My Radiological Oncologist And A Possible New Therapy

I met with a Radiological Oncologist on Friday.

Which was . . . about as much fun as meeting with a Radiological Oncologist.

My first impression as I walked into the building was, "Whoa! That's a strong smell of (medical) marijuana floating around the entrance." Which, for some reason, made my cancer seem very, very real.

It's strange being young, (well - relatively young), with a disease that primarily effects older men. I was the baby in the waiting room. The other men in there were in their 70s and 80s, and not looking in the best of health. Hey, they have cancer. We can't all be beautiful.

The consultation with the oncologist was rather routine, although he was highly impressed with my upcoming swim in San Fransisco in the latter part of June. Here's what I'm swimming:

Escape from Alcatraz - Sharkfest 2011

He remarked a few times about how long, and how hard I've been training for this event and what a shame it would be to miss it. This made me feel a tad guilty. I swim a lot - but I don't really 'train', if you know what I mean. I just swim. It's the only way that I can keep semi-mobile. Open water swims are a side-note; something to do on the weekends with my buddies from the pool.

He then went on to explain why radiation was better than surgery, what to expect, etc. Nothing too surprising there. Cure rates between surgery and radiation are about the same. Risk of serious side effects almost the same - a 50-50 chance, yada yada yada. Although with surgery you know immediately how screwed you are, but with radiation it sometimes takes months - or years - for the damage to show.

If I were to choose radiation therapy I would have daily treatments for 8 to 9 weeks.

I was going to post a graph of the various side effects and risks for each of the therapies but I found it depressing. You can look it up if you're that interested.

Yay.

As I'm sure you'll agree these are both, what we professionals refer to as "suck ass" therapies.

But as I'm learning, you can't really complain about the effects. Why? Because people will yell at you and tell you to be thankful that 'you're alive'.

There is an interesting gender phenomena regarding that statement above, but more on that later.

There is another therapy available. Although neither my urologist nor radiological oncologist suggested this form of treatment.

Why? Well, let's see; the urologist specializes in radical prostatectomy. He has a robotic surgery suite that he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for, and it's what he studied in school. The radiologist has an advanced machine that he's paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for, and it is what he studied in school.

Never forget that cancer is big business.

Proton Beam Therapy has the same cure rate as surgery or radiation. It has a lower recurrence rate. But the cool thing is, proton beam has very, very few side effects when compared to surgery or external radiation. Not completely gone, but so much less it's not even funny.

Say wha?????

Unfortunately, there are only 9 Proton Beam Therapy Centers in the US at this time. Seattle is building one, (Seattle Cancer Care Alliance), but it won't be open until 2013. I just can't wait that long. I suppose it's not easy to construct a cyclotron. The nearest center for me is Loma Linda University. It's where they developed the therapy 20 years ago. Plus, the therapy is EXPENSIVE. And, even if insurance will pay a portion of the cost, I would have to figure out how to relocate to California for 8 to 9 weeks with all of the housing/food costs that would occur.

I need to win the lotto. Or sell like 7000 bracelets.

But still, to come out with a good chance of no lasting side effects? Seems like a no-brainier to me. Here's a good article from CBS News talking about Proton Beam Therapy:

CBS News Proton Beam Therapy

So I'm in the process of gathering medical records, talking to insurance, etc. Even if I clear those hurdles I might not be eligible because of my hip replacement. We shall see.

It's hard to not get really excited. But I wan't to be realistic.

So that's where I am today. I'll keep you posted.

If anyone reading this has any experience with any of the therapies I would request that you share. Comments are always welcome.