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My journey, to date

ptrombetta's avatar image

By ptrombetta

2 min read

Here is my story. At the end, I will have a specific question for the group from those who have chosen HDR Brachytherapy.

Prostate cancer story

I'm 76 years old. For many years, PSA tested from 4.8 to 5.2. About 18 months ago I tested 9.x then a month later 13.6.

Years past I had done 2 random biopsies and they were negative so I was not worrying about the PSA and since I also had BPH, I assumed that my PSA was "my" normal around 5.

When the PSA jumped up to 13.6, I went on red alert. I went to a world class hospital in Bangkok Thailand and they did the F18 Multiparametric 3T MRI. The cancer was quickly found and a guided biopsy was done. Result was a Gleason 3+4 tumor with no cancer found elsewhere in the prostate from the random biopsy samples taken at the same time.

After much research, including watching many videos from PCRI, I decided on HDR Brachytherapy. I called Dr. Samadi in New York (very good surgeon) and he also recommended I do the Brachy.

I proceeded to do a Bone Scan and also the PSMA Pet/CT scan. There was no clear indication that the cancer had spread and that solidified my choice for HDR Brachy.

Prostate cancer question

I went to UCLA in Los Angeles and had them perform the treatment. They did the treatment twice... and here is my main question.... they did the treatment on two consecutive days. I stayed overnight with the 11 catheters inserted and had to stay still until the following morning, when they repeated the radiation.

Has anyone ever had a treatment like this? Everything I can see online indicates that the two treatments are usually one of two weeks apart.

I know that many different hospitals will have many different protocols. For example, my Thailand hospital will always give external beam in combination with Brachy as their protocol. Other hospitals always give hormones no matter what. In my case, 2 consecutive days and no hormones and I was done.

In the year since my Brachy, my PSA dropped to around 5.xx, then 2.xx and I'm at 2.2 right now. I was told that it may take up to 2 years to reach "nadir", and I should keep monitoring and if it starts to rise again, we would do more tests to see what is going on.

I should mention that one year before my Brachytherapy, I had a complete urine blockage. I underwent something called THULEP (Thulium Laser Encapsulation of the Prostate). I think similar to TURP but with laser vaporizing the prostate tissue.

Any comments from the group would be greatly appreciated.

Paul

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