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I am a little scared and depressed I need to make a decision

Posted , 12 users are following.

mark_fastco
mark_fastco

I am in my 50's and just got diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer and AM choosing between surgery and radiation and am wondering which treatment has the better chance of letting me continue to have a normal sex life

2 likes, 22 replies

22 Replies

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  • winn16126
    winn16126 mark_fastco

    Posted

    My situation is similar to yours. Newly diagnosed, I am considering proton treatment or ablation
    • mark_fastco
      mark_fastco winn16126

      Posted

      Is ablation a one shot deal or is it a five day a week for 5 week process? Does anyone know about any success in this treatment
  • gale10132
    gale10132 mark_fastco

    Posted

    I agree with Winn. Went the Proton treatment and have had very little repurcussions. Sex life normal even during the treatment period. I know of no other treatments that have the same small impact on the body as does Proton.  
    • mark_fastco
      mark_fastco gale10132

      Posted

      It appears that I live 5 hours away from the nearest proton Center is this a one-time treatment or does it take weeks of every day doses which would be nearly impossible for me?
    • gale10132
      gale10132 mark_fastco

      Posted

      My center was 8 hours away. I rented an apartment and found some great friends going through the treatment. All have been sucessful. The treatments are not painful and you live a normal life. We would play golf and go out for dinner. There is usually 35-40 treatments, one a day, five days a week. When it comes to your life you may need to do some things that are difficult, like living away from home. This is much better than many of the after effects I have seen from other treatments. 
    • winn16126
      winn16126 gale10132

      Posted

      With a gleason score of 6 your cancer is slow growing. You have time consider all options. Every Dr. tends to think what they recommend is the best way to go . For me, in my 50 ' s and a gleason score of 6, I decided not to have surgery... I'm moving on with that decision.
    • gale10132
      gale10132 winn16126

      Posted

      You best option is to obtain as much information as you can. By not have surgery, does that mean you are going to wait and monitor you situation. Please stay in tune with what is going on in your body. I also was a 6 and took 3 months to make a decision. My last option was surgery in my mind and I have not regreted the decision. . About 20% of the fellows in my program had surgery. Surgery sometimes leaves tissue when they leave nerves. This tissue can support cancerous cells. You end up with the worse effects and still have a problem. 
    • winn16126
      winn16126 gale10132

      Posted

      Yes, I am going monitor my psa at this point... While considering proton and abrasion treatment.
  • alfred5
    alfred5 mark_fastco

    Posted

    Hello. My other half is in his 50's too. He was encourage to do active surveillance, but as psa was slowly raising he wanted treatment. Surgery wasn't mentioned, but as he would have been impotent for a year or so (according to research that it gets better with time) I don't think he would have taken that route anyway.

    He opted for brachytherapy. He did have a rough 6 months. We know a few others that had brachytherapy with no side effects. But he was one of the rare few to suffer (he had prostatitis and radiation induced cystitis after treatment) but everything is near enough back to normal a year on.

    He chose brachy as it is done in one go. He's a farmer and cannot take time off work without paying someone to do the work.

    Good luck.

  • Pepasan
    Pepasan mark_fastco

    Posted

    It's important to know whether it's non- or slow-growing or aggressive. I've lived with confirmed cancer on Active Surveillance for many years and am glad never to have needed any treatment. Am now 65 and have much more trouble with other prostate issues - making the cancer an insignifcant concern!
    • alfred5
      alfred5 Pepasan

      Posted

      Yes pepasan, I think my other half wishes he'd stayed on surveillance, his psa was 3.6 in June at diagnosis and 4.9 in the Dec. The consultant still wanted him to stay on it, but we decided treatment would stop us worrying.
    • mark_fastco
      mark_fastco alfred5

      Posted

      Well my PSA is 9 my Gleason is 6 and my urologist is pushing robotic surgery nerve sparing supposedly I have heard ablation is a possibility from this forum does anyone know if ablation is a one shot deal or a prolonged 5 week five day week process
    • Sailor_Sam
      Sailor_Sam Pepasan

      Posted

      Hi Pepasan, can I ask how old you were when you were diagnosed and hence how long on active surveillance? What have your PSA scores been?

      I was dignosed at 50 - 3 years ago gleason 6. First ever PSA was 7 after which it fell 3 months later to between 1.7 and 2.7 for the past years (about 8 tests - 1 every 3 months). Only 1 core out of 12 at Biopsy and a small focus organ contained on the MRI a year ago.

      So  months ago the PSA went from 1.7 to 3.3  and now they are recommending radical treatment.

      Had a blood test done last week and find out the score in a day or two but if it hasn't gone up anymore I would still prefer to wait but when the Medical Staff are suggesting you need to do something it's difficult!

       

  • Whiteplume
    Whiteplume mark_fastco

    Posted

    Well its always a difficult choice, there has been recent reports from America that surgery gives you the best chance of a long term survival, so I would think of your survival first before you consider whether you are able to have sex, unless you believe in life after death and that there would be plenty of opertunity to have your nooky.

    For me I only had one thought whether or how long I may live! so I went direct to surgery, find a good urologist and hope its contained and nothing gets out, and thats your best bet, and by the way zou  can still have sex after surgery you only have to be calm and take it step by step the incontenence will pass after a year and to put it bluntly you will also get a hard on, even in your dreams.

    good luck and dont wait to long every day counts!!!!!!

    • alfred5
      alfred5 Whiteplume

      Posted

      White plume we are in the uk so possibly not got same statistics. But online I read the chances of return after treatment, it was the same chance of return whether you have prostrate removed or radio therapy treatment. The likelihood of return is the same for all those treatments. I think with a Gleason of 6 it was 30% chance of it returning. The chance gets higher as Gleason goes up.

      The only thing about prostrate removal is that if the cancer you can have radio treatment as salvage treatment. But if you have had radio treatment and it returns you cannot have more radio treatment and prostate removal is difficult after radio treatment. So a man may favour removal knowing there is radio treatment to fall back on.

      But there are many new treatments coming along like cryotherapy that can be done after radio treatment, so we hope if it does return after brachy that there may be new treatments available.

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