(Web) Extra: Proton Beam Therapy (Part 2)

Nice site

Nice article

The decision

As a Loma Linda patient with as of this date 9 more treatments to go. The decision process for me was not so much concerned with statistics of a population. Rather it was the concern if I turned up in the smaller percentage which had a difficulty what would happen to me and what option would I have. What became more important were the writers of Blogs, forums and other web sources discribing personal experiences. Though not statistically significant they represented the extremes - either "fan boys" or the worst cases who were dealing with their frustations or looking for help with their outcome.

Those worst cases were the ones I did not want to become. If I had to deal with them then I wanted the treatment choice which offered the least difficult to deal with complications. In my case quality of life issues were more important which meant no diapers. Impotence would not be desirable. However, with most treatments including protons there is a real chance of becoming impotent. It could be tolerated.

Avoiding Prostatectomy

To date, at age 68, I do not have prostate cancer. If I were to be diagnosed with

this disease, my strong preference would first be radioactive seeding followed

by proton beam therapy. I just don't like the thought of surgery unless absolutely

necessary.

The bright side of having bladder cancer (early detection) six years ago is that

I see my urologist every 6 months.

I have read that there is a far more accurate test for prostate cancer than the PSA

test. Glad to hear that!