I'm looking for answers on RT therapy for prostate cancer. Looking for some people from 3 to 7 years after you had it. Also why did you choose RT over prostate removal. I'm having a very hard time deciding. Any help would be greatly appreciated.Thanks
Rbsw1
I had SBRT 14 years ago. I was sexually very active at the time, so it was an easy decision for me. I also didn't want the 20% chance of permanent incontinence.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself:
prostatecancer.news/2017/12...
Did you have any reoccurrence or have you been cancer free.
I was completely cured-- no lasting side effects.
What stage did you have and what was your Gleason score if you would like to answer.
I had both. Prostatectomy then a clinical trial with RT. The Surgery left me heavily incontinent, necessitating another surgery to fix it. Also impotent, with penis both shortened and narrowed. The incontinence is not common to surgery. The rest of it is. No side effects from the radiation. Would certainly get radiation only if I had to do it again.
71 years old now, 3 years out from IMRT. Gleason's 8 and 9 in 14 of 20 cores tested. No real choice for me, all the experts said I would need radiation even if I had prostate removed. No long term side effects so far. I would advise you to consider whether ADT will be necessary and for how long depending on the treatment plan you choose. Being on Lupron for two years was far worse than the radiation treatments themselves.
This year will be 3 years since I had RT under a clinical trial, 5 days of heavy doses of radiation every other day for 2 wks. My score was 4+3. I qualified for the clinical trial as test showed my cancer to being non aggressive. I wanted to avoid RT as I’d seen friends & family who had RT & with it came incontinence & impotency. My treatments were at MSK in NY.
AlthoughI had some adjustments with my sexual life as there were some side effects to get used too as but things are going well. I had no incontinence deal with.
I am happy and lucky to have been able to have treatments that I had and would absolutely follow the same path if I had to do it again.
My advice is to be diligence in your search for a treatment that you are comfortable with.
Assuming your diagnosis is advanced high risk like mine, and looked to be oligometastatic, RP was inadvisable on the basis that it would not cure if done by itself. The next best treatment was RT plus doublet therapy. So far so good, 2.5 years on. I would not dilly dally too long as PCA grows exponentially. Speaking of which, what is your PSA doubling time? Does it run in your family? Put these sort of details in your bio.
I was a Gleason score of 5+5 and had Prostate removed. Recovery went quick and easy but their was indication that the PCa was not total contained. Then three years later PSA Score started rising so went for salvage radiation. Treatment went easy and recovery fine. Now monitoring going forward, same as everyone here with any of the optional treatment paths.
Radiation does have the higher cure statistics. Looking back I still don't know if I would have gone that path. Twenty-four months versus the five months of ADT treatment might have pushed me over the edge. I hated that crap. I can't father children but who cares at my age. Maybe I was a lucky one with minimum side effects from the operation.
It seems everyone experice is a bit different even if they choose the same path forward. THe good news is that if caught early, its no longer the death sentence it once was 
Amar Kishan, MD, on Optimal Sequencing of ADT With RT in Nonmetastatic Prostate Cancer
Manuka honey does it help 
Advice on when to start salvage RT
Prostate mysteriously Shrinks...
