ProstateCancerTopics.com
This website is dedicated to prostate
cancer (PCa) survivors, their families, and PCa healthcare providers.
No
treatment advice is provided here, just links and a compilation of
information distilled into a semi-unique format.
Various topics presented are discussed from the vantage point of
advanced prostate cancer survivors,
designed for consumption by other PCa patients and their families in
search of a detailed and current
understanding of this complex disease and the still evolving equally complex
treatment protocols.
Most survivors report an overwhelming
experience in which the patient and their family must acquire
vast amounts of medical information in
order to correctly “Pick the best Treatment Procedure.”
Unfortunately, all too frequently, the
patient finds that having
“Picked the Right Procedure,” another
Secondary Procedure, Salvage Procedure,
Adjuvant Procedure, or otherwise unanticipated treatment
awaits them when their hoped for “Cure”
becomes instead, a statistical waiting game due to the reality of
much higher long term recurrence rates
than were implicated when their initial procedure was selected.
This site proposes that instead of
hasty "Procedure Picking," patients diagnosed with Prostate Cancer
may well optimize their medical
experience by first self-educating themselves in the actual PC disease
mechanism – including not only the
early stages of PCa, but also the far more complex interplay of this
disease with various treatments,
especially systemic treatments classically reserved for later stages of
PCa.
Many patients feel that they have been
sufficiently self-educated by the time their practitioners
ask for their initial Procedure
Selection. Typically
though, the actual disease mechanism is little
understood and seems to be kept under
wraps in what amounts to a “Need to Know” phenomenon.
Some practitioners seem to feel that
everyone’s time is best served if the disease details are simply left
for future discussions, especially
under their HOPE that a complete cure will result from the initial
procedure leaving no need for the
patient to understand the actual dynamics of the disease
progression
or the possibilities of
COMBINED procedures offering significantly reduced recurrence rates.
One example is the use of hormone
therapy prior to and during external beam radiation treatment.
Recurrent patients are often
“passed downstream” from one procedure specialist to another
as a result of post-procedure PSA tests
showing “rising levels.” A
mental whiplash results when
what seems like bad luck not only
steals away the concept of “cure,” but also snaps the bonds
built between the patient and their
initial specialist – new specialists must be interviewed and hired.
It is hoped that in some small way, patients can make better
decisions if they have a factual and detailed
up-to-date understanding of the PCa disease model. Recent studies reveal that "decision
regret" rates are
running as high as 50% among post-treatment PCa patients. The best way to reduce this
high decision regret
rate is to enable more patients
to make better informed treatment decisions based on a deeper
understanding
of the PCa disease itself rather than just an understanding of the
various "recommended procedures."
Good luck -
prostatecancertopics.com