Since writing my series of articles about my prostate cancer, which you can find on my website at https://georgeasantino.com/book/blog/
I have received several emails and comments of encouragement. I have also received a few emails telling me of other treatment options besides the three I’ve talked about.

Some of these are a little out of the mainstream such as injecting the prostate with cannabis oil, which they are apparently doing in Canada and Australia, and injecting herbs in the prostate, which is being done in a clinic in China. Others are very viable options like High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) and Cryosurgery which freezes the cancerous prostate tissue.

In my last article I told you that I had decided to take the active surveillance route. This would require me to have follow-up PSA tests and another biopsy in a few months. If my Gleason score is still a six I’m told I can continue to wait before treating my cancer.

During my last doctor visit, where I was to have my PSA tested, I decided to ask my doctor about these alternative therapies. I wasn’t surprised that he had heard of all of them. He immediately cautioned me about these new, untested, treatments where things are injected directly into your prostate. He told me about one case where a clinic was supposedly injecting herbs into the prostate of a patient and he had a remarkable improvement. The problem, he said, was that it turned out that in this “herb cocktail” was estrogen which can cause many other problems. The bottom line here is to be very careful when trying new treatments that have yet to be tested or even approved.

So, I asked him about the other treatments that have been tested and are approved like HIFU and Cryosurgery. He told me that these treatments have been known to work but that there haven’t been any long-term studies to determine their lasting effect or any possible side effects. He showed me the NCCN treatment guideline document: https://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/default.aspx
In it, it shows treatment recommendations based on risk factors such as PSA and Gleason score and while it does show HIFU and Cryosurgery as viable treatment options, it only recommends them after other treatments like radiation and surgery have failed.

Now I’m not saying that you shouldn’t consider these treatment options as your first choice. I’m writing about my process and my decision. The current thinking, as far as I can tell is that, at some point, surgery or radiation is the way to go. My decision is to continue active surveillance and if treatment becomes necessary, I will have a nerve sparing radical prostatectomy and I’ll have it done robotically by Dr. Daniel Lin at the University of Washington Medical Center. http://www.uwmedicine.org/bios/daniel-lin

You must make your own decision. Take your time and do your research. Rarely does prostate cancer require an emergency procedure. You have time to make the right decision for you. Lean on the support of your family and friends. By the way, you can find some great stories about family support on the Prostate Care Foundation site: https://www.pcf.org/true/
They also have a great prostate cancer patient guide that is a must read: https://www.pcf.org/guide/

Once you start telling people about your diagnosis you’ll hear a lot of stories about people with prostate cancer and how they had it treated. Some will be the standard, he had surgery and now he’s fine, and some will be he flew to some far-away land and had some new treatment that worked wonders. Whatever you hear, take it in and add it to your database of information. Read everything and talk to the experts. In the end, make the best decision you can for you.

My advice:

  1. Listen to everyone and read everything but this is your life and your decision.
  2. If you decide to do active surveillance remember the word active. Do not skip your follow-up PSA tests and biopsies.
  3. Don’t stress about it. Until you have that next biopsy there is no decision to be made. Don’t worry, it will be here before you know it.
  4. And as I said in the last article, live your life. I have no idea where this is going to go, but in the meantime, I’m going to enjoy the time I have. You should do the same.

George A. Santino helps people who want to break down barriers, including self-imposed barriers, to success. Check out his Amazon bestselling book, Get Back Up: From the Streets to Microsoft Suites.