Narrowing down the choices

I'm beginning to break through the fog of, "Your biopsy showed cancer… you have 3 choices, external beam radiation (regular outside the body beams of radiation aimed at the prostate), brachytherapy (radioactive implants), or surgery (radical prostectomy - taking the whole thing out)

As I read more and talk to men who have had prostate surgery, the picture seems to be getting clearer. Surgery looks like the best choice for me.

At first I would say my thoughts were leaning towards brachytherapy because it seemed less damaging to other parts of the body.  My dad's had bladder problems due to damage when he had external beam radiation therapy for his prostate cancer. 

Andrea and I went to the radiation oncologist on Tuesday and he was just such a great Dr.  He listened.  He had answers.  He felt that surgery might be best for me psychologically after knowing what my dad had gone through. (Radiation in 1997 and it came back in 2000.) He also said that surgery or brachytherapy would both be good choices for me. 

My Dr. thought it might take up to 2 months to get an appointment with his surgeon but they called and scheduled for two weeks from now.  It hit me after I made the appointment that I may be doing surgery in just a few weeks as opposed to a few months.  That seemed to make it a little more real.

I hope the timeline is a matter of weeks and not months.  I just want this to be done and over with.

My Dr. told me about an online support group, Us TOO.  I posted a question about my 3 choices and got a lot of input from others.  It has been helpful to hear from others and it has given me quite a bit to research.  I'll post a link on this blog.