I know the feeling when you've read just about everything you can get your
hands on and explored every option. I think once you've made a decision,
chosen the doctor and have the treatment then some of it will subside. I
still read but not with the same thirst. I don't think you ever completely
put it behind you as those pesky PSA tests remind everyone that they have
battled PC.

Take your wife or SO and get out of the house and do something. Pretend you
are 19 again. Put this whole thing away for the weekend or a few days. Make
some memories to tide you over through the rough times ahead.
Bev

 For me the time came when I met the right doctor. I put myself in his
hands, and trusted him all the way! Good luck to you.

"roger" <x@x.net> wrote >

I read until I ran out of new stuff relevant to my decisions. I cut and
pasted the most applicable of it (e.g., trial CONCLUSIONS, authoritative
website snippets, book larnin') into a big Word file; condensed that into
brief, pithy, abbreviated, jargonized, symbol-laden, categorized bullets;
formed conclusions about treatment benefit vs risk; formulated a specific
treatment protocol (i.e., do X now and Y when Z happens, etc.); and asked
this forum and a university oncology department (including the collective
who wrote "PC for Dummies") to review the whole package (about 3 pages
containing probably 40-60 factoids plus my criteria) for accuracy and
rationale.

Even though my protocol differed significantly from what the oncologists
advised before seeing my paper, they a) concurred with every research fact I
presented, b) agreed with even my rejection of their initial strong
treatment recommendation, and c) said I opened their eyes to some new
insights about PC.

THAT'S when I stopped reading. I'm convinced I've made the right decisions
FOR ME, so I don't even think much about my cancer any more except to follow
and read relevant new research reports introduced in this forum and
subscribe to mailing lists from JAMA et.al. notifying us of new research.
I'll start reading heavily again -- and thinking about it a  HELLUVA lot
more -- when my PSA says "It's Time!", and may act when PSA DT, clinical
evidence, and/or symptoms say "It's Time". Next PSA check is due in a couple
of weeks, 8 months post-op.

How do I remember it all? I don't. What I DO remember is my decision, and
the fact that it was very heavily researched, reviewed, and approved. I also
have my decision paper and its much longer source file a few clicks away for
reference and a pile of PC books on the shelf for when it's time to read
some additional chapters.

I.P.

From: x@x.net (roger)

Ever since I got diagnosed with PC I've been reading all I can grasp
about the disease, as I think most men would do.
(Going to see my doc in two weeks now, in order to settle for a
programma.)
Now I've been lurking around for almost three months, reading hundreds
of webpages with a thousand of subpages, reading books, participating in
this NG and so on. All in purpose to choose the best treatment for me,
to be prepared for the SE:s of each possible treatment, to know the
statistic outcome and so on, and...
soon my head have burned all of its fuses, and will suffer a major short
circuit or explode!
Knowledge is power, yes, but I think all this seeking of knowledge is
going to drive me crazy soon, and my brain is going to develop a tumor a
thousand times bigger than the one in my prostate because of all this
acquisition of information!
There's no way in hell I can remember all I read, all the statistics,
all the opinions and recommendations. And there is always new
information coming up that may alter your "picture" of it all.
There must be a time where enough is enough or...? Even for us with PC
there must be other things in life than PC or...?
How do you all deal with this?
/Roger
=================

hi roger - when you get those words spoken to you....... "you have
prostate cancer"   your life just changed forever.

you want to go out and learn all you can about what you have, but you
find out that there are so many different web sites and treatments, that
you finding it more confusing than helpful.  your mind hits
overload.........which is where you are at now.

take a deep breath....... breath out....... relax........

go back to the basics.  the hard and fast rules of the pca and the
treatment for it.

pca normally grows slowly, but doesn't give anything back, which is why
your choice of treatment is so important.  you need a back up plan in
dealing with this disease.

here's the basic rules......  

if pca is gland contained, best choice of treatment is surgery.  if you
have recurrence of pca, back up plan is radiation therapy for a second
chance of a cure.

if pca has made it's way into or passed the margins, then radiation
might be the better way to go.  if you were to have a recurrence of pca,
then hormone therapy would be treatment of choice.

factors not discussed.  age, heart condition, other health issues,
personal views or side effects.  

speaking of side effects, which do you want?  with surgery,  all damage
is done up front, gets better as time passes.  
with radiation, side effects set in as time passes.

remember this.......  after all you're read
......after all your research..... after all you're prepared yourself
for........ the bottom line is this.......  it's a crap shoot and each
person is different and the outcome is different even given the same
treatment.

read everything you can,  think it through,  decide on a choice of
treatment and go forward from there and never look back.

best of luck,

~ 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."
http://community.webtv.net/PALMER_ENT/doc

Roger,

If I may be so bold...

I believe you know the only viable solution.

You have cancer.  It is only 1.4 PSA last time you checked.  You have a
Gleason of 6 if your Gleason-grader is any good.

All your research points to surgery if you want a cure; if you want to have
sex when you're 50; and if you want to hold your urine when golfing.  Close
the books and go save your life.

Roger,
I kept reading until it started getting repeditive, and it seemed that
no really new information of importance was likely to be found in a
timely fashion. It was all a sea of doubt. The anxiety was making me
crazy, so I made up my mind and placed my bet.
Steve U

As I see it, the way to make the decisions is to work hierarchically.
Try to make the biggest decision first, then the next biggest decision,
and so on.

To my mind, the biggest decision is surgery vs. radiation.  They
both have good records, but very different sets of side and
after effects.

If you decide on surgery, the next big decision might be
laparoscopic or retropubic.  If radiation, it's external beam
or implanted seed, or both.  And there are then some
choices within each of them.

In parallel with all this is the problem of which options are
truly open to you and which are problematic.  Some guys have
insurance (or big bank accounts) and leisure, that will allow
them to fly anywhere in the country for treatment.  Others can
only go to one of a few doctors and hospitals open to them.

If you're limited in your choices, you may find a wonderful
surgeon and a lousy radiation oncologist or vice versa, and
the choice of doctor becomes more important to you than
the choice of technology.  That's not an unreasonable
approach and it's one that some in this group have made.

All the reading you have done will stand you in good stead
whatever you decide to do.  It may not have pointed you to
a single "right" answer to the best treatment.  I think in fact
there is no one right answer.  But it will allow you to know that
whatever decisions you make, you've made them with your
eyes open and with some appreciation of the facts.

Good luck.

   Alan