The "New" Prostate Cancer InfoLink Social Network
A Service of Prostate Cancer International
-
Paul Kowalczyk
- Male
- Fort Collins, CO
- United States
- Share
- Blog Posts
- Discussions (21)
- Events
- Groups
- Photos
- Photo Albums
- Videos
Paul Kowalczyk's Discussions
Paul Kowalczyk's Page
Gifts Received
Paul Kowalczyk has not received any gifts yet
Latest Activity
Good for you Rolly! Piece of mind and cancer free. Sounds like a winning combination. Do what you need to do to fully recover and keep spreading the good word.
Paul, I was very Blessed to have a Urologist who gave me all my options, he gave me a book to read that educated me about My d=isease, Treatment, and recovery. He also recommended the DaVinci Prodecure. I am so happy I chose it. Much less invasive a…
Thank you Pam. For a 2nd opinion, I visited Dr. Eric Klein, the Chariman at the Cleveland Clinic. If and when I have to have surgery, I'll most likely go there. I like my chances with Dr. Klein, they are ranked #2 and it's close to where I grew up a…
I realize that this posting is from June 09, but you mentioned Johns Hopkins, so I decided to reply and give you some further info. My husband, who is 50, was diagnosed in 7/09 with gleason 6 T1c on biopsy. After researching MDs and options, he deci…
I think Bob T refers to Physician to Patient (P2P), one of the Prostate Pointers groups sponsored by Us Too.
The starting point is http://www.prostatepointers.org/mlist/mlist.html
Click on P2P.
Regards,
Steve J
Paul,
You're welcome. I hope you're finding a supportive community in the various on-line resources. I had the benefit of the advice and experiences I mentioned earlier as well as places like phoenix5 and ustoo. There is an on-line place where pati…
Bob,
Thanks for the information and for telling me your story. I am doing my best to cope with the uncertainty but feel comfortable with my decision. My recent 6-month PSA came down to .75 from my previous .91 reading and my free PSA was .22, meani…
Hello Paul,
My situation is markedly different from yours but I think you can learn something from it. You've gotten lots of great advice here especially about "watchful waiting."
I was diagnosed in October 2007 at age 56, had DaVinci RP in Decemb…
I'd like to recommend that you take a look at Dr. Catalona's website to get his educated views on many of the issues being discussed. www.drcatalona.com
Anil:
625 robotic surgies is not actually that many over a 6-year period. Many real specialists may do as many as 300+ procedures a year. HOWEVER, it is almost certainly the case that Dr. Thomas's caseload would have been affected by Hurricane Katr…
Comment Wall (8 comments)
- At 12:11pm on October 7, 2009,
Bryan Caldwell said…
- Paul,
Great to hear from you. You have made a choice you can live with, that is the most important thing. Taking the steps you are in regards to diet and lifestyle are key as well. I'm sure you will update your situation on this site, it has been a blessing to me.Take care of yourself and God bless.
Bryan
- At 11:42pm on October 5, 2009,
Deb s said…
- after getting the results today( cause with brach you will never know for sure) he was so elated and glad that he knows its out of his body. so food for thought. do the research and stick to john hopkins and sloan and the bigger centers who specialize. Joh hookins website under health alerts has a report thatsa free called 7 keys to treating prostate cancer its very informative.
- At 11:39pm on October 5, 2009,
Deb s said…
- My husband got diagnosed this past feb just turned 50 and had his surgery in august.original diagnosis was t1c gleason 6 almost 10 cores involved some 50-90 %. anyways got the results today and it was all clear no lymph involvement, marigns neagative and he went wide. Urinaary is non issue but have ED which is to be expected. is going to start on low dose cialis and will keepp you posted psa was .02. i researched the crap out of all of this but i can tell you that had i not pushed and did the research on brach vs RP my husband whouldve done brach HOWEVER
- At 6:13pm on October 5, 2009,
Bryan Caldwell said…
- Paul,
Have read up on alot of the posts you have gotten in regards to your question. Where in the process are you now? From a very simple point of view it looks as though it comes down to your tolerance of knowing you have cancer in your body and how long are you willing to leave it there.
I am 46 had a RLRP on 8/19/09 was gleason score 3+3=6 24 cores with one core involved also with high grade PIN in many of the cores. My recovery is going excellent and I will go into detail if you are interested. Our ages are very close as well as our scores. Many of your questions were the same as mine. You are doing just what you should be...getting alot of information. Of course at some point you have to pull the trigger and not look back. Look forward to discussing this with you.
take care Bryan
- At 7:48pm on June 24, 2009,
E. Michael D. ("Mike") Scott said…
- Paul: You might want to also read an article that appeared in JAMA the other day. It's about the relative merits of different types of treatment as applied to a patient rather older than you, but it might still be helpful. Click here and also click here to get the details.
