John
Shuey and Patricia live in Texas, USA. He was 62 when he was diagnosed on 16 July,
2007. His initial PSA was 8.8 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 3+4=7 and he was staged
T1c. His choice of treatment was Proton Beam. Here is his story.
PCa was
found in only one of twelve cores. (One of twenty-four if you count the negative
biopsy I had a year earlier.)
Because I wished to be treated at Loma Linda
(long story) and they had a 70 day + waiting time, I opted to receive a 4 month
Lupron shot a few weeks after diagnosis. (Not only does Lupron, one of the ADT
(Androgen Deprivation Therapy) drugs, slow or even temporarily stop the dividing
of PCa cells, there is some indication from European studies that radiation plus
ADT has a better long-term outcome than radiation alone.
A slot opened
up several weeks early, so I began my treatments at LL on 20 Sep of '07, finishing
the day before Thanksgiving.
My only noticeable side effects either during
or after treatment were the normal urinary urgency and frequency and the obligatory
"suntan" on my hips.
As of April of '08, my PSA was 0.77.
John's
e-mail address is: jshuey@shueyfamily.
