MSNBC.com writer Mike Stuckey was diagnosed with prostate cancer in April. He chronicles his battle in "Low Blow," a series appearing on MSNBC. Excerpts below.
Link: Low Blow: A guy's toughest choice - Low Blow - MSNBC.com
I had barely begun to digest my diagnosis of prostate cancer when a whole new plate of terms was thrust before me: radical prostatectomy, brachytherapy, watchful waiting, proton beams, cryotherapy.
Welcome to the prostate cancer treatment buffet, where the presence of so many chances for a cure seems too good to be true and, for me, it is. Because there’s no consensus in the medical community on a gold standard treatment for prostate cancer, a patient must choose his own. Welcome to hell.
While the biopsy was painful and nerve-wracking, and the news that I had cancer invoked fear, having to pick my own treatment has easily been the most agonizing part of this ordeal so far.
...I have five reasonable choices: watchful waiting, often going by the term active surveillance these days; surgery done one of two ways; or one of two radiation treatments.
Comments