Protons

[Guest guest]

Hi Tom Herbert, Fuller is the go to expert when it comes to proton

beam therapy. My husband, Gregg was treated at Loma the same

time as Fuller. Fuller and I " met " before he arrived in Loma

via this web list. Gregg and Fuller shared a back yard fence while

they were in Loma . The treatment plan is typically 44

treatments taking place daily Mon-Fri with the weekends off. In other

words a total of 9 weeks. The treatments last less than a minute but

start to finish you are at the hospital about 45 minutes with the

rest of the day to do as you please. Gregg played lots of golf and

had his motorcyle with him and a proton buddy to ride with. The only

physical side effect during treatment was a strong urge to urinate

immediately about 5 weeks into treatment. This subsided about 4 weeks

after treatment ended.

Pre-treatment PSA was 4.9, 4 months post treatment PSA is 1.2. The

only side effect of treatment at this point in time is a decreased

amount of ejaculate. Sexual function is as good as before and there

are no other issues. Gregg is now 58. His gleason score was 6 with 2

cores positive out of 12, 28% in one core and 5% in the other. We are

Kaiser members and since Kaiser does not cover protons we payed out

of pocket. Loma gives " uninsured " folks the bargain basement

price which is $39,000 and they will arrange a payment plan if that

works. A friend of ours who begins treatment in LL next month

contacted MD and was told that his out of pocket cost would

be $100,000. He is a Kaiser member also. Most insurance companies

cover protons as does Medicare.

If you were on the ground in Viet Nam you are entitled to disability

payments for your prostate cancer as the VA considers prostate cancer

a presumptive illness related to Agent Orange. Gregg has been

receiving 100% disability money from the VA. That will probably come

to an end this month at which time his case will be reassesed and we

expect him to continue to get 20% for life, so long as his prostate

cancer does not come back. As I said earlier Fuller is our resident

proton expert, but I have my own body of information for anyone who

has questions.

Laurel

[Guest guest]

Hi Laurel, Thanks so much for the kind note and for the valuable information. I'll be meeting with my urologist next week and will discuss this treatment option with him along with whatever else he recommends I consider. I'm planning on getting a second opinion -- just taking the results of all the scans and diagnostic procedures that have been done to another urologist and see what he (or she) has to say. I used to live in Los Angeles (on the west side of town), and if I remember correctly, Loma is in that corridor of East Los Angeles out by Montebello and Whittier, is that right? Nice to know, also, that there's going to be another center for this kind of treatment in the Hampton Roads area sometime soon, although that's 3 hours or so away by car. Of course, I could also say that Loma is only 4 1/2

hours or so away by plane. :-) Thanks again for the information. Best, Tom yellow_laurel wrote: Hi Tom Herbert, Fuller is the go to expert when it comes to proton beam therapy. My husband, Gregg was treated at Loma the same time as Fuller. Fuller and I "met" before he arrived in Loma via this web list. Gregg and Fuller shared a back yard fence while they were in Loma . The treatment plan

is typically 44 treatments taking place daily Mon-Fri with the weekends off. In other words a total of 9 weeks. The treatments last less than a minute but start to finish you are at the hospital about 45 minutes with the rest of the day to do as you please. Gregg played lots of golf and had his motorcyle with him and a proton buddy to ride with. The only physical side effect during treatment was a strong urge to urinate immediately about 5 weeks into treatment. This subsided about 4 weeks after treatment ended. Pre-treatment PSA was 4.9, 4 months post treatment PSA is 1.2. The only side effect of treatment at this point in time is a decreased amount of ejaculate. Sexual function is as good as before and there are no other issues. Gregg is now 58. His gleason score was 6 with 2 cores positive out of 12, 28% in one core and 5% in the other. We are Kaiser members and since Kaiser does not cover protons we payed out

of pocket. Loma gives "uninsured" folks the bargain basement price which is $39,000 and they will arrange a payment plan if that works. A friend of ours who begins treatment in LL next month contacted MD and was told that his out of pocket cost would be $100,000. He is a Kaiser member also. Most insurance companies cover protons as does Medicare. If you were on the ground in Viet Nam you are entitled to disability payments for your prostate cancer as the VA considers prostate cancer a presumptive illness related to Agent Orange. Gregg has been receiving 100% disability money from the VA. That will probably come to an end this month at which time his case will be reassesed and we expect him to continue to get 20% for life, so long as his prostate cancer does not come back. As I said earlier Fuller is our resident proton expert, but I have my own body of information for anyone who has questions.

Laurel

[Guest guest]

Carol, Thanks a bunch. Best, Tom Herbert Carol wrote: > I used to live in Los Angeles (on the west side of town), and if I > remember correctly, Loma is in that corridor of East Los > Angeles out by Montebello and Whittier, is that right?Hi Tom:My husband was also treated at Loma from 4/2/07-5/31/07. His was a special case as he has a hip replacement and a

special treatment plan was developed for him. He only had 42 (as opposed to the normal 44) treatments.Loma is about 75 miles east of LA, south of the city of San Bernardino. It's near the intersection of I10 and I215.Hope this helps.Carol