- At 11:16pm on June 23, 2009,
George A. Brown said… - Hi Paul,
I am a neighbor down the front range from you in Centennial, CO. Click on my picture for info. If you do come to Denver, I would be happy to have lunch with you and introduce you to some of the guys from our local support group. Welcome to the site and there are lots of friends, support and info here. Leave me a comment about the lunch. George
- At 10:21pm on June 23, 2009,
E. Michael D. ("Mike") Scott said…
- Re HIFU ... It is investigational in the USA and so would need to be done in context of a clinical trial. Be careful. If this interests you, you want to have it done by someone with lots of experience. See article on the main site.
As with all investigational forms of therapy, the patients who do well with it think it is the most wonderful thing ever. However, HIFU is known to have complications just like every other form of treatment for localized prostate cancer ... especially in the hands of inexperienced physicans.
- At 7:12pm on June 23, 2009,
E. Michael D. ("Mike") Scott said…
- Dear Paul: Welcome to the network. You will find LOTS of opinions here -- and even some good answers to certain questions, but in the end you are going to have to make some decisions "with a little help from your friends" because there are likely to be no "right" answers about what your treatment should be.
So ... Let's begin at the beginning ...
-- You show every sign of having low risk, organ-confined, localized prostate cancer, which means that almost all options are viable, including radical prostatectomy (of various types), brachytherapy (of two types), external beam radiation therapy (of several types), cryotherapy, and investigational therapies such as high intensity focal ultrasound.
-- If I run your numbers through the Kattan pre-treatment nomogram, it projects that: you have a 58% probability of indolent disease; a 91% probability of organ-confined disease; a 99% probability of progression-free survival at 10 years if you have surgery, and a 98% probability of progression-free survuival at 5 years if you have brachytherapy.
What does this mean?
Well it does men that you have a very high probability of success iof you have curative therapy. And it also means that you probably don't have to make any decisions in a hurry. Therefore, the first thing you might want to do is go get a second opinion somewhere. You certain can go onto an active surveillance protocol while you think about what you want to do. The doctor can monitor your PSA and other indicators while you come to some decisions.
With respect to adverse events of treatment, the only way that I know to avoid these is to make sure you get treated by someone with the highest possible degree of skill and experience. Even then there are no absolute certainties, but physician skill and experience (usually 100+ procedures of whatever type each year) is a critical factor in being good at whatever that specific doctor does as his/her preferred form of treatment.
Join the "Younger Men" Group and ask for opinions.
Profile Information
- Have you been diagnosed with prostate cancer?
- Yes
- What brings you to the New Prostate Cancer InfoLink social network?
- Prostate cancer diagnosis
- Would you help us grow the network? Would you tell others about it?
- Yes
- About Me:
- As a newly diagnosed prostate cancer patient (51 years old, PSA of 0.97, T2a, Gleason 6 (3/3)), I’m struggling with treatment options. Is it best to have radical prostatectomy as my urologist suggests? I have no family history or symptoms but had a nodule (that was ultimately found to be benign) that led to two biopsies (two of 38 core samples came back < 5% positive). Then I read that at least one male in six has PC and that small amounts of low grade PC are known to be present in up to 30% of the general population over 50 (PCRI Insights August 2003 vol 6, no. 3 by Mark Scholtz, MD Prostate Oncology Specialists citing two other studies) creating more anxiety about over-reacting and being too aggressive. Maybe ADT or watchful waiting is best despite my young age. A small part of me is still in denial and wonders if my cancer will be aggressive or passive to the point where monitoring my psa levels for awhile might not hurt. But if I do have cancer that's more aggressive, when do I reach the "danger zone" with reasonable assuance that I should have treatment and that the cancer hasn't spread beyond the capsule?
About
Selected Papers
Need InfoLink cards?
GENERAL DISCLAIMER
The "New" Prostate Cancer InfoLink's Social Network is intended for informational and educational purposes only. It is not engaged in rendering medical advice or professional services.
Any person who appears to knowingly render medical advice or promote a professional or commercial service on this site may be removed by the administrators without notice.
Information provided on this site should not be used for diagnosing or treating any health problem or disease.
The "New" Prostate Cancer InfoLink is not a substitute for professional care. If you have or suspect you may have a health problem, please consult your health care provider.
Any person who appears to knowingly render medical advice or promote a professional or commercial service on this site may be removed by the administrators without notice.
Information provided on this site should not be used for diagnosing or treating any health problem or disease.
The "New" Prostate Cancer InfoLink is not a substitute for professional care. If you have or suspect you may have a health problem, please consult your health care provider.
Events
© 2009 Created by Arnon Krongrad, MD on Ning. Create a Ning Network!
