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Robotic surgery?

User
Posted 01 Oct 2018 at 15:28

Hi Key,


My mate Keith lives partially in Cape Town, and you can find him on the Macmillan cancer website, prostate cancer forum with the nom de plume: Caper 4.


Get in touch with him for his take on PCa trestment in ZA. I'm sure he will be happy to help, if he can.


Cheers, John.

User
Posted 01 Oct 2018 at 21:42

I was biased to surgery due to its speed, allowing better analysis and having better options for further treatment, but mostly because of my condition.  My tumour was said at diagnosis to be near the edge close to breaking out and I wanted it out fast.   I wasn't over concerned about side effects.


The surgeon gave me more information, saying it was 13mm at the apex which further increased my bias as the apex is at the opposite side to the bladder so a clean cut might have a good chance of taking it.  To my simple thinking anyway.


After the op it was upgraded to 4+4 although the margin was negative.  This gives me more evidence on my condition than any other treatment would have.  Although the upgrade to 4+4 isn't good, the negative margin is.  I also know it was T2a when I'd been told it might be T3 which is another useful piece of information for me and for anyone looking at my case.


I also think, though perhaps falsely, that being so focused on what I wanted helped to speed it up as the surgeon got me in 10 days after I'd seen him.

User
Posted 02 Oct 2018 at 11:52
It has been said earlier in this thread that all treatments have a similar success rate. This may be true as a generalization but an individual's diagnosis may make it preferable to have one treatment rather than another from a medical viewpoint. A case in point is where the cancer is in the process of breaching the Prostate in which case it may be better dealt with by RT which can reach further than the knife. Surgery could give a better result where the cancer is contained and the individual's cancer cells are more radio resistant.
Barry
User
Posted 07 Oct 2018 at 12:40

my husband is in a very similar situation,his is close to breaking out,of the capsule,he is 100 per sure he wants the operation,but it will take between 4 to 6 weeks,he is going out of his mind worrying that in this time,his caner might breakout,at a loss as how to reassure him 

User
Posted 07 Oct 2018 at 14:23
It is easy to imagine the cancer cells running riot around the body but it doesn’t work like that - prostate cancer is more of a creeper so nothing is going to change in a few weeks. Very different to cancers like brain tumours or lymphoma where someone can be diagnosed and admitted / operated on almost immediately.

Our surgeon advised us to take the space between diagnosis and surgery as an opportunity to get a holiday, have loads of sex and generally gather our heads as it may be a while before any of those things happen again.
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard
User
Posted 07 Oct 2018 at 21:32

Thank you LynEyre


That is reassuring,he hasn't slept since his diagnosis,it's all  been a bit of a whirlwind to be honest,within 3 weeks of having a routine blood test,he' had.had a DRE,mpMRI,Biopsy and bone scan,followed by a diagnosis of advanced prostrate cancer Gleason level 4+5=9,sonow it's going to be a long 4 to 6 weeks,hoping it's nearer to 4 than 6 to be honest


 

User
Posted 07 Oct 2018 at 21:39
It would be better to start your own thread so that replies to you don't get mixed up with responses to Key7. But you should recheck your understanding of the diagnosis; if he is being offered radical prostatectomy in 4 to 6 weeks, he can't have been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer.
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard
User
Posted 07 Oct 2018 at 22:13

sorry the wording is localised advanced prostrate cancer ,The TNM stage is T3,the consultant said his only option was radical surgery or radiotherapy,he also said that ifhe chose radiotherapy first,and it didn't work then,what's left of theprostrate is harder to remove, up to 2 weeks for pre -op,then 4 to6 for op

Edited by member 07 Oct 2018 at 22:21  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 07 Oct 2018 at 22:37
Has he seen an oncologist? It would be wise to get a second opinion on whether surgery is the best idea with a diagnosis of locally advanced PCa. It is true that the prostate is harder to remove after RT but it may be that RT is more likely to be successful. You have a few weeks to make sure he is doing the right thing - if you haven’t seen an oncologist, there is still time to arrange it.
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard
User
Posted 07 Oct 2018 at 22:44

Yes we have,can't fault NHS,everything has been arranged so quickly the've been amazing

 
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