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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum
GLD 368.31+0.6%Nov 7 4:00 PM EST
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To: THE ANT who wrote (137654)12/30/2017 3:30:08 PM
From: Lazarus1 Recommendation

Recommended By
Elroy Jetson

  Read Replies (2) of 217629
 
When you're in HMO like Kaiser Permanente (as I was for the better part of 30 years) and you're older - your PCP will generally order a PSA run as part of comprehensive blood panel when you go in for your annual physical.

I had a sweet young female PCP and she preferred not to give a digital exam unless requested - preferred to rely on PSA.

This year I turned 65 and went onto Medicare. When I went in for my first Medicare physical my dr, a young Sikh took my PSA and did a digital exam. PSA was 2.8 but he said my prostate felt hard on one side and he wanted me to see a urologist. Urologist did an ultra sound to see if the hardness might be due to calcium build up - negative; so he did a biopsy which turned up 5/12 sectors cancerous and gleason score of 3+4.

Urologist wanted to do robotic surgery on me (his specialty). I said thanks, but no thanks. The risk / reward profile for surgery did not suit me. Didn't fancy the idea of wearing a catheter or having to wear diapers and all the other potential side effects as well as the generally long recover time.

My father had prostate cancer (around age 70 i thinks) and was treated with brachytherapy (with no further complications) and died earlier this year @ 91. My paternal grandfather had prostate cancer (not sure if treated) and died @ 93.

I'm 65 and having Proton Beam Therapy at the hospital that pioneered PBT in Loma Linda California.

So far, so good. Libido intact. Can still have sex. Very limited side effects so far. Corona beer has always been a favorite but last night tasted a little bitter - possible side effect???

Of course, dr says that I wont have any ejaculate when treatment is complete; so I suppose that'll be like when I wanked pre-puberty: sans juices, but great all the same.

_______

Also - I did have a vasectomy. Wasnt crazy about getting one but wife was done with kids after 6. My wife never took birth control pills and I was never a fan of condoms - hence the 6 kids. I cant say that I noticed much of a difference for myself as far as it affecting my sex life, but in retrospect I suspect all the testosterone I was shooting into my wife may have made her more perky all around (just a guess :)

You have some pretty strong opinions, as we all do, but these days most people tend to advocate for themselves and make their own decisions, regardless of what their dr might tell them. When you read / listen to / watch drs on the internet you discover many of them have their own personal agenda, just as my urologist had when he wanted me to go under his knife (he was not happy I chose another therapy over his "CURE"). Once he found out I was not going to have him treat me he offered recommendation of other drs and clinics UCSF, USC, etc... all places that offered therapies he offered. Ironically, the one he told me to avoid is Loma Linda --- I asked him why and he said "they don't even have a urologist there!". I told him they have oncologist and physicists (more important that urologist when your being treated with protons traveling 1/2 the speed of light).

I had a friend who was a physician that had a LOT of opinions on medicine that were outside the box. He fancied himself a rogue medical warrior. He pretty much had an answer for everything. The truth: he was a shitty dr. ---> the proof: State of California took away his license. Earlier this year he went to gym - had a heart attack and died. Age 55.

#prostate cancer
#proton beam therapy
#PBT
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