Beginning prostate cancer treatment

For those of you with questions concerning the use of Lupron let me reinforce. Lupron removes the testosterone fuel source of a prostate cancer. The logic of both of the radiation oncologists that I conferred with was as follows. First we reduce the tumor fuel source. This quenches the fire. Once the "fire"/tumor is quieted aggressive tumor destruction can begin with your choice of treatment. The question being would you rather fight a bonfire or a camp fire? That decision depends on the unique situation of each of us. You should look your radiation oncologist in the face and ask him this question. "If this were your tumor what would you do and why would you do so?" The decision is then yours and yours alone. That is exactly what I did. I then had an informed decision to make.

Granted, my tumor was a grade 10 so I had little choice in the matter. It was to be as aggressive as I could obtain or run the risk of a metastisis. Let me tell all of you this. You do not want to run the risk of a metastasis. Not ever, not no how!! Last year I watched a dear friend of mine die from a metastasised tumor. It went everywhere - he had no chance. I am tumor free. After Proton treatment we had a need for verification and I underwent a C11 tracing and it came back negative. My therapies had done their job. I'm now good to go and intend to remain so. My Lupron treatment will continue for another year and I'm happy to be here to be able to do so. Best of luck to you all and I have to say that luck has little to do with it.

I have just been diagnosed with prostate cancer, Gleason score of 3+4, PSA of 4.2. I went to a highly regarded surgeon who recommended surgery. I then went to a radiation oncologist at the Mayo Clinic to consider proton therapy. I am 69. Bottom line, I decided to go with the proton therapy. And I am electing to turn down the hormone treatments at this time. The doctor at Mayo said there is a University of Florida study that shows good results with proton therapy alone. It seems the best choice to me for keeping my quality of life.
I will start the 28 radiation treatments in a couple of weeks. Like you, time will tell if I made the right decision.

@desertrat First things first. Get more opinions. When I started this stuff, my Gleason was 7m , PSA...10. I chose Lupron eventually. Now it has been 10 years, and I have learned many things. First, the core of my cancer was myeloma (Gelsolin, etc.). I joined a prostate cancer group at the local hospital. Now ten years later I have G=and PSA both around 20. I have had 53 cancer surgeries and processes, and have added a few diseases...LGMD2m, CLL, ALL, Liss..., CALR, etc. So? I still have my prostate, and every cell in my body has been attacked by my GSN and the other nonsense. But I cannot find another LGMD2m on the planet, altho NIH says there are nine of us. Anyway, enough complaining. Just do not be in a hurry. Do your homework and searching first, then make your decision. And on the side, if you know another LGMD2m, tell them to send me a message, please. oldkarl

@desertrat I found the resources available from the Prostate Cancer Foundation very informative when beginning my prostate cancer journey last year: https://www.pcf.org/patient-resources.

Gankster,
Thanks very much for the info, I will check it out !

I had similar numbers near your age and finished 20 treatments last February. No Lurton either. All is good.

Thanks for responding, great to hear that it has worked out well for you and it is reassuring for me.

Seems like protocols have changed since my Prostatectomy in 2013 at 53 yo. I was referred by a Friend to Dr. Alan Partin. I had a psa of 7.4 and biopsies all over the chart. a 3, 4, and 6 &7's 8 and a 9. No ten. I don't know how to calculate. I suggest they add the lower numbers. I believe they said I must take the two higher numbers(?) That would be 8 & 9. which seems high. After they did the surgery, Dr. Partin called and advised the prostate was like 70% affected and the cancer didn't spread to the lymph nodes, nor semi vesicles and I had clear margins. They cancer did however grow outside of the prostate a bit. I had my psa tested yearly and was always <.1 until 4 months ago. I was 3 months late testing it. Came back <.2, tested again in 6 weeks came back <.3. So I start radiation next week on a Versa linear radiation accelerator and began a 6 month regimen of Orgovyx early this week. It had been 8 years since surgery so thought I was done with that cancer. Grateful it didn't come back sooner.

RCS, thanks for your reply, hope the best for both of us! I start 28 radiation treatments on Thursday.

Are they still using the balloon in therapy