Forgive me for this copy and paste from another newsgroup - I just
didn't want to type it all again.    -Les

To All My Friends-

I had some good news this week which I'd like to share with you.

In the beginning of August I was fortunate to have my insurance
company pay for me to go to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for
a second opinion. The doc there disagreed with my local (NJ)
oncologist about starting chemo immediately, and suggested having CT
scans every 6 weeks and doing a "watchful waiting" type thing. I had
my next CT scan in September and the consult with my NJ oncologist
went something like "the first radiologist saw some new nodules on
your lungs, so I looked at the scans with a second radiologist and we
didn't see any new nodules". Unacceptable!!!!!

So I had them make up a CD of the scans and I sent it to Houston. I
got a four page report back, the gist of which is that there are no
new nodules, some of the larger nodules have disappeared and the
lesion on my hip has gotten smaller.

I was about to fax the report to my NJ doc, along with a scathing
cover sheet, but, my wife asked me to think about it before faxing.
And, of course, she's right. I need someone here to order the CT scans
on a regular basis, so I didn't send it. But it sure would have felt
good if I had.

My reason for this post is to let all of my friends here know of my
(at least temporary) good news and to remind everyone that, as Dr.
Strum says, "M.D. does not stand for medical deity". And also to
remind you that you must take charge of your own trip through this
horror and not defer automatically to your physician.

-Les (aka Gordy)

1/2005 Dx PSA 26.5 Gleason 7 (4+3) @Age 61
1/2005 Start Casodex and Zoladex
PSA drops to <0.01 AND REMAINS THERE TO THIS DAY
7/2005-8/2005 5 weeks of IMRT and then HDR brachy
1/2007 Rad Oncologist orders CT scan of pelvis
because of complaints of pain in both thighs
MRI confirms pain not caused by cancer BUT
1/2007 CT scan of pelvis picks up a nodule at bottom of left lung
5/2007 CT scan of lungs shows 1/2007 nodule has grown and
there are numerous nodules on both lungs.
6/2007 Thoracic surgeon removes wedge of left lung for biopsy
6/2007 Path report says 95% chance of metastatic PCa, but she's
never seen cells like this before.
7/2007 2nd opinion at M.D. Anderson in Houston.
They confirm: mutated PCa, very rare, but seen there 2 or
3 times. Recommendation: have CT scans every 6 weeks
and watch for change. At that point start chemo and will
survive for 22 - 24 months thereafter.
PSA STILL UNDETECTABLE