Mr. Michael J. Dattoli

It is to protect others since all bodily fluids are contaminated with chemotherapy for up to 7 days.

Signs of prostate cancer and benign prostate enlargement (BPH) and prostatitis are indistinguishable. No need to panic. Try a couple of weeks of Cipro to see if your symptoms improve which would be more consistent with prostatitis.

The radiation could cause temporary redness which can be remedied best with "Aquaphor" applied to the skin. Also, caladryl lotion may be helpful. Keep the area away from the sun until it normalizes and avoid hat water.

In your colon (large bowel) or intestines (small bowel)? If colon, colonoscopy with biopsy is easy. If truly small bowel (very rare), capsule endoscopy would be used to define the location and a laparoscopic procedure can remove the area in question.

I don't know where your tumor is. If it has not affected your liver, then Tylenol should be safe.

It's very important that he remains hydrated as chemo often causes both GI upset with nausea and vomiting and diarrhea. There are now good medications to lessen nausea and his chemotherapist will prescribe this both as a pill but also IV along with the chemo infusions. While we now how important a good diet is, for now, forget about that and think high caloric and comfort foods (ice cream, milkshakes, smoothies etc...)

I must assume that you underwent at least a hysterectomy? ...maybe also removal of your ovaries. Would need to know your age? While recent data suggests that replacement estrogen does not cause Uterine cancer or Breast Cancer, I would be very reluctant to take estrogen replacement in your case. Eat healthy, take plenty of anti-oxidants and exercise.

Yes, there have been reports, although this is exceedingly rare. The benefits of biopsy will surely outweigh the risk of spreading cancer.

Better look at what to avoid to prevent cancer - red meats and pork have been associated with higher rates of cancer in population studies. High sugar diets and high caloric diets are associated with similar high rates of cancer. Eat more fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts which are not only good for cancer prevention, but are associated with an increase in HTN, Cholesterol and Diabetes. A 6 oz glass of red wine with your dinner is healthy. Don't forget to exercise!

Think of cancers as having millions of different and changing faces. You can only attack "some". This is the problem with cancer vaccines. We are working on them. We've had to use different methods. For example, the HPV virus is thought to be the cause of Cervical cancer in women. So, we do have a vaccine for Cervical cancer and we do this by preventing the HPV Virus (one face)

Hysterectomy. Depending on depth of cancer into the endometrium, a "Radical Hysterectomy" along with the removal of the vaginal cuff and removal of both ovaries

IMMEDIATELY!!

Steroids are often used in conjunction with anti -cancer medications. Sometimes they are necessary, for example, men having prostate cancer are often put on medications that reduce testosterone by shutting down the adrenal glands (above the kidneys). The problem is that the adrenal glands are also responsible for producing corticosteroids (steroids). In this situation, patients must take steroids to avoid an ADRENAL CRISIS. Interestingly, steroids alone have anti-cancer properties.

I assume that you are being treated with radiation? Do you know the stage and aggressiveness of your cancer (as this is important as it relates to "monitoring")? Generally speaking, for unfavorable or high-risk prostate cancer, I recommend quarterly PSA tests for 2 years and then twice annually thereafter.

A necrotic lymph node is typically a node that is filled with cancer and has outgrown its own blood supply.
 

You should visit your Oncologist every 6 months and undergo whatever testing he or she recommends.

Chemotherapy and especially hormonal therapies are often linked to a decline in cognitive function, amongst many other side effects. The longer the duration of the insulting drug, the worse it becomes. He needs to inform his oncologist. Prevagen can help, as can creatine 750mg twice daily.

All too often, a younger man is recommended surgery for prostate cancer and not radiation. The most common talking point among Urologic Surgeons is "your too young and you should have surgery...if you have radiation you cannot have surgery and you will have burned your bridges". This is pure nonsense, a scare tactic and unsubstantiated by mountains of data. The rates of incontinence and erectile dysfunction is relatively high with surgery and using the Davinci Robotic surgery, even within the hands of the top 2 surgeons is complicated by incontinence, ED and most importantly recurrence. Understand that when surgery is performed, prostate tissue is always left behind (leaving cancer) and blood is spilled into the cancer arena co-mingling the cancer with your normal blood which can spread the cancer. This is not the case with state of the art radiation. Most will agree that over time (2-5 years), patients develop gradual ED with "full course radiation' i.e 8-10 weeks. This is not the case, however, with combining radiation with seeding aka brachytherapy whereby you get a little bit of each rather than a lot of both. A meta-analysis in Br J Urol 2012 looked at 15,000 studies comparing ALL prostate treatments and the most curative with the least side effects was indeed combining radiation with seeding and irrespective of age. Moreover, the local control rates are > 95% and so surgery will never likely be necessary (but could be if necessary...the Urologist will then say "no problem"). Please do your homework and don't be fooled by scare tactics!

Also, Vitamin D3 5000-10,000 IU daily.


Michael J. Dattoli, MD