In view of unreliable information that goes about freely on the internet (as shown in the previous parts of this series), even in governmental sites, we were surprised, in a positive sense, to spot, in particular, this page from nccn.com:
http://www.nccn.com/treatment-summaries/prostate-cancer/localized.html
NCCN stands for National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of 21 centers around the US.
My friend - who lives precisely in the US - has prostate cancer; in nccn.com, there is this first alert about this type of cancer:
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, but immediate treatment may not be the right answer for everyone with this disease. See the NCCN treatment summaries for more information.
When my friend told me about his condition, his first words were that his treatment was about to start. This very well reflects how eager patients tend to be once confronted with such diagnosis. Not to mention the ones close to him, i.e., his family, friends...
Even though I was immediately taken by grief once I knew about his being sick, my style of behavior is one that favors right courses of action; indeed, so stated my teacher of motivational sytles of behavior a number of years ago. Besides, several other occasions proved that to be right.
On the very day he gave me the news, I composed a piece of writing addressing psychological issues, especially affection and uncertainty. You can read it here:
Is there still a brighter side? friendship, mood and fate
My friend replied early the following day (7th), saying that my text was great. He also revealed he was in a stopover from an international fight across continents. All this meant to me important information about his health, as it is his style to be very shy regarding talking about himself.
To sum, he was very friendly in that short email, which he closed with "lots of love". That remains today his last email to me, despite my sending him several others that started questioning the choice of treatment he has made, strongly influenced by his doctor, of course.
Shortly after this last email of his, still on 7th, I posted him a message telling him to take time off; take care of his diet, energize, regain the inner vital energy we most of the time let go down to virtually none. In sum, I told him there was a 'third option' (besides surgery and radiation). I then also antecipated the negative reactons of his wife and friends to his 'quitting' radiation. Yes, he put surgery aside; the reason for that is a main point I will return to in this very text.
I was aware of how badly he might take that advice of mine, but my point was strong and comes to an end by asserting that that third option was the right way to interfere with fate, which has a close link with my first writing after his diagnosis.
Only after all this I felt the need to do some research, which led to my writing this series "How to lie with medicine". On the second day of my research, I found the NCCN site, which does consider what we have called 'the third option' - or the very option my friend seemed totally ignorant about.
As we quoted from that site already,immediate treatment may not be the right answer for everyone with this disease.
Would this be the case with my friend?
Before discussing that, we wish to stress that the emotional responses to a cancer diagnoses is bound to be more intense than the effects cancer itself may be then producing. It is certainly the case with my friend, still in perfect shape to stand long fights. In such emotional distress, my friend spoke of gods - which he was never to do before, and also welcomed prayers, which he said were - every single one - needed. This clues from his messages indicate the strong transformation he was passing through, due to his "sentenced to cancer", what we now feel worse than being just sentenced to death.
Cancerstruck, patient and his relatives accept whatever they are told by doctors, while god enters their discourse. Despite the fact they are not gods, doctors are not any fools. They make such stressed people sign an informed consent to the treatment.
My friend was sent the first two parts of this series (and will be sent this third one). Still, I heard nothing else from him. I am deeply affected by the idea that he may be already under treatment. He may be taking strong radiation, if he is stuck in hospital. A treatment I am now sure is far from the best in his case.
What made me come to this conclusion is detailed in the next part.
While you await the release of it, think over this, also extracted from nccn.com:
Your doctor should also tell you how often his or her patients have complications from treatment. The percentage of patients who eventually have bowel or bladder incontinence or impotence after therapy given by a particular doctor is an important consideration in selecting the doctor who will take care of you.
So the text says doctors are not equally competent. And my friend was told by his doctor that he would be surely impotent on a permanent basis, after surgery,,, The same with incontinence. And the risks of both are 'high' with the other option (radiation).
My friend could not realize that was not inescapable statistics, but an indication of what happened with the patients of that doctor.
More in the next part.
