Thanks Loose Rivets
They make you tough in Canada! I take my hat off to you. Suffice it to say that I have heard from many men how painful it was. We can anaesthetise the eye with various local anaesthetic blocks so we rarely give a general anaesthetic, and limb blocks do the same for the hand, but in the case of this biopsy it is usually just infiltration and not as effective
You are absolutely right that we have been ignorant about how anaesthetics work, but we are now learning fast. However the general anaesthetic you would receive for this is very very safe and the expected outcome is no effect of more than a few hours. I really dont want people to go through distressing and painful procedures out of a fear of longlasting affects that dont exist for most cases. And 78 is not old nowadays. We dont stop people having anaesthetics on the basis of age.
Brachytherapy is another treatment as is Cyberknife. Radiotherapy does have side effects. That is why it is important to ask which treatment can be used, the risks and the benefits.