No symptoms at time of PSA, but recent flurry of male family line diagnoses. Biopsy result was a Gleason Score of 3+4=7 with 50% involvement in 2 of 6 cores.

I tried to argue for AS (Active Surveillance) but doctors convinced me not to be stupid. Chose HIFU (High Intensity Focused Ultrasound) over Da Vinci [RALP (Robotic Assisted Laparoscopic Surgery)] as prospects for minimal side effects seemed somewhat better.

HIFU in June 2010, in Bermuda performed by Dr Scionti of NYU, also affiliated with International HIFU. Good recovery with no side effects. Follow up PSA however trended poorly so new biopsy six months post-treatment. Scores were 3+3=6 in several cores so went back to Bermuda for salvage HIFU in April 2011.

Recovery progressing well with no side effects. Now we need to see what three and six month PSAs bring.

Post salvage HIFU 3 month PSA <0.10

6 month PSA 0.35 Still less than 0.50 so we will see what the 9 month PSA brings.

Nine month PSA was .01 so back on track for good recovery.

I am now 15 months post-salvage HIFU and my PSA appears to be hovering below the .5 action point for HIFU

The truly good news is no side effects, which I suppose is even more remarkable after a round of salvage treatment.

Late 2012 brought a PSA surge to 1.2, and while biopsy, MRI, etc., were negative, the clear concern was that with very little residual prostate tissue remaining, only a malignancy could explain that number.

So back to treatment in February, this time with beam radiation, TomoTherapy, image guided etc. for 40+ sessions

The radiation team was excellent, and I had no burns or any other side effects, other than being a bit tired by the end.

Recent PSA is .1, which everyone, me included, is happy with

Things have gone well since the salvage EBT with Tomo - Therapy in Feb-March 2013.

PSA has been below 0.10 for last two quarters and now on a six month monitoring program.

No news being really good news, last year has been no news, with PSA continuing to drift downwards, below 0.05

Things going well 3+ years from last treatment.

Nothing remarkable happening.

Nine years from diagnosis.

Things going well

quiet

Going well

John's e-mail address is: jgmcandrews AT gmail.com (replace "AT" with "@")