Lessons Learned thru August 6 2017

These are the Lessons Learned so far in my journey thru Prostate Cancer and the discovery of Proton Therapy
​Thru August 6, 2017  

​LESSONS LEARNED

After turning 50 get your PSA checked annually.   
VERY IMPORTANT:   Make sure you know what NOT TO DO BEFORE YOU TAKE THE TEST
Click Here to Read

If your PSA is over 4.0 your physician will recommend and refer you to a urologist.

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​You will get a (DRE) Digital Rectal Exam and most likely your urologist will want you to have a biopsy.    (It is our suggestion NOT to do this at this time- Read articles below)    

Resist the fears of making a quick decision on treatment.  Urologists will want you to move fast
(Read articles below).   We took our time and did not until we had researched fully all of our options.  
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Read these two important articles  

Science says not all cancers Need Treatment right away  Click here
​
You've Got Prostate Cancer - Now what??  Read this First 
​ Click Here
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Request a MRI of the prostate before any biopsy is done.  This enables the doctors to go right to the suspect area of the prostate (if there is one) before any biopsy.

If a biopsy is needed after your MRI request a 3D Ultrasound Overlapping biopsy, enabling them to go to problem area and not miss any bad areas.

Treatments available:
**  A)  Active Surveillance * (My Favorite) *
**  B)  Proton Therapy (UFHPTI Facility Jacksonville)
      C)  Surgery - Last Resort
      D)  Brachytherapy - Seeds
      E)  External Radiation - Photon
      F)  Cryotherapy - Freezing
      G)  HIFU (High Intensity Focused Ultrasound)
      H)  IMRT  Internal Radiation
**  I) NATURAL REMEDIES  - have lots to share - check back later

Note:  Drs. want to move quickly and will pressure you to make a decision ~~ the average time a person is undergoing surgery after meeting with a urologist is 48 hrs!!!    Do not let this happen to you until you understand what the effects of this surgery or radiation are.   OUR Quality of Life is the reason we took the time to research all of this and did not move right into surgery or radiation.   

We share with you our recommendations for US and OUR Quality of Life - we are not Doctors and by no means are trying to tell you what to do - we are only sharing our research with you so you can make your own decisions.    I wish someone would have done this for us as it is very time consuming researching but we and YOU are worth it!!   We made several bad decisions not knowing in the beginning what to do - we don't want anyone else to make those decisions without knowing the facts as we know them now.