Re: Radiation Seed Implants To Prostate Cancer

[Guest guest]

Personally I forgot both. I had Proton treatment 4 yrs ago. PSA

is still <.1 No side effects, Nada. At least do yourself a

favor and check it out.

On 7/23/2012 7:07 PM, workaholick

wrote:

Can any man give me some information on this topic? Is it

better then surgery? My work requires some driving, what

should i do?

[Guest guest]

What information do you want? In answer to

your question: Is it better then surgery? all anyone

can say is that there are no good studies that provide you with a clear answer

to a general question. It may be, depending on your precise diagnosis and your

personal position that Brachytherapy – Radiation Seed Implants –

would be a good choice for you and might provide you with a better outcome, but…..the

devil is in the detail.

If it would be helpful, you can read the experiences

of a number of men who chose Brachytherapy by going along to my website at http://www.yananow.org/query_stories.php

You might find it useful too to go through the site from the beginning - http://www.yananow.org/

Hitting the Don’t panic button will led you to a del of basic information

that may help you understand what all your options are and which might suit you

best, As Dr Strum says tirelessly ASSESS

STATUS BEFORE DETERMINING STRATEGY

All the best

Prostate men need enlightening, not

frightening

Terry Herbert - diagnosed in 1996 and

still going strong

Read A Strange Place for unbiased information at http://www.yananow.org/StrangePlace/index.html

From:

ProstateCancerSupport [mailto:ProstateCancerSupport ]

On Behalf Of workaholick

Sent: Tuesday, 24 July 2012 9:07

AM

To:

ProstateCancerSupport

Subject:

Radiation Seed Implants To Prostate Cancer

Can any man give me some information on this topic? Is

it better then surgery? My work requires some driving, what should i do?

[Guest guest]

workaholick wrote:

> Can any man give me some information on this topic? Is it

> better then surgery?  My work requires some driving, what

> should i do?

My understanding of the statistics is that brachytherapy is very

effective for " low risk " prostate cancer, as are all of the

treatments.  For intermediate or high risk cancers it can also be

effective, but very often it needs to be combined with external

beam radiation (e.g. IMRT), and for maximum effectiveness against

more aggressive cancers, with hormone therapy.

In my personal opinion, the effectiveness of brachytherapy vs.

surgery has more to do with the skills and commitment of the

radiation oncologist and the surgeon than of the specific

technique.  It is vitally important to have either procedure done

by someone who knows what he's doing, has experience, and is

committed to doing a good job.  Someone who just goes to work in

the morning and plants seeds or cuts out prostates, isn't the

person to hire to do this vital job.  I'd rather have surgery

with a good surgeon than brachytherapy with a bad or mediocre

radiation oncologist, and vice versa.

As for going to work every day, brachytherapy is a good choice if

that is a consideration.  I had two High Dose Rate ( " HDR " )

brachytherapy procedures, combined with EBRT and Lupron.  After

each procedure my perineum was sore for a couple of weeks.

To deal with the problem, I bought a doughnut cushion (a cushion

with a hole in the center).  I put it in my car to drive to work,

and sat on it at the office, then put it in my car to drive home.

I had each procedure done on a Thursday.  The next Monday I went

back to work.  So I only lost two days work for each of the two

procedures.  The doughnut cushion was all I needed.  I didn't

need any pain pills.

One possible side effect of the radiation is that the prostate

can become inflamed and clamp down on the urethra, making it hard

to urinate.  That happened to me.  I had to take drugs (Flomax)

to be able to urinate and I had to go to the bathroom as often as

once an hour because I had trouble fully emptying my bladder.

Once an hour wasn't a big problem for me at home or at the office

but I did lose some sleep - which wasn't a big deal for me.  I'd

wake up, pee in a jar by the bed, and go right back to sleep.

As they say in the stocks business, past performance is no

guarantee of future results.  But I was treated nine years ago

and my PSA is still below 0.1 today.

I hope that helps.

    Alan