Hello all,
Lots has happened since I posted last.  The board seemed to be down for a
while.  We saw a medical oncologist (Dr. Beer - pronounced Bear) who was a
reference from this site.  Thank you - he is wonderful!  From there we got
referred to a radiation oncologist (Dr. Albert Hung) at Oregon Health
Sciences University.  Allen has Crohns Disease which had everyone
concerned as to whether he is a candidate for radiation.  Does anyone else
on the board have that condition?  We finally decided to go ahead although
the risk of permanent side effects may be greater.  We had our set-up
appointment on Thursday and treatments begin on this coming Wednesday.
I've taken a leave-of-absence from work while he is going through the
treatments.  The doctors looked at the post surgery lab reports and I
guess there is some question as to whether he had a positive margin.  We
had been told capsular penetration but negative margins, but the lab
report doesn't actually say that.  That was a shocker.  Neither doctor was
concerned about the rate of his PSA rising - they said at this level (0.1,
to 0.26, to 0.3) it can't really be used to calculate doubling speed.
They took blood for one last PSA on Thursday.  So, that's the update.
We're both a little more upbeat after meeting with the healthcare
professionals that'll be in charge of his treatments.  As always, folks on
this board have been very helpful with advice and support!

Regards, Debbie

Prostate Surgery 8/2004, 3+4=7, [capsular penetration, clear margins???]
Undetectable PSA until:
12/06 0.1
4/07 0.26
5/07 0.30  
Start radiation on 7/11/2007.