DR GALLEHUGH: As a diagnostic radiologist, I’ve had very little experience with cancer therapy, except my own. As you know, the only therapy we do is with a catheter.

I was diagnosed with carcinoma of the prostate, and in choosing my own therapy I took an approach that was somewhat different than what most people do.

Incidentally, I was called on Christmas Eve by my urologist, and he gave me the diagnosis over the phone. We talked about that earlier today. It didn’t bother me a bit, because I was also being treated for Lyme disease, and the Lyme disease was so devastating that anything else didn’t make a difference.

I told the urologist that I wanted interstitial therapy because right after I retired, I joined an NAIC investment club. They meet once a month and somebody presents a stock. One month during the mid-nineties, one of the members presented Theragenics.

I didn’t know much about this company, but after he presented it, I went back and studied Theragenics and learned that they make cyclotron-produced isotopes, one of which was palladium 103. They also make iodine 125. I studied those two isotopes carefully and realized that patients treated with either of those two isotopes had significantly improved outcomes.

In the back of my mind I said, “If I ever get prostate cancer and I’m under 70, I’m going to have a radical prostatectomy. If I’m over 70, I’m going to have interstitial therapy with palladium 103.

When I was diagnosed, I was one month from 70, so I said, “That’s close enough. I’m not going to have a radical prostatectomy.”

I knew the radiation oncologist at the University of Kansas was absolutely set on iodine 125 and he was not going to deviate, so I wasn’t even going to talk to him about it.

I called the Theragenics Corporation in Georgia and explained my situation and asked them if they’d be kind enough to send me a list of the radiation oncologists in the United States who bought the most palladium 103. They were kind enough to do that.

This list of radiation oncologists included one in Scottsdale, Arizona, where we spend the winter. I didn’t know anything about this guy, so I called one of my friends who is a family practitioner and asked him to call four of his urology friends and ask, “If you had carcinoma of the prostate and you were going to have interstitial therapy, who would you go to?”

Three days later, he called me back and said, “You know, they all said the same guy. They gave me the same name, all four of them.” It was the guy in Scottsdale, so I thought, “Well, he probably is pretty good.”

I searched the medical literature and the first paper he wrote reported 500 cases. I looked further and a second paper reported 1,500 cases. I thought, “That’s enough. I’ll give this guy a try.”

I called him up and went to see him and he said, “Your prostate is too big for interstitial therapy.” It was 72 millimeters. He put me on hormonal therapy for six months with the intent to do a palladium 103 implant.

I had hot flashes of dynamic proportions, but I didn’t want to die so I suffered through the flashes. After six months of hormonal therapy, the gland was down to 40 millimeters.

I had my palladium 103 implant, which was uneventful, and everything since has been uneventful. It was an unusual method of selecting therapy and an oncologist.

DR LOVE: I thought it made a helluva lot of sense. From a patient education perspective, maybe more people ought to be doing that.

What was your life like on hormonal therapy?

DR GALLEHUGH: As I said, I was being treated for Lyme disease at the same time, and Lyme disease is devastating. I had no energy and was completely devastated. Except for the hot flashes, I’m sure it was the Lyme disease, not the prostate cancer, but it was a fairly miserable six months.

DR LOVE: How long ago was that?

DR GALLEHUGH: Two years.

DR LOVE: How are you feeling now?

DR GALLEHUGH: I’m feeling fine. All of the Lyme titers are negative, including spinal fluid.