As to being your own doctor, why not?  I take information from this NG and
personal research to my doctors all the time.  I am almost never caught off
guard (any more) and I have deep discussions with my docs not unlike they
would have with other docs.  Indeed, my internist has recommended my son
talk to me about prostate cancer testing and prevention because "he knows as
much or more about it than I do."  While that's a bit of an exaggeration,
everything you learn before you see the doc helps you and he better diagnose
and treat your disease.

Dwight,

There's an article in Medscape about endorectal MRI as
a finder of extracapsular extensions, and a useful
predictor of future metastases.  See:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/571947?sssdmh=dm1.341946&src=nldne

I had an endorectal MRI.  It found an extracapsular
extension, but it didn't extend far and the radiation
oncologists treated it.  MRI also showed no cancer
in the lymph nodes or seminal vesicles, at least none
big enough to see.  And here I am four years later,
still dumb and happy.

  Alan