HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Dr Patrick Walsh book

Support Forums
>
Prostate Cancer
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted Yesterday 12:06 AM (GMT -5)
After reading the many posts that suggested Dr Patrick Walshs book "Surviving Prostate Cancer" I ordered a copy.  Before the very small rise in my PSA levels at my last test I had read a little over half way through the book.  I found it very detailed and thought it contained very good information.  I wish that I had had the opportunity to read this years ago as I would have known much sooner what was going on with the cancer thing.  I plan on getting copies for both of my sons, getting them to read it will be the tough part.

The very small rise in psa prompted me to continune reading which brought me to the sections dealing with what we all hope not to hear, rising psa levels after surgery.  As one of the gleason 8 bunch with high psa pre-surgery, I found that I had to put the book down and walk away a few times.  The "What happens if psa comes back again", pages 385-390 did not help the stress levels.  After reading this area several times, I did notice that the charts are several years old, with as they note, "worse case scenarios.  The chart on page 389 really shows  how gleason scores, doubling times and time before recurrence can really affect survival projections.  The postive thing was that for most prostate cancers the long term outlook is very good.  As one post that I read quite a while back said concerning the book, some parts of the book can be a bit scary depending on your numbers.

As with other medical problems in the past, I have always wanted to know what was going on and would ask "ok, what happens next if this doen't work".  I have done this during my prostate cancer journey and this book has given me what I would call a good overall view of where it is, and where it could go.  I am now checking out the latter part of the book which deals with different treatment choices, with the hope they will not be needed. 

Overall I am glad that this book was recommended and that I bought it.  It covers many things that those with any level of prostate cancer need to know to be active in their treatment decisions.

Bob

-

 

Posted Yesterday 12:28 AM (GMT -5)
Bob,

I, too, consider the Walsh book to be the best reference book available for many stages in the journey.

The Strum book is good, expecially before primary treatment, but I consider it 2nd best.

All others I've seen I consider to be at the 3rd best or lower.

best regards

added later:  I hear that Dr Myers' book on Diet/Nutrition and HT is outstanding, too, but I haven't read it.

Post Edited (Casey59) : 2/5/2011 10:49:19 PM (GMT-7)

Posted Yesterday 12:54 AM (GMT -5)
Bob, in looking at your history I noticed something that men considering AS, Active Surveillance need to be aware of..You had a 18 core biopsy which revealed a Gleason 6 cancer which many consider to be low-grade and not very threatening..But surgery revealed it was really a Gleason 8, a completely different animal...These upgrades seem to happen more often than we like to admit and great care must be taken before committing to AS...

As for Dr. Walsh's book, it has been "The Bible" since it was first published in 2001. Some find it's treatment recommendations are slanted towards surgery but the overall information it contains is invaluable.

Your PSA numbers are all "undetectable" and are within the range of error for the ultra-sensitive test. Walsh by the way prefers to use the standard test as he feels it saves much needless anxiety...

Another book you might find useful, just out, is Gerald Chodak's "Winning the Battle Against Prostate Cancer", an abridged version of Walsh's book that strives to be unbiased in it's presentation of all the treatment options available TODAY...

Best of luck to you...
Posted Yesterday 10:22 AM (GMT -5)
Fairwind said... Bob, in looking at your history I noticed something that men considering AS, Active Surveillance need to be aware of..You had a 18 core biopsy which revealed a Gleason 6 cancer which many consider to be low-grade and not very threatening..But surgery revealed it was really a Gleason 8, a completely different animal...These upgrades seem to happen more often than we like to admit and great care must be taken before committing to AS...   While this thread is about books, I can’t help but remark on Fairwind’s comment about Active Surveillance … PSA Doubling Time (PSADT) has been reported as perhaps the strongest predictor of clinical progression, and is a key indicator for treatment for those following AS.  With Bob’s rapid rises in PSA, through multiple measurements showing repeatability, he was not a candidate for AS. Bob’s case is another “success” case, perhaps for many reasons, but including the success of AS criteria weeding out non-candidates, in this case for PSADT. Furthermore, we didn’t see (from this thread) what percentage of cores was positive for Bob, or what percentage of cancer existed in those positive cores…we we really have absolutely no idea whatsoever whether Bob might or might not have every been an AS candidate from those key perspectives. Uninformed comments about AS, as in this post, in my opinion, are akin to suggesting to someone that it would be unsafe to drive down the wrong side of the road …duh!  More harm (by inciting uninformed fear) than good.
Posted Yesterday 11:48 AM (GMT -5)
Bob,

I read the Walsh book cover to cover, more than once, in the year before I was diagnosed. I still use it as a reference point in all my PC thinking. Yes, some of it can be scary to read, and sometimes I find myself avoiding pulling it off the shelf to look up something.

