Shirley Ann,

You will undoubtedly find out as you educate yourself and your husband,
there are multiple variations, treatments, and paths to take depending
on the characteristics of your husband's situation. If you search this
site, you will find information on seeds and I'd recommend you look at
a couple of "Newly Diagnosed" posts/threads as they have the location
of informational web sites, etc. It is critical to attempt to determine
the progression of the cancer, not the easiest thing to do, but many
tests and indicators can narrow it down. You don't mention the results
of the tests, but since your Doctor team has started hormones, I would
ask if this is precautionary or if they believe progression has
occurred beyond the gland. There are many treatments and life
sustaining methods to get a handle on prostate cancer, so educate
yourself and keep positive. Good luck!

Rich

Sorry to see you here Shirleyann,
The majority of folks here have had surgery of one type or the other, there
are a few who have had brachytherapy.
I had seed implants in June 04, preceded by about a year of Lupron to shrink
the gland, so farr all is going well. The uncomfortable side effects from
the implants are minimal and only last a few weeks depending on the isotope
used in the seeds.

For a few days following the procedure there will be swelling and the
feeling of sitting on a golf ball, a couple of Advil handles that. You can
expect urinary retention and urgency to increase for 4-6 weeks and then it
returns to normal in about the same time frame, there are medications to
help with this.

In my opinion, the side effects from the Lupron were more troubling, hot
flashes (as in menopause), weight gain, fatigue, anemia and loss of libido,
there are others less frequently reported. The side effects of the Lupron
seemed to dissipate about 6 mos. after the last shot SHOULD have worn off.

The following link is one of many sources of information for the newly
diagnosed.

http://www.prostate-cancer.org/education/education.html#newly_diagnosed

As others here will also tell you; research, research and research before a
treatment decision is made, we're all unique and there is "no one size fits
all".

Tom

Shirley Ann.

  Everybody has their own reaction to the seedings...Just a few things to
consider....If you are having any urinary problems prior to the seeding,
they will probably get worse after the seeding...You say that your husband
is getting a shot to reduce the size of his prostate, this means he already
has an enlarged prostate and it will get worse after the seeds...I had a
somewhat enlarged prostate, not out of the ordinary for my age (62), I
didnot take a shot to reduce it prior to seeding....I had 125 iodine seeds
implanted August 2004...The seeding itself was smooth and rather painless,
I was home in 3 hours, cutting the grass...About the 2nd day, I started to
have a burning whenever I had to urinate...The burning increased and the
frequency increased to about every 15 minutes....I returned to my
urologist to check for an infection...No infection, he said it is just the
radiation taking effect...He  prescribed some medicine (pyridium) to help
the burning; didn't work...MY urination got more frequent, the burning
felt as if I was inserting rusty barbed wire into my penis...Finally my
being able to urinate stopped completely....I started self-catherizing
which lasted 3 months and I was taking FLOMAX 2 times a day...I also got
an infection which took about 6 months to cure with various
antiobitics...Now 2 1/2 years later, I still have burning, not as intense,
and frequency, 3 times at night, and take 1 FLOMAX and various medicines to
control over active bladder...I guess I am in the so-called 5 to 10 percent
bracket, but I also have a friend who has some of the same side effects...I
guess I am just telling you that this treatment is not a cake walk,
especially if you had any previous prostate or urinary problems...My life
has changed completely since I have had this treatment...My PSA has gone
down and I probably will survive this disease for some time, but I sure
miss my previous lifestyle...

Kram

Hello, Shirley.  I'm sorry to hear about your husband's condition.
This is a good place to come to get support from others in the same
boat.  Not only will you hear from men who have been battling this for
years, but you'll also hear from women like yourself whose loved ones
are going through it.

As you search the group or read the daily posts, you will see a lot of
very powerful stories here about treatments and side effects.  Keep in
mind that those stories, while a valuable source of information, must
not replace careful research to determine typical outcomes and side
effects.  What your husband and you will go through in the coming years
will be unique to you in many ways. The research helps you best to
decide; the stories help you realize that even when things get rough,
people do make it through.

With that in mind, I want to ask this question:  did your husband's
doctors discuss surgery as an option?  Depending on the tumor's
clinical stage, your husband's PSA, age, and general health, it may be
something to consider.  

All the best,

charlie

Wonder what his diagnosis was?

T1, T2???

Gleason 6, 7, usually written as (3+4)

PSA????

Also, and this is a big one.  How much experience do those docs have?
You want a team with lots of experience.

Then there's the issue of the odds of a cure.  There is a good chance
of a 100% cure if they found the disease before it spread.

I had seeds and it was EASY.   I literally walked out of the treatment
that morning.

The side effects were nominal.   By that I'm mean the discomfort that I
can directly attribute to the seeding.

They gave me 2 four month Lupron shots and those shots gave me hot
flashes (I laughed them off), joint pain (really unpleasant, like
needles stuck in my toe joints), fatigue, and way out of control blood
sugar.

The seeds themselves had almost no affect on me, that is, as far as
pain goes.

The seeds did dry up my semen, softened my erections, and probably are
responsible for milder orgasms and a lower libido.    

-kh

Dear Shirley Ann,

If you are considering brachyotherapy, you might want to join the
following mailing list:

SeedPods --
A mailing list for those interested in brachytherapy (radioactive
seed implants) as a treatment for prostate cancer. To subscribe,
go to:

http://www.prostatepointers.org/mailman/listinfo/seedpods

Ustoo.org, the group that sponsors the above lists, also offers info on
support grps.

