Proton Therapy

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surfdog - 09 Feb 2007 16:59 GMT

I have elected to go with Proton Radiation therapy (PT) at the MD
Anderson facility in Houston. ( psa 5.5 , gleason 3+3 , T1c )

I will have a planning session with the staff late Feb and start
treatments early March. At this time it appears that I will have ~ 40
teatments. ( 5days/week for 2 months)

I also strongly considered IGRT. I finally went with PT because I felt
that both choices offered a similar level of "success" but that the
protons would be less of a problem than photons with surrounding
tissue. I know that this could be debated ad nauseum but sometimes you
just have to make a gut decision with whatever information you have.
Like it has been stated here before..."its all a crap shoot", just
like life in general.

I will keep you posted as I proceed through the process. Thanks to all
of you that have responded to my previous posts. I don't know any of
you but I consider you all my friends.

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Doug Taylor - 09 Feb 2007 18:51 GMT

>I have elected to go with Proton Radiation therapy (PT) at the MD
>Anderson facility in Houston. ( psa 5.5 , gleason 3+3 , T1c )
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>of you that have responded to my previous posts. I don't know any of
>you but I consider you all my friends.

You are so right on when say "gut decision." I think that is what it
generally always comes down to with PCa, where all the cures are
ALMOST as bad as the disease. You pick the least bad alternative that
you, and only you, can live with for the rest of your (hopefully long)
life.

Good luck.

Keep in touch.

I'm glad you con

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Steve Kramer - 09 Feb 2007 20:47 GMT

>I have elected to go with Proton Radiation therapy (PT) at the MD
> Anderson facility in Houston. ( psa 5.5 , gleason 3+3 , T1c )

I hope everything works out for you, Jeff. This will be great for the
newsgroup. We haven't had a proton voice since Keith Lundy disappeared.

Signature

PSA 16 10/17/2000 @ 46
Biopsy 11/01/2000 G7 (3+4), T2c
RRP 12/15/2000 G7 (3+4), T3cN0M0 Neg margins
PSA .1 .1 .1 .27 .37 .75
EBRT 05-07/2002 @ 47
PSA .34 .22 .15 .21 .32
Lupron 07/03 (1 mo) 8/03 (4 mo), 12/03, 4/04, 09/04, 01/05, 5/05, 10/05,
2/06, 6/06
PSA .07 .05 .06 .09 .08 .132 .145
Casodex added daily 07/06
PSA <0.04
Non Illegitimi Carborundum

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James - 10 Feb 2007 00:09 GMT

>I have elected to go with Proton Radiation therapy (PT) at the MD
> Anderson facility in Houston. ( psa 5.5 , gleason 3+3 , T1c )
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> of you that have responded to my previous posts. I don't know any of
> you but I consider you all my friends.

Would you mind discussing why you choose Proton Therapy over radioactive
seed implants (brachetherapy) or surgery (radical prostatectomy)?

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surfdog - 10 Feb 2007 02:06 GMT

> >I have elected to go with Proton Radiation therapy (PT) at the MD
> > Anderson facility in Houston. ( psa 5.5 , gleason 3+3 , T1c )
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> Would you mind discussing why you choose Proton Therapy over radioactive
> seed implants (brachetherapy) or surgery (radical prostatectomy)?

My biggest fear related to seed implants is the possibility of seed
migration thru the body.My urologist was the one that mentioned this
to me.I was also concerned with the effect on surrounding tissue.

Surgery side effects would seem to be highly dependent on the skills
of the surgeon.Trying to determine which surgeon to choose is a
daunting task.

Again I do not want to start a big debate here because there are
probabilities of bad results with all the options. I just felt that
proton radiation had the least amount of long term side effects but
still offered a good "success" chance.

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I.P. Freely - 10 Feb 2007 03:21 GMT

> I do not want to start a big debate here because there are
> probabilities of bad results with all the options. I just felt that
> proton radiation had the least amount of long term side effects but
> still offered a good "success" chance.

I think informed, impersonal debate of treatments is one of the best
things a forum has to offer patients making treatment decisions.

I.P.

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surfdog - 10 Feb 2007 13:57 GMT

> > I do not want to start a big debate here because there are
> > probabilities of bad results with all the options. I just felt that
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> I.P.

I agree........ I used a lot of information presented in this forum
to make my decision.And I will admit that debate can be a valuable
tool to bring us closer to the truth.

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I.P. Freely - 10 Feb 2007 17:05 GMT

>>> I do not want to start a big debate here because there are
>>> probabilities of bad results with all the options. I just felt that
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> to make my decision.And I will admit that debate can be a valuable
> tool to bring us closer to the truth.

Just make sure you vett that information back to its sources, or at the
very least consider the sources quoted. Decision fodder is too important
to blindly take the word of us ordinary folks -- much less a single
local physician -- for it.

I.P.

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Steve Kramer - 10 Feb 2007 11:39 GMT

> Again I do not want to start a big debate here because there are
> probabilities of bad results with all the options. I just felt that
> proton radiation had the least amount of long term side effects but
> still offered a good "success" chance.

Do not worry about a debate, Jeff. There are a couple of major a.sholes
here and a couple part time a.sholes (maybe include me in the latter), but
once a decision is made for treatment, everyone has, for the six years I've
been here, respected it and been interested in the results -- including
Martin Howard who chose urine therapy.

The 2nd rule of prostate cancer patients should be "Once you made a
decision, don't look back" and we here have universally honored that rule.

Good luck with the PT.

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