Just for the record- It has been 3 years since the proton therapy and my husband is still quite well. No growth. No issues other than the occasional tinnitus. He's always in good spirits. He still works full time in an intellectually demanding field with increasing responsibilities. He is enjoying bicycling a few times a week-but he complains about how hot it is here and how his friends -who are younger than he is- are biking at speeds of 23-27 m.p.h. , and how, after a couple hours, he's said he has been dropping out of the group on some Saturdays. He will be 59 this summer, so, maybe he's not as invincible as he once was, eh?
For those who are considering proton therapy, please do research for yourself about how the team of doctors you may be considering may have procedures to make it possible for the patient to not disturb the treatment because of possible movement/sneezes etc.
For my husband, there were custom fitted foam "restraints" and also a dental restraint- he bit into a customized head gear thing. I saw how the staff spends lots of time throughout the 6 weeks making absolutely sure that the patient is immobile and reasonably comfortable for proton treatment of the head.
I have photos. If interested, simply send us a personal message and ask us to send you photos of the head and body gear that prevents possible movement during the 28 sessions.
We could also send photos of the time when he gave a little talk about rockets and space to the other proton therapy patients - which consisted of kids from around the world who were being treated with Proton Therapy. That photo is really cute and sad at the same time. (Proton Beam is used for children who have malignant cancer. We met the children and their parents -who traveled- internationally- to get Proton Therapy to save them) Those kids with their profound struggles are still in our thoughts.
Why did we pick the Proton Therapy? My husband has a Masters in Mechanical Engineering and he was impressed by the science of Proton Therapy. He said he was impressed when he read how there is no "exit dose" with Proton Therapy. What this means is when Proton Beam Treatment is done properly, the radiation hits the target and not the surrounding tissue. The normal tissue is spared. This is what makes Proton Therapy different from other radiation. When he saw there were not many studies about proton beam therapy, he talked to those patients here at this forum who had Proton Therapy. He also decided to try to get his treatment by one of the authors of the few studies at the proton therapy center where the study occurred. We contacted the Proton Therapy centers that were connected to the authors of the studies and ultimately selected one, once the insurance issues were finally FINALLY resolved.
As always- best wishes to all.
PS Prostate issues and other issues may or may not be optimally treated by Proton Therapy or may be. We do not know. We did no research about that issue at all because it was not relevant. There could be many variables to consider when researching proton treatment for prostate and other issues.
