Help needed on organizing my care

Many radiation oncologist will allow you to have your treatment done elsewhere using their instructions.

Ask your doctor if it could be possible for you to have the radiation near home, if necessary. As long as they have the same equipment, it shouldn’t make any difference..

@tmestanas91 When you say surgery, I am assuming you are having your prostate removed. If not and you are still considering radiation, the Baptist Health Cancer Care | South Miami has the Mridian with a built in mri radiation machine and a facility to stay on site.

Otherwise, for surgery, I think its more about questions and problems. If you have an issue after surgery is there a local solution that your doctor at NYU Langone would be comfortable with especially if the problem can be corrected by medication or a slight adjustment. Opinions regarding a solution is one thing but physically correcting another doctors work leans into the liability area.

@bens1 Thank you for your insights. Yes, planning on surgery 3/26th at NYU. I booked a hotel for 16 nights. I do have the Cleveland Clinic MO and RO here in Florida plus a local urologist. I was concerned with coordination of that but I think it will be fine. I heard about Baptist Hospital’s radiation group. That could be a good option (if I need, hopefully not). Thanks for the heads up.

@tmestanas91, thinking of as you recover from surgery. I encourage you to add some answers to your own question about planning. I'm sure there are other planners on this forum too. What would you tell them about planning and organizing their care?

Short answer, if your medical team is not willing to work with your local medical team, time to look elsewhere.

I went to Mayo in January 2016 after surgery, BCR and then SRT locally here in Kansas City. I did that in part because at the time they had the C11 Choline scan, and I liked Dr. Kwon's approach to treatment. At that consult, based on my clinical history and the C11 Choline scan results, we agreed to do triplet therapy - 24 months ADT, six cycles of Taxotere and radiation to the entire pelvic lymph nodes.

The treatment was done by my medical team here, I did go back up to Mayo for scans and consults.

There is no room for egos on one's medical team, they must be willing to do what's best for you.

Today, with the PSMA scans widely available and my medical team here, who are active listeners and support shared decision making, I can manage my prostate cancer here.

If you have a medical team in south Florida, urologist, radiologist and oncologist you are comfortable with - experience, expertise. active listeners, shared decision making, and whatever other characteristics you look for in a patient-doctor relationship style, you may be able to manage any future treatment locally.

Kevin