I found that the group I went to all recommended surgery. That’s the last thing that I would do. In fact that’s probably the only thing I would never do.
The other piece of advice that he gave me was to have the Genomic test. It would have been done but they want a biopsy less than 2 years old. I’m a couple of months on the wrong side of that number.
I also think that the future of cancer treatment is in immunotherapy and Spicer
Type in Spicer and 60 minutes if you haven’t heard of it