Re: re lupron shot halted

[Guest guest]

here's the latest:

my cardiologist doesn't want me to do anything until he

checks me out. which tells me that my urio didn't consult him

as to my treatment. i'm seeing him sept 29 and cancelling the

shot as advised by my cardiologist. i think i'm gonna wait until

i get to columbus ohio in less than 12 weeks and get a second

opinion on this matter. and i am getting that book and arm

myself with knowledge on this. i hate being in the dark.

thanks

dave craycraft

> >>

> >> So. Gleason 6. The most common Gleason score. If your PSA had

> > been less than 9, you would have pretty much qualified as having

> > garden-variety prostate cancer, except we're still missing a T-

> > stage.

> >>

> >> So I'm not really getting the urgency to have a lupron shot.

> > Particularly since for the vast majority of men with prostate

> > cancer, it has been shown that there is no therapeutic value to

> > short term androgen deprivation therapy with only one agent,

often

> > referred to as " the shopping shot " . It mostly makes your doctor

> > comfortable that he's not sending you off without doing

something in

> > the unlikely event you might blame him for any progression that

> > might occur. It mostly makes you miserable when you were feeling

> > pretty good right along, despite having a touch of cancer.

> >>

> >> I think the discount is a way to salvage something out of the

> > situation for your doctor's bankroll. I'll bet he'd feel pretty

> > silly if six weeks of Cipro had a significant effect on your PSA.

> > He'd just feel silly (maybe), but you'd be out $1300. I think

this

> > is a waste of your money and your doctor is trying to capitalize

on

> > your fears. But I'm " just a woman " and a pretty cynical one at

> > that, and anyway this is just my opinion, but it IS your money,

so

> > if I were you, I'd look into whether or not you really NEED to

spend

> > $1300 on something that's not likely to make any difference in

your

> > outcome. Dr. Dattoli would certainly be able to give you a

second

> > opinion on that on the phone.

> >>

> >> And by the way, once you've had hormonal manipulation, you will

> > lose the benefit of being able to monitor the PSA as an

indicator of

> > the tempo of the disease because your PSA will very likely drop

like

> > a rock and stay low and stable, which may be comforting, but not

> > particularly useful in terms of figuring out how to proceed to

> > resolve your little prostate problem. You need to enlist the

help

> > of a M.D. (Medical Detective) that can help you find the solution

> > that's neither going to overtreat or undertreat your stage and

grade

> > of disease and that fits with your age, your other health

concerns,

> > your expectations for future quality of life, etc, etc, etc.

That

> > will take some time, during which you can monitor your PSA

carefully

> > to get a feeling for whether or not your PSA is rising quickly or

> > remaining relatively constant. Anyway, I wish we had some PSA

> > history to go on. You've probably had prostate cancer for many

> > years. The difference between then and now is that then you

didn't

> > know it and now you do. Your cancer isn't going to grow any

faster

> > now than it did then just because now you know you have it and

then

> > you didn't, so you've gone years without a lupron shot or any

other

> > treatment already, and so my intution is that if you find that

your

> > PSA is just creeping along, or better yet that your initial PSA

was

> > inflated due to benign causes, you could just proceed to choose a

> > local treatment and see if your treating physician feels you

would

> > benefit from any sort of course of androgen deprivation therapy

> > before, during or after your local treatment. Hopefully this

> > physician whomever that turns out to be, will know that the first

> > rule of medicine is " Do no harm " and therefore he or she will

have

> > the good sense to pre-treat with an anti-androgen if an LHRH

agonist

> > is to be used. You should really see if your library has a copy

of

> > the Primer (we've donated quite a few to Florida libraries) and

look

> > carefully at the information about what various agents used in

> > androgen deprivation therapy are used for and read up on

> > the " Androgen Deprivation Syndrome " which affects men in various

> > ways, some more, some less.

> >>

> >> Anyway, as I say, this is just my opinion and I'm sure there

will

> > be those opinions that differ from mine, but in the end, the only

> > ones that count are yours and your new doctor's.

> >>

> >> Let us know when you get a T-stage.

> >>

> >> Donna Pogliano

> >> Co-author of " A Primer on Prostate Cancer, The Empowered

Patient's

> > Guide "

> >>

> >> re lupron shot & scores

> >>

> >>

> >> hi group,

> >> just talked to dr's assistant.

> >> gleeson score 6

> >> psa 11.8

> >> bone scan /ct scan is clean

> >> she didnt see a clinical stage (t) number but

> >> will call back after talking with dr.

> >>

> >> shot (lupron) has been discounted from

> >> 2500 to 1300 and they will take payments.

> >> meanwhile, everthing is set for the move to columbus oct 30.

> >> i'm currently researching ohio state university cancer center,

> >> it looks impressive since we last lived there 13 years ago.

> >> i'll keep ya updated as thing unfolds.

> >> thanks so much everyone

> >> dave craycraft

> >>

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > There are just two rules for this group

> > 1 No Spam

> > 2 Be kind to others

> >

> > Please recognise that Prostate Cancerhas different guises and

needs

> > different levels of treatment and in some cases no treatment at

all. Some

> > men even with all options offered chose radical options that you

would not

> > choose. We only ask that people be informed before choice is

made, we

> > cannot and should not tell other members what to do, other than

look at

> > other options.

> >

> > Try to delete old material that is no longer applying when

clicking reply

> > Try to change the title if the content requires it

> >