One Month Post Brachy Followup

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Bob Oaks - 07 Feb 2004 00:00 GMT

Went to see my oncologist today. He did an MRI of my prostate, and showed
me the resulting pictures of the 90 seeds in my prostate. He said
everything looked great (and I'll have to take his word for that!). He then
quizzed me on urination frequency (only got up once last night), sexual
function, etc. and said I was at the stage where most guys are after two or
three months. I'm still on Flomax, but he said to try a couple of days
without it and see what happens. One month should be the worst that it
gets, and since everything works fine, I think I got off pretty lucky. Next
step is to wait a couple of months and get a PSA test. If I get it sooner,
the potential PSA bump might freak us all out.

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Beverley - 07 Feb 2004 01:39 GMT

Glad to hear everything is going well. Did the doc give you a percentage of
coverage in the prostate on the seeds? Also did they count all 90 seeds to
make sure they are in place?
Bev

> Went to see my oncologist today. He did an MRI of my prostate, and showed
> me the resulting pictures of the 90 seeds in my prostate. He said
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> step is to wait a couple of months and get a PSA test. If I get it sooner,
> the potential PSA bump might freak us all out.

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Alan Meyer - 07 Feb 2004 04:26 GMT

A radiation oncologist told me that he used to xray his
patients to see if any of the seeds had travelled to other parts
of the body. He found that it quite often happened that a
seed would wind up in the lungs.

But eventually he stopped checking. He said it wasn't
really dangerous and, even if it was, there was nothing
he could do about it. So he figured there was no point
exposing the patient to the additional xrays.

Alan

> Glad to hear everything is going well. Did the doc give you a percentage of
> coverage in the prostate on the seeds? Also did they count all 90 seeds to
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> sooner,
> > the potential PSA bump might freak us all out.

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Beverley - 07 Feb 2004 16:21 GMT

With my husband they just imposed the map of the seeding over the scan of
the seeded prostate and said "yep, all there". The problem is not so much
where the seeded landed because the most frequent path they take is through
the bladder and out of the body ;but whether or not the prostate is
completely radiated. If an area is not "covered" then they will go back in
and re-seed a spot.

A seed that winds up in a lung is usually discovered at some later date
during a routine chest x-ray. It is completely harmless as it is so tiny and
alone does not produce enough radiation to pose any sort of problem.
Bev

> A radiation oncologist told me that he used to xray his
> patients to see if any of the seeds had travelled to other parts
[quoted text clipped - 29 lines]
> > sooner,
> > > the potential PSA bump might freak us all out.

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Bob Oaks - 07 Feb 2004 16:55 GMT

> With my husband they just imposed the map of the seeding over the scan of
> the seeded prostate and said "yep, all there". The problem is not so much
> where the seeded landed because the most frequent path they take is through
> the bladder and out of the body ;but whether or not the prostate is
> completely radiated. If an area is not "covered" then they will go back in
> and re-seed a spot.

That's essentially what he did with me. No exact count. The doctor said
that if seeds really do come lose, it is nearly always within the first 24
hours, which is why I strained urine for 24 hours to search. I suspect
losing a seed or two would be OK as long as the pattern remaining looks
good.

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Beverley - 08 Feb 2004 06:26 GMT

Never strained the urine, never really worried about it. But was happy to
hear everything was in place.
Bev

> > With my husband they just imposed the map of the seeding over the scan of
> > the seeded prostate and said "yep, all there". The problem is not so much
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> losing a seed or two would be OK as long as the pattern remaining looks
> good.

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