Treated 2001 • Posted 2002
“From my very first call to Loma Linda I have been very pleased with the information and help I received. From finding housing to all aspects of the treatment, everything was very positive.”
I was diagnosed with prostate cancer on September 22, 2000. My PSA was 6 with a Gleason of 4+3, or 7. After proton treatment my PSA was 0.1 and after the four-month check up 0.11. After the second checkup at eight months 0.1, and the same after my third checkup at one year.
After being diagnosed, my local urologist recommended surgery, seed implants or just wait and see - none of which I liked. Fortunately my wife's sister had a friend who had treatment at Loma Linda and was very pleased with the results. I went and talked to him and found out that he had been in Rochester to have seed implants done when his son, who is a veterinarian, got information off the internet about Proton treatment, and persuaded him to check it out. When he asked his doctor at Rochester about Proton treatment, the doctor asked, “ Where did you get this information? He said, “ From a veterinarian.”
From my very first call to Loma Linda I have been very pleased with the information and help I received. From finding housing to all aspects of the treatment, everything was very positive.
I was fortunate to have a sister that lives in Carlsbad, which is only about an hour and half from Loma Linda so I was able to stay there from the consultation at LLUMC until I started treatments. Then I found excellent housing in Colton which was only about a fifteen minutes from the hospital.
The doctors, nurses, techs and social workers I dealt with were outstanding. I can't thank them enough for the encouragement and friendship they provided. The few side effects from the treatments were minor and as my doctor said, “ Nothing that can't be fixed.” There was nothing that stopped my wife and I from doing anything we wanted to do. Where else can you go to have cancer treatment and have a vacation? The weekly support meetings were very helpful on what to do and how to keep busy. If you let yourself get involved you don't have time to get discouraged or lonesome. You are with a group of people that are in the same situation you are, and you can make some very good, life long friends. I feel that the decision to go to LLUMC was the right one. I would encourage anyone who is facing the decision about treatment for cancer to contact Loma Linda Medical Center.
Eldon Palasek - Fullerton, Nebraska
Email: palasekedon780@gmail.com