YANA - YOU ARE NOT ALONE NOW

PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT SITE

BRONZE

Frank Adsit and Vicki live in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. He was 59 when he was diagnosed in September, 2009. His initial PSA was 2.4 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 6 and he was staged T1c. He is undecided as to his choice of treatment. Here is his story.

During my last annual visit to my GP my bloodwork revealed that my PSA had gone from 1.7 to 2.9. My GP recommended seeing a urologist and having a 2nd PSA. That test revealed my PSA was 2.6, but the Urologist thought that was still a fairly dramatic change and suggested I have a biopsy to check further.

I had a 12 core biopsy taken. 10 of the cores were clear, 1 showed a 3% malignancy level, and one showed a 50% malignancy level.

The urologist categorized me as a T1c and evaluated my Gleason Score as a 3+3=6.

I've done a lot of work reviewing information on YANA, thanks so much for all of you sharing your information, and have also joined the BOB group. We have a Proton Center right here in Jacksonville and I'm investigating the potential for that treatment.

Right now, I'm trying to decide between Seed/IMRT (Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy) or Proton. I understand the advantages of the Proton treatment as being much more targetable with less collateral damage, but even the 15 year Loma Linda study points to a 90% success rate in early detections. My radiation Oncologist has cited a 93-95% success rate, and is pretty down on Proton Therapy.

I've heard from a number of people about both treatments, and their voices do share +/- to both plans.

Insurance issues may dictate the Seed route.

 

UPDATED

November 2009

 

 

Sorry that I haven't been in touch of late.

It has taken me this long to learn from Humana that my request for PBT was denied due to it not being part of my group policy. I've spent the better part of 2 months with Humana and my Provider going round and round regarding denials, "no consensus" claims, and the like and have been ferried between a number of different groups within Humana: Clinical Intake, Health Help, Claims, Customer Service.

So now I've learned that I have to go through a Grievance Committee and I wonder if any of you have suggestions as to how that letter should be crafted.

Thanks, Frank

 

UPDATED

January 2010

 

 

For whatever reason, my insurance battle with Humana ended positively when I received a call out of the blue letting me know they had approved my request for Proton Therapy.

I had been in discussion with them since September and was told "not a chance" over and over as I worked closely with one of the insurance aides at the Jacksonville Proton Center and with Jean Chase of BOB. On a Monday in Dec I was told my case was closed and it wouldn't be reopened. That same Friday, as I was putting the finishing touches on my Grievance, I got a call from them indicating they decided to approve my request. Thank goodness I kept a running record of all my phone calls, and managed to get conference calls within the departments of Humana to clarify and point out conflicting information. I found that the different departments did not have access to the same information, and decided that rather then have me put on hold while they discussed items, why not ask for conference calls so I too could be involved in the discussion. It was an arduous and roller coaster ride and I'm thankful I had so many people praying for my success.

Last week I got all of the prep work done: CT scans, bone scans, Pelvic MRI's (both regular and nuclear contrast) as well as the CT and MRI simulations at UFPTI. How could I almost forget that I also had the marker implants lodged around my prostate. All of these tests were done with a great deal of professionalism and were no problem. I marvel at the rhythms that are created in the MRI machines and found myself drifting to the Islands, Techno music, and other wonderful soundtracks while inside the machine (might as well make good use of any distractions)

My first PbT treatment is scheduled for Feb 2 and it will be interesting to see how that progresses.

Frank's e-mail address is: adsitf@comcast.net