My oldest son is almost 34, and I tried to get him to look through it. He thumbed my copy and then gave it back. I think with what has been happening to me, he doesn't really want to think about it in that much detail. He has promised to get an early baseline PSA test, but still hasn't done it.

If a person could have only one PC book, there is no doubt in my mind that it would be the Walsh book. Whenever they update it again, I will ready to buy it.

David in SC
Posted Yesterday 12:29 PM (GMT -5)
I generally suggest that one first check the local library for a copy, although at my town's library it is always on the reserved list.

My copy was a gift from a local Prostate Cancer support group. I think I read it straight through in the week after my biopsy results came back.

Posted Yesterday 3:47 PM (GMT -5)
Just wanted to add some more information for Casey 59.  Casey, the first bio that I had was 12 core, PSA in the 11 range.  All cores neg.  The doctor insisted that I didn't have prostate cancer even when the psa hit 19.  I bailed to Mayo where the doctor said that he didn't think that I had cancer.  Upon my insistance that something was wrong they did a bladder scope.  Upon completion of the scope they wheeled me straight to another room and did an 18 core bio.  The doctor called me a day later and said that they found cancer in 1 out of 18 cores which was 3+3 gleason 6.  The cancer amount shown on the bio. report is less than 1 mm.  As he said this was a very small amout of cancer. 

I inisted on having the prostae removed which showed a tumor size of 1.4cm (just over 1/2 inch) gleason 8.  The doctors comment was that the path. report explained why I had such a high PSA.  No one could explain to me how 30 cores could miss a 1/2 inch size tumor.

I had tried to have my first doctor remove the prostate over a year before just because of the trouble it was causing.  He said he could not do so without evidence of cancer. 

I think that my situation with the fast rising psa indicated something major was going on and AS would not be in my best intrest.  For someone with a very slow change in psa AS would be an better choice.  My main thought is that you really don't know what is in the prostate until you take it out and examine it.  This is a choice that those with prostate cancer have to make depending upon there individual situations.

Bob

Posted Yesterday 4:42 PM (GMT -5)
Bob,

I understand your situation with your high and fast rising PSA. I have been in that situation from the beginning, a fast rising PSA with no sympton, no Prostate or urinary problems, no infections. This is why my uro insisted on a 3rd biopsy for me so close to the 2nd one, he knew something was causing such sharp increases. AS for me would have been a death wish. If I hadn't listented to my doctor, and waited a full other year for the 3rd biopsy, there's no telling how I would have been staged.

David
Posted Yesterday 5:10 PM (GMT -5)
Thanks TwoTall...That is all I was trying to say...With somewhere around 50% of the positive original biopsies returning Gleason 6 pathology, MANY men can 'fall through the cracks" and wind up on Active Surveillance believing their cancer is slow-growing and harmless when in fact that is simply not the case. This board is FULL of histories where G-6 turned into something worse when the entire organ was biopsied. ..Most men FEAR surgery and radiation (for good reason) and are predisposed to AS if at all possible. Nothing wrong with that, but one must be very careful and follow the rules and get those follow-up PSA tests and biopsies which many men seem to have trouble doing...

As for Walsh's book and all the PC books, eBay is a good inexpensive source. Some cancer treatment centers give them away...
Posted Yesterday 5:12 PM (GMT -5)

 

I pretty much get smacked down every time I mention it, but by all means, read Walsh's book. Then get a copy of Surviving Prostate Cancer Without Surgery by Bradley Hennenfent. Walsh's book is very informative, but I am very very glad that I read the other one before making a treatment decision.

Posted Yesterday 5:23 PM (GMT -5)
Scardino
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply