Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Prostate Cancer

After receiving prostate cancer diagnosis recently, I thought I would ask the 'fire their experiences and results.

I've been given the choice of surgery or radiation. I'm leaning radiation but they also want to do hormone therapy which results in chemical castration, which is a big concern.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Butch

Prostate cancer is something most die with, not from. That said I would go for the radiation and skip the hormones. YMMV

I'd take the surgery and go on the Keto diet. Sugar and most carbs feed cancer and with the keto diet you eliminate sugar and most carbs from your diet. It's helped lots of people beat cancer.

I have no experience in this but I would rather have surgery than to be put on some hormone and then start growing man-tits.

But whatever you decide, I suppose chemical sterilization is way better than electively having your nuts and ballsack hacked off like Angelina Jolie.

Not enough information. Grade? Stage? General health? Etc.

You need the recommendations of at least one radiation oncologist and one urologist. And, it might be helpful if they've worked together in the past.

My dad went with robotic prostatectomy, with no adjuvant therapy afterwards. About 10 years later, it came back in his bone and lungs. Now he's on hormone therapy as well to keep it under control. Testosterone feeds prostate cancer, in essence. In theory, radiation (brachytherapy specifically) and prostatectomy have similar outcomes, IIRC, or at least did the last time I investigated it. I'd go with what the local hospital's tumor board recommends for your doctor based on the newest information and your scans...hopefully it involves both urologist/surgeons and radiation oncologists to get both options discussed.
Get mentally prepared that "function" afterwards may be an issue with either treatment option depending on tumor staging. Surgeons will do their best to spare nerves, and rad oncs will try to minimalize dosage. But it's a balancing act. Too little and you relapse; too much and you're more likely to lose function. Good luck.

I’ve had three biopsies, no cancer so far. Have the surgery and radiation. It’s my understanding if you have radiation, you can’t have surgery later. Good luck. I know this is difficult for you. The worry is the worst part!

Timely post fo me. I'm having my prostate removed tomorrow. I looked into both options and decided on surgery. I felt radiation would limit options down the road. I'm in excellent health otherwise and in good shape so I feel I will bounce back from the surgery well. I got a high psa test and went to a urologist to get it checked. They wanted to do a biopsy right away but I looked into it and decided to get an MRI on my dime first. The MRI showed a growth but no spreading visible so we went ahead with the biopsy but now they had a target to shoot at. My growth has a Gleason score of 7. (3+4 I think- the better one).
My biggest concern is the pathology report after the surgery. They will take a few lymph nodes during surgery and if they are clean there will be some very nervous champagne.

I'd trust what your doctor recommends, not the "medical advice" from the keyboard experts here.

He didn't ask for medical advice, he asked for individual personal experiences of people who have been through this.

Sorry to hear that you are going through this health challenge. This is apparently not a watch and wait situation or hopefully your doctor would have said so.

I suggest you contact other doctors at large cancer centers/hospitals and get a few opinions. I realize that this might not be easy to do depending on your location and what is available near you but it will give you more data to make a sober decision on what is right for you.

I took the advice of 1 doctor when I was preparing for surgery (not prostate cancer) a few years back and was wrongly treated, which complicated the surgery. I ended up going to a major teaching hospital and my doctor could not believe what I went through unnecessarily.

Get a few opinions!

And...there are good doctors and not so good doctors just like every other profession Each one with different thinking and experiences. To blindly take their recommendations without doing your own due diligence would be ignorant.

No direct experience yet.
Two friends in early 60s had it.
Both had their prostate removed.
This was five years ago.
Both doing fine.

I had my biopsy in December 2017. Age and general health is a major factor in treatment decisions. I was 63 and in good health. 5 of 14 biopsy samples had cancer cells, four less aggressive and one moderately aggressive. I chose surgery because you know within 10 days of surgery what your prognosis is. With radiation it may be a year before you really know. Both treatments have the same potential side effects, incontinance and impotence. I had Robotic surgery in February 2018. Went home the next day with a Foley catheter. Removed the catheter seven days later and got my pathology results, 90% slow growth cancer, turmor smaller than average, no cancer outside the prostate wall. I get a PSA every six months to make sure it hasn't returned. Had some incontinance for 4 weeks and none since. More common for that to last 2 to 6 months.
Surgery is more difficult if you do radiation first. If you are above 70 most doctors push radiation instead of surgery.
I was with my uncle at his urologist yesterday to get his biopsy results. He is 81 and in good health. 12 samples all had aggressive cancer cells. Dr. Recommended hormone reduction and radiation. The reduction of testosterone is key to maximize the effectiveness of the radiation.
Two different cases with a large age difference. Hope the information helps.

My Gleason score was 3+4 and they are monitoring it. Sent the biopseys to a lab in Colorado for genetic testing and it came back with a 1.87% chance of moving. I've had 2 biopsey's, 1 out of 12 positive the first time and 0 out of 12 positive the second time, 1 for 48, I'm going to monitor it thru quarterly medical exams. Good luck!

Exactly, as my own personal experience with different, complicated medical situations; I regard the experiences of other patient's outcomes as pretty valuable. Not necessarily from the same physician or surgeon, but that helps too.

I have learned that if I ask 2-3 different doctors the same questions you will sometime 2-3 different answers regarding the same procedure and its outcomes.

A man should educated himself and scour all sources available to him to give himself the confidence to proceed with choice a, b or c.

I am surprised by other patients whom I encounter during evals and procedures who seem like they just fell off of the turnip truck when they are aboit to be undergoing a serious medical correction or treatment. Especially when there is so much good, free information out there.

After watching my psa go up over 4-5 years, it took three biopsies over 18 months to find mine (Gleason 7, 3+4) in four cores. I found out on 2 Jan ‘17 and elected to have robotic surgery in early March ‘17. I had a small positive surgical margin according to the pathology report After six months and 2 nearly “undetectable” psa results, it started creeping back up and by Jan ‘18, it reached 0.075 and then 0.110 in Mar ‘18. At that point we figured it was to time go at it with radiation.

I had a consult with the radiation oncologist last April and we decided to add hormone therapy for six months. I got the first of two, three month injections of Trelstar the same day. The reason for adding the ADT (androgen deprivation therapy) is that since most prostate cancer relies on testosterone to survive, by knocking down the testosteron level it weakens the cancer and makes it more susceptible to the radiation. My radiation treatments started 11 June and for 38 treatments, five days a week for ~ 8 weeks, finished on 2 August.

The radiation was with the newest LINAC two hours away in Birmingham. We found a short term lease, fully furnished apartment near the facility. I’d have my Friday treatment a little earlier and we’d come home for the weekend. They were really good about adjusting my Monday treatment for later in the afternoon so we got to spend three nights at home and didn’t have to rush our return trip.

The hormone treatments affect everyone differently; I started getting hot flashes two to three weeks after the first injection and they went away about six to eight weeks after “expiration date” the last three month injection. They were manageable but every now and then I’d have a real doozy with sweat almost instantly running off the forehead. Unbelievably, I didn’t get too much sympathy from my wife😮. They generally cause fatigue and knock down your energy level and some guys have mood swings, I didn’t have too many episodes ‘cause I had read up on the ADT and was resolved to do my best to not let it happen. After all that, my last two psa tests were <0.010 so good news so far.😀, oh, by the way, no “man boobs” for me😮; I think they are more likely if the cancer returns again and you’re essentially on ADT for life, sometimes with an on again, off again schedule but nowadays there are ways to prevent them.

Do your research and there are a couple of good forums (or “fora” for the grammar nazis) with lots of good info.

I had Radical Prostatectomy via DaVinci robotic surgery in January 2015.

It was the only viable option in my mind, having seen too many men have unsatisfactory experiences with chemo and radiation both.

Make up your own mind, but don't dally too long. Docs will often tell you that it's slow growing and such.
A former boss waited too long and it had spread, costing him much more tissue being removed along with a few lymph nodes. Plus chemo.

A good friend of mine has been battling it for almost 3 years. He had surgery, then radiation. His PSA still kept creeping up, so now he's taking chemo. His doctor told him that every case is different, and everybody responds differently to treatment. In other words, it can be a crap shoot as to what will work the best.

I've always been told that the older you are when you have it, the less aggressive it usually is.