For anybody newly diagnosed, I would suggest reading "The Prostate
Book" by Peter Scardino.  It is written by a prominent doctor and
covers everything you need to know (for starters).

Also, have a look at prostate-help.org, specifically, the section on
advice for the newly diagnosed.  This is a patient-to-patient forum and
gives people some straight-talk they won't find elsewhere.

Finally, for current, up-to-date info on Pca, look at
prostatecancerfoundation.org and fightprostatecancer.org.  I believe
you can rely on information from this site.

Good luck.

Leah

Your two most important words were "slow growing". Virtually all
prostate cancer is slow growing, which is about the only good thing
about it. That gives us time for maybe the most critical step in
treating it: research and a decision we can support now and for the next
30 years. Read several PC (that doesn't mean political correctness any
more) books, including Walsh, Lange (Dummies), Bubley, Scardino, Strum
(from the internet), Marks . . . every one you can find will add its own
unique insights into probably the most important and complex decision of
your lives, at least until it's time to consider follow-up treatment, at
which time you will read more chapters from the books and more studies
on the internet. Then after you're armed with knowledge and primed with
a few dozen intelligent questions and a few stupid ones, all written
with room to write the answers you get, consult at least three
oncologists, one each specializing in surgery, radiation, and medical
treatments (uro onc, rad onc, and med onc). Examine the likelihoods and
degrees of their various benefits and side effects, divine your psyches
to identify your priorities in life relative to those benefits and SEs,
and at some point, many weeks of intense study down the road, you both
will probably have an epiphany: "That's it! Our choice is clear." I
believe that's crucial to making a decision you can believe in, without
second guesses, for the rest of your newly and forever-altered lives. If
you thought getting that master's degree was intense, wait 'til you plow
through *this* hassle!

And may it be exactly and just that: a hassle.

I.P.

Shirley ann,

I had "high dose rate brachytherapy".  That's a technique in which
very hot, highly radioactive seeds are implanted for a very short
period - measured in seconds in each position, with perhaps a 100
or so positions.  I had two of those treatments.  Since my cancer
was aggressive, I also had external beam radiation and Lupron.

My side effects have been relatively mild.  The radiation causes
the prostate to swell and clamp down on the urethra.  That in turn
makes it difficult to urinate and, when urinating, it's difficult to fully
empty the bladder.  So I had to go quite often.  At the worst part
of it (lasting a couple of weeks), I got up all night long about once
each hour.  The day time wasn't bad since I work in an office and
could just go down the hall to the bathroom as needed.  The total
period of this lasted about 5 months.

I also had some aggravation of pre-existing hemmorhoids and
had some blood in the semen for a few weeks.

In a funny way, I didn't mind the side effects at all.  When I felt
an urgent need to urinate I told myself that it meant that the
radiation was working, killing the cancer cells.  Every time I
woke up at night I felt a little thankful that those tumor cells were
getting the business from those xrays :-)

All in all I can't complain.  The side effects all went away
within 6 months.  I never lost any time at work except for the days I
had the procedures and the day after.  My potency seems to be
less than it was and there is much less ejaculate with an orgasm,
but I'm getting older and I'm not certain that the reduction in potency
isn't just an effect of age.  Even before the treatment I wasn't what
I was at age 20.  However I can still have and enjoy sex.

Most importantly, so far, knocking on wood, the treatment seems to
have worked.  Like some others who have answered you, I
disliked the Lupron even more than the radiation.

Finally however, I'd like to support what others have said.  It is
a good idea to read up on all the alternative treatments.  Most
importantly, it's a very, very good idea to find a doctor to do the
treatment that is highly competent, highly experienced, and with
whom your husband can develop a good rapport.

With a life threatening disease like this, I think it is _always_ a
good idea to ask for a second opinion.  With prostate cancer,
it is useful to get a second opinion on the pathology slides
from the biopsy - to confirm that the cancer is or is not a
very aggressive variety (brachytherapy is generally not used
by itself for aggressive cancers).  It can also be a good idea
to talk to both a surgeon and a radiation oncologist.

Settle on a good doctor.  He or she may not be the first one you
were referred to.  This is important.  Get the best practitioner
who is available to you.  Consider going to the top clinic in
your area for a consultation and be sure that the doctors you
are seeing measure up to the ones you meet at a top clinic.
If they don't, don't be shy about thanking the doctors you are
seeing now and switching to others.

Your husband's disease is very serious, but modern medicine
is developing a very excellent record in treating it successfully.
The odds are very good the two of you will come through this
with a little worry and aggravation but emerge intact at the end
and able to go on with your lives.

Best of luck.

   Alan

Shirleyann,

The three most important things to consider are: how much experience
does the doctor have, then, how much experience does the doctor have,
and finally, how much experience does the doctor have.

As others have said, side effects will vary. But I had my seed surgery
last Oct. 23rd. I have had a small amount of urinary urgency, but not
enough to start taking Flomax. I had 35 external beam radiation
treatments that I completed on Jan 3rd. All in all, its been very easy.

I think that is really a testament to the experience of my doctor. He
has done over 2,300 seedings. His name is Hamilton Williams. If you're
anywhere near Atlanta, GA, I would recommend talking to him.

John

 How old is he, and why did they recommend seeding over surgery?