Health Topics

Taking Advantage of Available Resources

Andrew Schorr:

Dr. Russell, Mike mentioned when he picked up Patrick Walsh's book that he had to put it down pretty quick because he was just terrified. So certainly, and I was diagnosed with leukemia, and I remember that day vividly, and my wife was in tears, and, you know, it was just as low as you can go. And I'm sure many of the people listening have been at that point. You try to pick yourself off the floor. And there are a variety of different cancer types, of course, but typically in prostate cancer do you need to rush into a decision or can you cope with your emotions, get the help you need, get your head screwed on right again?

Dr. Russell, there are people who are terrified. When it comes to prostate cancer how quickly do they need to arrive at a decision or can they think things through gather the information, have a dialogue with one doctor or two or a whole group?

Dr. Russell:

I think there is time in prostate cancer to collect your thoughts, to visit with more than one doc, to collect information from whatever source is most useful to you. A lot of folks understandably go to the internet. And the internet is a little bit like drinking from a fire hose, as they say. There's a lot of information that is unfiltered, and if you look at that information a little bit like a shower head with 50 streams of water coming out of it, only one of those streams may be most appropriate for you, and therefore you really need to talk with people who do a lot in the area of the decease in question, or in prostate cancer in this case, to figure out how to help them navigate which of those many shower streams is the one that you want that's appropriate for your treatment. Because when you go to the internet it's a tremendous amount of information, but it's a little overwhelming, and some of what's out there may be appropriate for the guy next to you with the same diagnosis but for your circumstances may really not be as attractive.

Andrew Schorr:

But it's not like the house is burning down there, typically, with prostate cancer.

Dr. Russell:

No.

Andrew Schorr:

I know with my dad, you know, he died at 92, and it did end up happening from some complications of prostate cancer, but he had been diagnosed like 20 years earlier. And I understand that many men will die with prostate cancer rather from it. So they may be in that category, they may have a more aggressive situation where they need more intervention, but it's not like they need to do something tomorrow, right?

Dr. Russell:

No, I think you're right. Most men from an absolute need point of view have the option to take their time and think about the different options. Sometimes prostate cancer is a life-threatening diagnosis, and other times it's something that really will not limit a person's longevity. But again it's sorting out the nuances, as you put it the art of this as well the science of this that helps you navigate which path and with what urgency is required for you as an individual.

Andrew Schorr:

Right. But you can do that as you make smart, well informed decisions.

Dr. Russell:

Absolutely.

Andrew Schorr:

So, Mike, what would you say to people who are listening who maybe they're still in that shock stage. What would you say to them so that they pick themselves off the floor and begin to look at all their options which now include external radiation where it's precisely targeted?

Mike:

I think having a good faith in my family was so very supportive of me, and they didn't suggest which way for me to go. They just pretty much left it up to me. So like I was telling you earlier my son said, Hey, Dad, you've got it, its there, and now we need to deal with it. So I started dealing with it. I started, like I said, on the internet and then there was some misgivings there that I didn't like, and then I started talking to friends and then went to several doctors. I got quite a few different opinions. And it's really, really tough. It took me a couple weeks before I could actually look in the mirror without trembling or shaving and cut my throat. It was real hard. I lost interest in everything. I didn't want to work out. I just wanted to run down and get a quick pill. Let's get rid of this. Isn't there something somebody could do?

And once those two weeks were up and I started really dealing with it, then things kind of settled down and I had a little bit leveler head and started talking to these doctors and really started taking lots and lots of notes. I keep a journal daily of everything I do since I had my first physical or my physical when they found it. And I can look back and say, well, those first two weeks were terrible but now everything, I seem a little bit wiser and was able to deal with it. So you just got to hang in there and just read everything you can. There's a book that I was given by Dr. Ellis, Prostate Cancer For Dummies, and that was a great book. I started reading that and started looking at all the different options and it explained it very, very well.

But in the final, it's really going to be up to you. You listen to all the doctors, and you pick out little things from each one of them and say, is this right for me. They won't tell you, say, Well, Mike, we need to take it out. And I guess doctors in the past used to do that. That was the way they dealt with it. But now you've got more options, so look at all your options and you're Gleason scores and your PSA and listen to your doctors. They will lay it out for you and say, well, you're at semi high risk, yeah, you could go this way or you could go this way. But in the end it's up to you. You have to sit down and maybe with your wife, not let her make the decision but you make the decision what you can live with. I think I made the right decision, and I can't wait until the first part of this summer or when my next PSA test is and it's down and doesn't come back, because I want to be skiing and water skiing and snow skiing when I'm a hundred years old, so.

Andrew Schorr:

There you go. There you go. You have grandkids, and great-grandkids; you'll have a lot of fun with them. Mike Mckelheer, I want to thank you so much for being our guest on two programs related to this, and taken together I know you've inspired a lot of people. They make other choices, but as you said if they just take on that responsibility, have a dialogue with qualified healthcare providers, know what they feel comfortable with and what the information is, that's all you can ask. And I want to thank you for sharing your perspective on this, and I want to wish you all the best, Mike.

Mike:

Thank you.

Andrew Schorr:

So, Dr. Russell, so you have a whole department in radiation oncology, and as you said it's an exciting time. So even more is coming. You've got the Calypso device now, and you've got these little beacons, if you will, and you've got the system that's interrogating them, and you've got the monitoring that the technicians can do so the radiation goes where it needs to be at that really tenth of a second, which is very exciting. But I know your field continues to evolve. Are you optimistic that really this can just get ever more refined to help people beat the cancer?

Dr. Russell:

Yes, I am. I've been in the field a long time as professionals go but a short time in terms of the history obviously of cancer medicine, but there have been dramatic improvements in the last 20, 30 years, not only in radiation oncology but in surgical techniques, as you've alluded to, as well as a host of new tricks that our medical oncology colleagues have of all kinds. So I'm very optimistic that, like in most things, it will work out for the best when we work together and each of our disciplines plays to its own strengths and enlists the other ones to help out in the areas we need.

Andrew Schorr:

Well, you do a beautiful job of that at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. I want to congratulate you on that. Dr. Kenneth Russell, radiation oncology clinical chief at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and vice chairman of the University of Washington department of radiation oncology. Ken, thanks so much for being with us.

Dr. Russell:

Delighted. Thanks for inviting me.

Andrew Schorr:

Really, it's very inspiring and exciting and I think great information for people.

We're going to have another webcast actually next week with a leader in the field of bone marrow transplant, Dr. Rainier Storb of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, which is part of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Rainier is going to be with us discussing new non-myoablative mini transplants, and what that means is it means that more and more people can have this transmit approach, maybe sicker, maybe older, but it could be curative or give them back many years of their life for some of the more serious conditions. That's coming up on February 27th. A whole library of programs are on the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance website.

Thank you so much for being with us. Remember we'll have a replay and transcripts of this evening's broadcast and the earlier one we did on this subject. As always, knowledge can be the best medicine of all. In Seattle I'm Andrew Schorr. You've been listening to Patient Power brought to you by the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

Please remember the opinions expressed on Patient Power are not necessarily the views of Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, its medical staff or Patient Power. Our discussions are not a substitute for seeking medical advice or care from your own doctor. That’s how you’ll get care that’s most appropriate for you.