Just saw this post

[carlsbadjack]

MOST.....not all

Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer don't need to rush to surgery, radiation treatments: study

foxnews.com/health/most-men...

[Derf4223]

Given the name of this forum"Advanced Prostate Cancer", au contraire. I asked my RO what "advanced" meant, and he said it means the patient needs advanced treatments. I also asked what "High Risk" meant, and he said it means high risk of metastasizing.

One should of course never panic and proceed through the staging and testing processes. If these peg you as advanced high risk, its time apply a sense of urgency and not delay things because you are fearful of treatment. By that point the Hydra is exponentially (see PSA doubling time) growing within you.

As a personal example of applying urgency, my onco team wanted me to get a PSMA PET/CT scan. My hospital did not have that capability and they found a nearby hospital that did. But when we tried to get an appointment, the nearby hospital said my insurance plan did not have a contract with them and I would have to pay out of pocket. I grabbed the phone and called around and found another nearby hospital that had a PSMA PET/CT scanner, would take my insurance and got me in within a couple of days. Don't take speed bumps lying down. I am very fortunate to have quite a few good hospitals in my area, greater Boston.

[carlsbadjack in reply to Derf4223]

True, this is Advanced Prostate Cancer, and I posted in the AS blog as well. But I am not Advanced, and read this blog daily. You would be surprised how many do. Just trying to share info.

[Survivor86 in reply to carlsbadjack]

Thank you for posting.

[turkeyjoe1 in reply to carlsbadjack]

I to am not in to the advanced category yet. High risk Gleason 9. No Mets per PSMA scans. I waited 9 months on lupron before deciding on RT. So glad I did. I was scared and needed to learn more. 3 month post RT PSA .01The people on this forum ROCK! I have learned so much here, every day. Thank you!

[Mike58 in reply to turkeyjoe1]

Just out of curiosity- why are you glad you waited 9 months while on HT before you had RT? Were the results better with the RT?

[turkeyjoe1 in reply to Mike58]

I was scared and needed to learn more. Besides I couldn't pee and needed a TURP after all the testing and scans. After the TURP I went from a Gleason 8 to a 9. After reading comments on this forum that other people had RT treatment, I felt more comfortable with it.

[j-o-h-n]

I would like to add one more "don't need to rush" caveat, it's cut off your dick.......

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Saturday 11/25/2023 2:17 PM EST

[ron_bucher]

Not sure I would ever rely on any medical information from Fox"News". The fact that the article says nothing about risk stratification between Gleason grades makes it misleading at best.

[Gl448 in reply to ron_bucher]

Thank you for saying what I was thinking.

[Derf4223]

The article led off with "Men diagnosed with localized prostate cancer ..." But how could that be diagnosed without at least an MRI if not a PSMA PET/CT scan? I agree with @run_bucher but not because the source was Fox News, but because the subject matter is not at all amenable to a short news blurb. I also took a bit of affront with the article comment "the few patients with high-risk or advanced disease do need urgent treatment."

The word "few" is unnecessary if not condescending. The quote source was one Dr. Freddie Hamdy, of the University of Oxford. UK-based, where the NIH mentality seems to be that a few broken eggs are an OK consequence of rationing care. I could easily have been one of those broken eggs were it not for very timely care and God and being a US resident.