Re: Which is the best treatment option?

[Guest guest]

Chuck

A thoughtful post.

I think it is useful to say "this is my experience" and it was good or not so good.

Alongside this comes a responsibility to be aware that, as you say, not all procedures go the same way for everyone. There lots of factors that can be different and prostate cancer is not one disease, it has many variations and speeds of progression.

It is true that no one is 100% certain of what is exactly there, even though scanning techniques have improved since 1996, when my urologist was "surprised" when he got alongside my prostate.

What we want on this group is to inform of our experiences and what our thinking is. Then to think with knowledge of options, which is right for me. Which positives do I most want and which possible negatives can I live with.

I think they call this cognitive dissodence. Despite me reading menus in tourist towns after I have had lunch, I am not personally in favour of dwelling on what if I had had a different treatment. It is much more important to say how can I live the best quality of life from now. So if you practice cognitive dissodence do it on small things, not the major ones!

The moderators on this group work hard to get balance, but do not always achieve perfect balance.

Best wishes all

Which is the "best" treatment option?

I believe that what is becoming a concern to many of us is that too many others of us are touting "their" preference of treatment as the best of all the rest while denigrating all other treatment procedures, or, denigrating a procedure because, in their case, they experienced the downside of what can occur with most all procedures. We have all come to recognize that much of the "upside" of any procedure is in the experience and artistry of the physician provider. And we have also come to recognize that even that expert provider can run into problems once administering a procedure because of physical or other conditions within the patient not foreseen. And many of us have researched, studied, and subscribed to prostate cancer lists and other material for years and have learned of the "downsides" that have occurred with most all treatment options despite the best of intentions. All being considered, I would encourage those who post recommendations to tout their preference, but avoid denigrating any other choice. Let the patient sort out the various treatment recommendations and come to his own conclusions.

(Chuck) MaackProstate Cancer AdvocateWichita, Kansas Chapter, Us TOOBio: http://www.ustoowichita.org/leaders.cfm?content=bio & id=1Email: maack1@...