From my perspective and taking the totality of my life into account (56, healthy, active, desire many cancer-free years), I would have to respectively disagree with letting a known cancer continue growing within my body until a doctor "thinks" it is time to take action. I realize there are studies that show "good" results with watchful waiting until surgery/radiation/hormone therapy are needed. However, there are statistically significant chances for scanning tool "misses", biopsy not sampling most aggressive cancer, Gleason Score under-grading, etc... There are numerous governmental and private institution studies that show the limitations with each procedure surrounding prostate cancer diagnosis. Our medical tools are awesome, but not perfect. For me, I am unwilling to take this chance. I went with a radical prostatectomy w/ nine lymph nodes removed, others address PC with radiation/hormone therapy. I knew of the chances surrounding incontinence, erectile dysfunction and other surgical difficulties, but life with my family and friends far far outweighed those challenges.

I so very much appreciate all the conversations on this site. It has been a great place to get advice and personal experiences over the past year.

Take care,

Jim