I P -

Halfway through my five weeks of external beam (before the HDR
brachytherapy) I became constipated and never experienced the diarrhea
the rad onc warned me to expect.  It's now exactly a year later, still
constipated, but treat it very effectively with otc pills.  (Had
catheter for 1 day after HDR, and never suffered incontinence.)

-Gordy

On August 28, Alex wrote, in pertinent part:

Natch.

Alex has correctly analyzed this matter, IMO.

Gary should not be relying upon us well-meaning amateurs for information
upon which to base his tx decision. Anecdotes are often interesting and
sometimes can lead one into new investigative paths. But what helps me
might harm others, and vice versa. Extreme caution is the order of the day.

Gary could do no better than to refer to the authoritative and objective
website of the Prostate Cancer Research Institute at:
http://prostate-cancer.org/index.html
...and go to "Resources" then the link to "Newly Diagnosed."

(ka-snip)

I have the opposite impression.

On those occasions when I have ventured to recommend in-line posting
(aka bottom-posting) I have been sneered at and otherwise criticized.
Evidently there are folks who believe that it is their God-given right
to post rudely, incorrectly and awkwardly, and anyone who suggests
otherwise (e.g. in-line posting) is an Agent of The Devil Who desires to
destroy their freedom to be rude.

I usually just trash the top-posts without trying to wade through them.

So watch for the coming attacks. You have been warned.

For the few who care, here is a link to the definitive website on the point:
http://www.river.com/users/share/etiquette/

Back to the REAL point: Gary is just beginning his forced enlistment in
this war. He should not uncritically trust his medics, however nice they
might seem. He must educate and empower himself so that *he* is the
captain of his fate.

Regards,

Steve J

"Empowerment: taking responsibility for and authority over one's own
outcomes based on education and knowledge of the consequences  and
contingencies involved in one's own decisions. This focus provides the
uplifting energy that can sustain in the face of crisis."
--Donna Pogliano, co-author of _A Primer on Prostate Cancer_, subtitled
"The Empowered Patient's Guide."

How the hell did you folks let this scared man's dilemma turn into "are you
a top or bottom?"   You have waaaay too much time on your hands...  Good
news is that it seems that Gary does, too...  (BTW, Bev.... remember what
MoSync was?  It utilized the "seldom used" 100 baud reverse channel on those
old 1200 baud Bell 212As as the ACK/NAK logic.. from Mohawk Data Sciences...
Herkimer, NY - yep, lived and worked there…  Right across the Mohawk River
from the Lunivac plant that was doing all those secret gov't comm systems..
8^)

Gary, I never found this very knowledgeable and helpful ng until AFTER I had
RP in '04... and, I'm still alive (lol)...  coming up on 2 years this
November.  In a way, I'm kind of glad I didn't know "everything" in advance
because I would have probably worried myself silly - like you are doing.  As
it was, I went in dumber than a rock (only slightly more cognizant, now)
about the specifics of this horrid disease.  (I didn't even know what a
prostate did - I DO NOW!!)  However, I wasn't devoid of some common logic in
my decision:  I had a good honest doc that could look me straight in the
eye, who recommended me to a urologist that came highly regarded by other
docs and sturgeons in my area that had opted for RP. And, at 64 with a
healthy 85 year old mom and a 98 year old aunt with cousins and uncles that
all died in their 90's - I basically "let go - and, let God."

Regrets???  Like Frank sang..... "yea, I've got a few.."  But, if I've
learned anything from this ng: Nobody gets out of this mess without some
side effects no matter what they opt for...  Except the guys that opt for
"wait 'n die"... Unfortunately, if they are unlucky enough to out live
heart, liver and kidney failures of some sort - they pretty much can "screw"
themselves into bone cancer...  And, as much as I've loved sex all my life -
I DIDN'T WANT TO DIE LIKE THAT!!!  (I want to go by getting shot by a
jealous man catching me “dry humpin' his girlfriend.. (You lose some
"things", but you can keep your humor.  (lol)

Oh, I'm a "top" ----- that's learned to kiss a lot more... (lol)

Paul

 Age: 64
10/04: PSA = 10.4,12 needle biopsy - Gleason 7 (“in a few samples”), T1C
11/04: RP “looks like we got it” - sparing one and a half bundles of nerves
07/06: PSA = less than 0.1
07/06: Good bladder control - STILL no erections

Saying he had no cases of incontinence sounds possible.

Saying you would be cured is saying too much.  I would trust
him more if he said you have an X% probability of being cured.

No one can guarantee that you will be cured.  Even after removal
of the prostate, no one can guarantee you will be cured.  Not
every surgeon succeeds in getting out every bit of prostate
tissue, and not every man who has his entire prostate removed,
even with no positive margins, can be 100% certain that no
metastatic cells escaped the prostate.  All we have are
probabilities.  Of course, the better and more experienced is
the practitioner, the better are the probabilities that he'll
succeed in curing you.  However even Patrick Walsh has
some failures.

At 2.5 years, my PSA was .25, considered a good number.
It has bounced around considerably, from .8 up to a high of
1.8, down to a low of .2.  My doctors think I'm okay.  I hope
they're right, and think the probability is that they are.

I have talked about this in other recent postings.

I'm not an expert, but as I understand the theory, the radiation
does more harm to cells that already have some genetic
damage (all cancer cells do).  The more damage they have,
the more likely they are to be further badly damaged.  Their
internal DNA repair machinery is probably already compromised
so they are less able to handle the damage that radiation
causes.

Also, radiation does more damage to dividing cells than to
cells that are not dividing.  During division, the DNA is particularly
open to damage, and damage is particularly likely to kill the
two daughter cells.  Nerve cells don't divide.  Cancer cells do.
Over the period of radiation, each of the cancer cells is likely
to be zapped at some time during mitosis, and hence
more likely to be severely damaged.

So the theory is that a) nerve cells and other healthy cells in
the body are less damaged than cancer cells, b) nerve and
other healthy cells are better able to recover, and c) nerve
cells are never zapped while dividing.

Now, having said all that, it's still true that you can kill any
cell, of any type, if you hit it with too much radiation.  So the
rad onc has to handle the administration intelligently.  He's
got to give enough rads to kill or fatally injure the tumor
cells, and not enough to kill or fatally injure the nerves.

Some men come through radiation with potency intact (I'm
one of them).  Others do not.  I don't know what the factors
are that affect this - whether it's the aiming of the beams
or placement of the seeds, the dose, or the particular
person's current health and physiology.

Good luck.

   Alan