The Horse is Out of the Barn

[ewhite999]

That was the feedback from my urologist when my MO asked him if they should remove my prostate. He said, since the cancer had already spread to the bones and I was at stage 4, it would be a waste of time and too risky to remove it. Are you folks getting similar advice or have you had yours removed?

[joancarles]

the same

[cesanon]

It doesn't seem to be irrational advice.

If you have 5 or fewer matastises, you might consider highly targetted ebrt or proton radiation therapy. But there are arguments against that as well.

[smroush]

I just had metastasis to my bladder and pelvic lymph nodes and we/they left my prostate in.

[Hidden in reply to smroush]

Me too!

[Dalph87]

My father had some lymph nodes mets at diagnosis and the urologist still suggested to remove the prostate, he claimed it would have slowed down the disease a lot and make the next treatments more effective (at some cost though!) and that's what really happened to my father.

The MO surprisingly agreed that the surgery helped.

[Tall_Allen]

When it is in the bones, it is obviously systemic. There doesn't seem to be any benefit to closing the barn door after the horses are out.

[joekaty]

Same- although when my husband questioned it at MD Anderson they first said they would consider surgery or radiation- knowing it would experimental. Because of my husband’s young age (51) they essentially said we will throw everything but the kitchen sink at you. However, once his bone and CT scans came back they said they would no longer agree to do either. We then saw a radiation oncologist in Dallas where we live, she also would agree to do it if insurance would cover it but they wouldn’t and we didn’t push it.

[Hidden in reply to joekaty]

I was 53 , same thing .. Take care.😎

[Hidden]

HANG IN THERE. Get thru this first round .. I wish you well!

[j-o-h-n]

I will use a Technical Term for my recommendation to you to opt out of a RPD, it's "forgetaboutit".

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Saturday 11/17/2018 12:58 AM EST