Thanks for the information and yes it did help. Did you have yours at Phoenix Mayo? Can I asked what your after care and follow ups are?

Mayo Jacksonville does not have proton. They are building a cancer institute which will have proton therapy but it is years away. My primary care doctor said for me to consider proton treatments and consider UFPTI after I did research and consultations.

After consultations and research I went to UFPTI which has been doing proton radiation since 2006. According to their web site the have done over 10,000 treatments and patients from almost all states and 34 countries. They were one of the few proton institutes back in 2006. They have upgraded their equipment and quite a star wars experience. The Space/Oar and markers were the only discomfort I had for the entire experience.

Over the 7 weeks of treatment one of the things I saw was all the children coming there. It was sad to see. But I can see why as research showed proton treatments lessons the amount of radiation damage using pencil beam. The children have many decades to live and a lot of children are referred there to reduce the secondary cancers and more precise treatment of their cancer. UFPTI has a great children area, treatment rooms, etc. I still have images of walking past all those pre and post treatment rooms for the children.

I am 76 have heart failure with a ICD/pacemaker. So surgery was not an option and I would have not chose it anyway. Hormone treatment ruled out due to heart failure. But then the results of DECIPHER test came back contradicting the biopsy (intermediate) to low risk and then hormone treatments not be recommended with low risk.

UFPTI physics department recommended pencil beam treatments. They offer proton scatter but their physic department wanted pencil beam to stay as far away from ICD/Pacemaker as possible. The DECIPHER is expensive test (over 5K) but my insurance covered it. I don't see much mention of it on Mayo Clinic Connect.

I wish I lived around Phoenix or Rochester. You only had to go 5 times over two weeks. My therapy was 30 treatments that went over 7 weeks due to holidays. You really get to know your tech team. UFPTI has 5 gantry treatment rooms identified by color and number. You are assigned a permanent team, gantry.

I have nothing negative to say about UFPTI. Overall very good care and the techs were outstanding. However I am a long time Mayo patient (almost 20 years) so all my other care is at Mayo Clinic and would have been good if could have had my proton treatment at Mayo Clinic (is where my MRI, biopsy, and DECIPHER test done).