I do understand your fears Rich, but they are stats and as we know, we aren't numbers so we may well not be one of those stats.
OK, your consultant said you had a 50% chance of 10 years.
When you've been a member of this site for any length of time, you'll see advice regarding the continual improvements of treatments, whether new or tweaking of old ones for better effect.
So, assuming the worst and for you in those 10 years, in that time, research will continue and should changes happen there may well be other tools in the box that can be brought out.
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User
Rich, you might also regard those elderly statistics as posing a challenge for you to beat. I felt this way when on another site (YANA now), it became clear that nobody diagnosed when I was with my numbers was still alive! Perhaps there will be later stats including "rule breakers" like me. BTW, the only rule with PCa is that there are no rules, often said by the late revered founder of YANA.
AC
User
I sort of get what you are saying but a cancer appointment is highly emotive and there is loads of research data about the proportion of what a doctor says that is actually retained. So, what did the surgeon actually say? I thought that he told you the nomogram predicted a less than 50% chance of the surgery being successful - the nomogram predicts the likelihood of getting to 12 months, 5 years and 10 years without needing salvage treatment. As far as i know, it doesn't predict whether you will live for 10 years. Plus the reason they have offered you RT is because that had a better than 50% chance of success .... ie a better than 50% chance that it will be curative and you will not need salvage treatment NOT that you have a 50% chance of being dead in 10 years.
If you are unclear about what was actually said, you could ask the consultant to put it in writing for you.
Most of the data suggests that you are here because of your lifestyle when you were a young child and the lifestyle of your parents, grandparents and great-grandparents and the society around them - the main genetic link is simply being born male rather than female.
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard
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Rich, there is nothing arrogant about meeting a challenge. It's called living. You have to remember than the garnered stats are old and you cannot assume that all covered by them adopted the positive approach to overcoming this condition, exhibited by your turbo training campaign. That way lies healthier living. Good on Yer, mate! Oh, my training was scientific, too, but I majored on maths, so I retain a healthy disrespect for statistics as I know how badly they can be gathered, summarised and used!
AC
User
Hi Rich
Seems I have similar 'scores' to you - G9 (4+5), T3a N1 M0, but had a notably different treatment recommendation to you (see my profile). Interestingly, my onco didn't even mention any survival stats for which I am strangely grateful. I haven't asked either. Although stats may give some idea, they are far from definite. I think my view is that I am my own personal stat, whatever that may ultimately be. I shall leave that in the lap of the medicos, my own way of living life and a general optimism that I will try to get the most out of whatever the future holds. I wish I had the energy for turbo training! As it is I try to fit in rock climbing or walking in the Peak District whenever the rock is dry and the body is willing.
cheers
Graham