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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Prostate Cancer / May 2004Boy, I wished I'd asked the doctor...
I have an appointment with Dr James Eastham of Memorial Sloan-Kettering this Wednesday (5-19-04). I have a list of questions to ask, but I thought I'd put this out there: What questions do you wish you'd asked your doctor? What has he TOLD you already?????? jh > I have an appointment with Dr James Eastham of Memorial > Sloan-Kettering this Wednesday (5-19-04). I have a list of questions > to ask, but I thought I'd put this out there: What questions do you > wish you'd asked your doctor? if i were your father - sitting here in front of you, what treatment would you tell him to have? ~ curtis knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional "Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so." Oddly enough, Curtis me luv......that is exactly what the regular oncologist said to Ron a year ago......that his father had Pca and he recommended radiation for him.....which he was undergoing at the time. Cheers....Heather > if i were your father - sitting here in front of you, what treatment > would you tell him to have? [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > "Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is > invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so." >Subject: Re: Boy, I wished I'd asked the doctor... >From: PALMER_ENT@webtv.net (c palmer) [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > >~ curtis My father has been dead for 15 years, so... but radiation or hormones at most would be my advice if he were still living at 89. > I have an appointment with Dr James Eastham of Memorial > Sloan-Kettering this Wednesday (5-19-04). I have a list of questions > to ask, but I thought I'd put this out there: What questions do you > wish you'd asked your doctor? I know there's a web page devoted to this topic somewhere, but I can't find it. It might be at the phoenix5 site, which is currently down, or at http://www.prostate-help.org/. There has also been a lot of discussion of this topic on this newsgroup in the past. I suggest going to Google's news archive at: http://groups.google.com Enter this search: questions ask doctor group:alt.support.cancer.prostate You'll find a number of threads of interest. When you do figure out your questions, be sure to write them down, and bring a pad and pen with you to write down his answers. One guy even brought a tape recorder. It's hard when hearing so much new technical information to remember everything that is said. As far as general information about PCa is concerned, you're sure to get more information by reading books and websites than by asking your doctor. The appointment just won't be long enough to go into the general questions. So you'll want to focus on your specific case, perhaps for example: What are my PSA, free PSA, Gleason, and stage numbers? Can you feel a tumor in the rectal exam? How big is it and where is it? How do you compare it to others you've treated? Are there any aspects of my situation - age, prostate size, weight, general health, other medical conditions - that could be a problem in my treatment? What do you think the chances are that the cancer has already spread beyond the prostate? If it has not spread, how soon do you think it will spread? When should treatment begin? If you treat me, how soon can we begin treatment (the docs often take 30-60 days before they're ready to operate or radiate - mainly due to scheduling issues.) Good luck. Alan First of all, I'd want to understand my particualr disease, from his perspective. A good discussion of all information that is available including PSA history, Gleason, clinical stage, tests, etc. I'd want to know the liklihood of cure for the different treatment options. I'd ask for a life expectancy time line for each of the possible treatments along with information on likely side effects for each. If surgery is an option, I'd ask about laproscopic versus RRP. Seems to me that lalproscopic might be less harmful to the body, but I've heard about concerns with long anasthesia. Also, inquire about nerve sparing, is this is an option. Take notes. It is hard to remember, afterwards... Robert > I have an appointment with Dr James Eastham of Memorial > Sloan-Kettering this Wednesday (5-19-04). I have a list of questions > to ask, but I thought I'd put this out there: What questions do you > wish you'd asked your doctor? Oops, I wasn't clear about my situation. I have already seen a urologist (who dx'd the PCa) and a radiation oncologist. This is my third doctor, as I work my way closer to a treatment decision. I have spent hours reading books (Walsh, Marks, Korda, etc.) and using the internet, reading abstracts and personal stories of PCa patients. I have gone to support groups and have talked to many men who have undergone treatment. In my post, I was hoping to get at issues that arose during treatment (surgery or radiation) that caused you to say, "I wished I'd asked the Dr about THAT!" BTW, I found Dr Eastham through this NG. Age 46 (today) PSA: 1.4 (12/2000), 2.0 (7/2002), 10.3 (3/2/04), 6.0 (retest 3/18/04) Biopsy 4/5/04 cancer in 10% of one core Gleason 6 (3+3); clinical stage T1c Bone Scan negative > I have an appointment with Dr James Eastham of Memorial > Sloan-Kettering this Wednesday (5-19-04). I have a list of questions > to ask, but I thought I'd put this out there: What questions do you > wish you'd asked your doctor? Oops, I wasn't clear about my situation. I have already seen a urologist (who dx'd the PCa) and a radiation oncologist. This is my third doctor, as I work my way closer to a treatment decision. I have spent hours reading books (Walsh, Marks, Korda, etc.) and using the internet, reading abstracts and personal stories of PCa patients. I have gone to support groups and have talked to many men who have undergone treatment. In my post, I was hoping to get at issues that arose during treatment (surgery or