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The five treatments are not all in one week. They are Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Monday, and Wednesday. I am lucky to live in the Phoenix area, but it was still a 35-minute drive each way. My oncologist wanted to do 28 radiation treatments and then I stated looking at CyberKnife and its 5 treatments and all of a sudden when I said I was going to go there he said, "Oh we can do 5". After looking at the bill$ that each Proton session charged Medicare and my insurance I can see why he wanted to do 28 se$$ion$$. From what I understand Mayo Jacksonville is building a proton facility. I hope it will be one of the newest MRI guided proton treatments. As of today, I am 158 days post radiation with no side effects that I am aware of. Good luck to you and I hope we both don't need luck.
Replies to "The five treatments are not all in one week. They are Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Monday, and..."
mikewo, can you share what the bill$ were for each proton session? I am trying to figure out if I can switch to straight medicare and pay 20% of costs vs cost of Medicare Advantage in or out of network. Thanks.
mikewo, Thanks for your information. I did 30 treatments over 6 weeks, 5 days a week. I was 40 minutes from UFPTI each way. Got used to it.
Yes Mayo Jacksonville is building a new cancer center that will have proton radiation. Problem is that my original Radiologist/Oncologist (R/O) at Mayo Jacksonville said they would not offer proton radiation at the new center for prostrate cancer. This did not make any sense to me as Phoenix and Rochester have very robust Proton therapy programs for prostrate cancer. I contacted Patient Advocacy and they got back was under discussion and no decision made yet.
Guess what? The new Proton Radiation Facility for Mayo hired one the Radiology/Oncology Specialist at UFPTI to manage the new proton radiation center at Mayo Jacksonville.
I have not heard of MRI guided treatments. I know UFPTI used markers and low dose xrays to guide proton beam. My R/O treated my entire prostrate and margins to make sure they treated all areas in case the original MRI and biopsies missed a cancer area and that area would continue to grow cancer cells.
When you did the 5 treatments how long were sessions? I assume the 5 treatments are high dose. My primary care doctor said research is showing the high dose is NOT causing additional side affects than the lower dose 6-8 weeks treatments. Sure wish I had the options and could have done at Mayo. I say this because all my other medical care is at Mayo and would have been great to have everything there including follow up care that will be done at UFPTI because Mayo urology does not want to treat if you had radiation treatment locally.
I was shocked to see Medicare bill. UFPTI charged 5,000 for Proton treatment each session and another 1000 for the special xray and reading to guide treatment. Medicare approved 1000 for each session and 500 of the xray reading. I have BCBS Federal which picked up what Medicare did not pay.
Isn't it strange when you question treatments and alternatives that things seem to change on treatments.
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Mikewo: where did you hear about the MRI guided proton treatments? I had my 5 treatments with the MRIdian in February but there was no real time MRI guided proton therapy available anywhere. That is a big jump in technology and if it does exist now, it would be good to know. I heard it was being worked on but nothing available in the marketplace.