Ah. The problem is that there are at least a dozen ways to remove said appendage. It's like an oil change thread, except it's more passionate.

I'm not a doctor, either. But very early on, I did work as an epidemiologist. And I've had my own battle. So just some more perspective:

1) Statistics has great value in making decisions for populations, but is counterproductive in making a single decision about an individual. This is because only populations have averages. An individual's experience is always 100%. Did you hear the one about Schoedinger's cat? As long as the you don't open the box, the cat is 15% dead.

2) There are two dozen techniques for treating PC. It takes a physician ten years to become adept at any one technique. So when you pick out a research paper, don't be surprised if it strongly advocates one technique as vastly superior to all others, with supporting statistics. And when you pick out a doctor, don't be surprised if he pontificates on the value of his technique. Whatever else you learn about this, pick someone with deep experience.

3) The deepest BS surrounds open surgery, because it's the hardest to master. It's also the easiest to screw up. And from the patient's perspective, the toughest recovery, so all that pain must be for a reason. Not saying that's what happened here, but his cancer did recur.

4) PC ALWAYS progresses. The only question for you is whether some other cause of death will win the race.