Finished 28 Proton Therapies

Sounds like my experience. Nothing to worry about and yes, you may well have nipped it in the bud but we may never know now you have had treatment. A paradox? Possibly.

saxman911, Good luck on your first PSA check after treatments. Did you have radiation treatments?

I had 30 rounds of Proton Radiation of prostrate and margins. My worst Gleason was 3+4=7 also. But had Decipher test and went from intermediate risk to low risk. Did not change my curative radiation treatment recommendation. My oncologist/radiologist treated entire prostrate and margins. Why, because he was adamant that biopsies can miss an area and if you only treated areas found you could miss areas not found.

My first PSA was 1.2 down from 3.75 after 3 months. Have my next PSA test in December 8th. I am hoping for a under 1. I was told though it might take 1-2 years for it to get to lowest level as prostrate is pretty irritated from the radiation treatments.

I did have some side affects of lower urine flow and increase urge to go. That slowly improve and now 5 months after end of treatments pretty well back to what it was before treatments.

thanks for sharing the information my full treatment was proton and I'm actually improving after three weeks I am 71 and I'm still functioning sexually which is amazing me let's keep in touch and thanks for getting back

Painful ejaculation during proton beam treatment is normal in my opinion.

Wondering your age? I am deciding on proton or rp.
5 positive cores all Gleason 8’s. Pet scan shows no spread to nodes or SV. Any advice?

I’m 65…

I am currently 71 years old to be 72 in April 2024. with the Gleason score 8 and above I would definitely go for proton beam therapy (with the Hydro-gel space oar) especially because of the amount of cores that you have are positive. Do not go on active surveillance you're taking a big risk. I only had one CORE positive with a Gleason score of 3+4 = 7 and my urologist said to me let's nip this in the bud. jmho- good luck

Thanks for the reply... I had my Pylarify pet scan on Dec. 19th and it showed no spread. to nodes, seminal vesicles or skeletal so that was positive. I had 5 positive cores all on one side, all 4+4.

Meeting with the surgeon tomorrow (who does lots of Robotic surgeries) so I'll know then how booked out he is.

I live in Northern Wisconsin but winter in Scottsdale 6 months of the year. I have also contacted Mayo in Scottsdale but they haven't received my medical records yet. Once they do, I'll be contacted if they will accept me into their system for treatment. I think it would be beneficial to go thru Mayo as they are cutting edge whether Proton or Robotic surgery... I also live 5 hours from Mayo in Rochester should down the line I need further treatments as well. What have you heard on success rates for Proton? Similar to surgery I think?
Thanks, Lee

proton has an excellent side effect rate and also the healing process is faster, you take it monthly by month

@leenielsen
I am 76. I was diagnosed when I was 75.

Gleason 8 is pretty high. Were you give Intermediate or High risk? I assume the rp means radicalprostrate surgery is that correct?

The PSMA (Pet Scan) showing no spread to nodes or SV is very good news. You do not mention your age. If I were a young man I might have more options to consider but I chose proton radiation.

If you are older and do not have an spread if were me would do the proton. Removing the prostrate is a way to remove the prostrate cancer and so is radiation. One the surgery has a lot more side affects and life changes.

So a personal choice you need to make. Have you researched the options you were given? Go over the pros and cons, side affects, short and long term recovery and that may help you decide. Do you also consider having a second opinion?