radiation) that caused you to say, "I wished I'd asked the Dr about THAT!" BTW, I found Dr Eastham through this NG. Age 46 (today) PSA: 1.4 (12/2000), 2.0 (7/2002), 10.3 (3/2/04), 6.0 (retest 3/18/04) Biopsy 4/5/04 cancer in 10% of one core Gleason 6 (3+3); clinical stage T1c Bone Scan negative > I have an appointment with Dr James Eastham of Memorial > Sloan-Kettering this Wednesday (5-19-04). I have a list of questions > to ask, but I thought I'd put this out there: What questions do you > wish you'd asked your doctor? When we first saw our radiation oncologist we had already done our research and had emailed him several times. So we brought a very long list of questions with us including questions on his personal statistics for "cure" rate and for other important things such as impotence and incontinence. Our first visit lasted about 2 hours. He explained everything and in doing so he answered almost all the questions we had except for his personal stats. So we asked him and he answered. I'd say we had no surprises. I had the questions written down and I wrote the answers down, too. The only thing I see that maybe would be a serious question to ask a rad-onc is if you went with EBRT and brachytherapy what are your odds of having cancer in 30 years from the radiation? And what do they do about it? The other thing that has prompted so much discussion out here is which catheter does the doctor use after surgery. One is more expensive but apparently more comfortable. Bev > Oops, I wasn't clear about my situation. I have already seen a > urologist (who dx'd the PCa) and a radiation oncologist. This is my [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > > to ask, but I thought I'd put this out there: What questions do you > > wish you'd asked your doctor? Boy, Bev....ya just *HAD* to bring up that catheter thing didn't you???? And I was just getting over the nightmares about that thing. Oh well, guess I'll just set up another appointment with my therapist.........<g> > When we first saw our radiation oncologist we had already done our research > and had emailed him several times. So we brought a very long list of [quoted text clipped - 40 lines] > > > to ask, but I thought I'd put this out there: What questions do you > > > wish you'd asked your doctor? > ... > The only thing I see that maybe would be a serious question to ask a rad-onc > is if you went with EBRT and brachytherapy what are your odds of having > cancer in 30 years from the radiation? And what do they do about it? > ... I think that's a good question to ask, but I've come to the conclusion that it tells as much or more about the doctor than about the therapy. We've all seen the published reports on effectiveness of radiation. We've all seen that there is no data going out to 30 years. The doctor probably hasn't seen much that we haven't seen about it. If I understand the data correctly (and I may not - and there are contrary reports that claim otherwise), most studies indicate that 5, 7, and 10 year survival rates for EBRT and brachytherapy are similar for low risk patients. Higher risk patients seem to do better with EBRT or with EBRT + brachytherapy - possibly because EBRT treats a larger area than brachytherapy by itself. At 30 years, there is no data at all. If a doctor says something different from that, I'd want to hear him tell me how he knows that - what is the source? If he hems and haws and can't cite a source, I'd suspect him of being a BS artist. Alan Ah, but what if you had the brachytherapy 30 years ago and are facing radiation induced cancer - what would they do about it right now? Ok, it's hypothetical but one question we did ask. Bev > > ... > > The only thing I see that maybe would be a serious question to ask a [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > > Alan Glenn...Don Cooley has a pretty extensive list of questions at http://www.prostate-help.org/caques2.htm pick the ones that are of interest to you...Best wishes and good health, Ron > I have an appointment with Dr James Eastham of Memorial > Sloan-Kettering this Wednesday (5-19-04). I have a list of questions > to ask, but I thought I'd put this out there: What questions do you > wish you'd asked your doctor? Glenn...Don Cooley has a pretty extensive list of questions at http://www.prostate-help.org/caques2.htm pick the ones that are of interest to you...Best wishes and good health, Ron > I have an appointment with Dr James Eastham of Memorial > Sloan-Kettering this Wednesday (5-19-04). I have a list of questions > to ask, but I thought I'd put this out there: What questions do you > wish you'd asked your doctor? > I have an appointment with Dr James Eastham of Memorial > Sloan-Kettering this Wednesday (5-19-04). I have a list of questions > to ask, but I thought I'd put this out there: What questions do you > wish you'd asked your doctor? How long have you been doing this? How many a year do you do. What's your percentage of success re: nerve sparing? What's my chance for a cure? What's my odds of having ED? Should I get another opinion?  SignatureJK Sinrod Sinrod Stained Glass Studios www.sinrodstudios.com Coney Island Memories www.sinrodstudios.com/coneymemories > How long have you been doing this? How many a year do you do. What's your > percentage of success re: nerve sparing? What's my chance for a cure? What's [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Coney Island Memories > www.sinrodstudios.com/coneymemories Also would hope that he would discuss pros and cons of various treatments (Surgery vs Radiation) as they apply to your particular circumstance. URO surgeons will probably push for RRP while RAD ONCs will favor Radiation since these are their specialties. I got an opinion from an Oncology MD before deciding on my treatment. He was very open and presented the pros and cons of all the treatment options available to me. PS - JK - I love the Coney Island Memories. Spent a good deal of time there when I was a kid in the 1940's. |
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