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Living with Prostate Cancer: Meet others & introduce yourself
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Sep 10 6:24pm | Replies (648)Comment receiving replies
Hi, my name is Dave and I'm new to this group but have been on the Barrett's Esophagus page for a few years. I live in an area of Oregon that only has 1 Urologist in 70+ square miles and he should have retired years ago. I'm might be jumping the gun here since I've yet to get a Gleason score since my previous MD who did the biopsy took only 8 cores, none came back positive but all showed HGPIN. Following the Mayo MD's recommendations to my questions on the video chat recently and since my PSA # is 17 and my Free PSA # is 6 I got a contrast MRI which showed a Lesion of 2.2 x 1.1 x 1.5 cm. In the Radiological report, it states the PI-RADS v2 Assessment Category: 5 Very high (clinically significant cancer is highly likely to be present). My new Urologist (70 miles away) has since scheduled me for a Fusion (MRI Guided) biopsy for next Wednesday. The new practice has a # of Urologists but they primarily operate and if I choose an operation I would rather go to large Medical Center; but my question for the group is what happens if I do travel and complications happen after the operation would I have to return to the operating hospital which would be at least a 7 hr trip? Who has traveled to get an operation many miles and what did you do for followup? Because of this I'm leaning toward one of the radiation cures since from what I can tell there are much fewer after treatment complications. Thoughts anyone. Thanks in advance, one stressed out Dave
Replies to "Hi, my name is Dave and I'm new to this group but have been on the..."
I am from Canada and travelled to the USA for Sn alternate treatment Focal Laser Ablation bybthe Sperling Clinic. I did not like the proposed treatments surgery or radiation. No treatment is a 100% cure. My focus was my quality of life. I am 72 and if I have 10 good years, I am happy. With surgery or radiation there is no guarantee however in my view the risks were greater than the reward. It is an individual. Choice all my decisions were based on quality of life after treatment. I also did research on Rick Simpson Oil (marijuana oil) “Phoenix Tears “ strain and followed his 90 protocol. It was not difficult and it has made me feel good. I also used Metformin ( you can research it). It’s a very safe inexpensive diabetic drug which recent studies showed success with cancer. I am presently taking Lupron my PSA is now .2
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Hi Dave, I'm also from Oregon, Salem area, and my 8 core biopsy did show a sample with Gleason score of 8. Based on readings, I also determined that being treated at a cancer center would give best chance of success. In Oregon that would be OHSU, but they didn't perform Proton beam radiation, my choice. So, I chose Phoenix Mayo Clinic. We happen to have a winter home there, but they have apartments available for no cost to patients. We met some patients who stayed there and seemed a good option for people from out of town. Most centers will help find housing. I checked with Seattle and Loma Linda who had staff to help with housing. Radiation treatments can take up to 9 weeks so housing is necessary. My treatment was 4 weeks and Mayo has done some trials with 5 treatments over two weeks that show good results. Number of treatments depends on your diagnosis. Those who I met with longer treatments had the cancer spread outside the prostrate. They have a team that reviews your data and recommends treatment option.