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| Each man's Journey is listed under his BASIC treatment. When you click on one of the names to read a particular Journey, you may see one or more different treatments in bold lettering immediately above the Journey text. You will see (Recurrence) if they are due to a recurrence. Otherwise, they will be treatments used in conjunction with the basic treatment, i.e. Lupron with External Beam Radiation or External Beam Radiation with HDRT/Brachytherapy, etc. | |
Active Surveillance Alternative (Natural) Therapy Cryoablation - Freezing Hormone Therapy Radiation - Brachytherapy Radiation - External Beam Radiation - HDRT Surgery - Open Surgery - Robotic |
What are Personal Prostate Cancer Journeys? There is always the need for men diagnosed with prostate cancer to gather all the information they can about the disease and treatments before making that all important decision – what to do about it. Some of the most incredible (and credible) sources for this information are the men who have taken what we call “The Journey.” They not only have experience with being treated (or not treated), but also that “other” experience – dealing with the possible side effects that went along with their decision. This is not textbook information; this is living and breathing information to which everyone should have access. Unfortunately, it is usually confined to the four walls of the meeting room. These Journeys grew out of the desire to reach those men and women who, for whatever reason, prefer not to attend our prostate cancer support group. The first step in reaching out to the community at large was publishing one Personal Prostate Cancer Journey in our local newspaper, The Siuslaw News, each month. That began on April 8, 2009 and has continued uninterrupted. The second step started in September 2010. In an effort to make sure the Journeys didn’t get “thrown out with the newspaper,” they were copied, placed in 3-ring binders and placed strategically throughout the community, particularly in waiting rooms of medical, dental and vision clinics, the local library and, of course, the urology offices in Florence and Springfield. Step three was a natural progression from the 3-ring binders – put them on the web. After all, the Journeys were already written, so it was simply a matter of obtaining a website, finding someone to help set it up and posting the Journeys online. Obtaining the website (www.ustooflorence.org) was easy (and available) and finding someone to help set it up and post our information was also easy – I already knew Travis Virili at my local internet provider, www.oregonfast.net. What you have before you are true first-person prostate cancer Journeys told by the very men who took them. Our hope is that they prove valuable in helping other men following us down the prostate cancer path. There seems to always be a sharp learning curve following a prostate cancer diagnosis and we hope what is included on this website will provide some of that needed information. Will these Journeys take the place of finding a support group to attend? Not for most men. Support groups provide an opportunity to gain up-to-date information and speak directly with men who have been through different therapies for their cancer. It is the give-and-take conversation that is so helpful. However, for those men who will not go near a support group, these Journeys will hopefully provide some benefit. That is our reason for writing them in the first place and for compiling them here. As you read these Journeys, you will notice our support group was referred to as a Man to Man group until the October 2010 Journey. October was the first month following our departure from the American Cancer Society (see ABOUT US TOO FLORENCE for an explanation). From that month forward, our Journeys refer to us as the Us TOO group. We are the same group of men and women, but affiliated solely with Us TOO International. A big “thank you” goes out to the men in the Springfield, Oregon Us TOO We Know Pca Chapter for their contributions to these Personal Journeys. Thanks also goes to Stephanie Kerns, Facilitator of the Us TOO group and Gina Reay, Patient Liaison at Oregon Urology for their support and promotion of this activity. Bob Horney, Facilitator |
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