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Good News After Radiotherapy

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User
Posted 17 Sep 2014 at 18:13


I invite you to look at my profile to see my background and the limited options available to me. In the end the only option was radiotherapy and I had to undergo 37 sessions in July - September 2013. I am posting this update to give encouragemnet to all facing this treatment. The daily slog to the hospital was a real bind but now that I look back on it the task was not difficult - just an interruption. The real problem was that they wanted an empty bowel and full bladder!. I had problems with the former which meant a daily enema. I also had problems with the latter because although I was drinking loads of water I soon got dehydrated on the tube and had to top up at the hospital. Then I had to wait for the bladder to fill. Sometimes the wait was too long and other patients were taken in, I was then bursting, had to visit the loo and start all over again. Most times I had to break the journey home to pee. A couple of times I tried to make it but failed at the last minute!


Anyway, I got through the process with no other side effects. About six months after the treatment ended I suffed some painless internal bleeding which tests showed was down to the radiotherapy, but apart from this my experience has been great and others I have spoken to wish that they had gone down this route as opposed to surgery.

My PSA has been falling and is now at 0.14. My testosterone has almost got back to normal and the consultant has now put me on 4 monthly visits. I am on no medication and I am enjoying life to the full. I am grateful that the disease was spotted when it was not too advanced to attack and hopefully all will be well for the future.

All I would say is that if anyone else is facing this treatment then my experience of it is positive. So press on and conquer! I would like to thank everyone on this site who has assisted me in my journey.

Edited by moderator 13 Oct 2014 at 09:58  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 17 Sep 2014 at 22:08

Hi John,

Great news everything has went so well for you in the end.

I am currently undergoing 37 sessions of RT, I have completed 33 and only have 4 to go.

I am lucky in that I have had no side effects from RT and the treatment has been a breeze so far.

I am also on HT started in Feb 2013, got some muscle aches and pains in first few weeks but they quickly subsided.

After about six weeks I started getting the hot flushes but they were manageable, 7 months into the treatment they have also subsided.

I have not had any other issues or side effects since.

As you say John, it gives great comfort and encouragement to other people facing this treatment, when they see how well men like you and I have handled it, although I do appreciate not everyone might be so lucky.

Regards,

Gerry

Good luck and best wishes to ALL who are fighting or affected by cancer.

 

 

User
Posted 17 Sep 2014 at 23:44

Hi John and Gerry,

You certainly make me more confident about my upcoming HT (planning appointment next Friday (26th), treatment 2 or 3 weeks after that).  Thanks for that.  Certainly the process of having the treatment seems to have gone very well for you both. 

Just hope the treatment results in the cure I hope for.

I'm praying a lot at the moment.

Steve

 

User
Posted 18 Sep 2014 at 07:05

You have been through a very difficult time John.

A similar story to us - with the 'disappointment' of a failed RP (albeit due to different reasons) and all that that entails.

Best of luck now over the next few years!

Alison

 

User
Posted 19 Sep 2014 at 15:58

I am pleased that my post has been of some help. That was the intention. I too went through hormone treatment, initially by tablets and then by 4 x one monthly injections. I was lucky to suffer no side effects from this and it is all behind me. Good luck to all of you.

User
Posted 19 Sep 2014 at 17:23

Hi John, Gerry and Steve,

I had a poor prognosis in 2005 (PSA 182, T4 tumour) and never thought I'd be around today.

If it's any encouragement to you all, my treatment was cyproterone for a few weeks, then onto Zoladex injections, and 37 sessions of radiotherapy (74Gy).

I ended all meds in 2008 and was able to go 44 months without them.

Since then I have been on intermittent hormone therapy, and am currently almost a year into another 'holiday' without meds.

I am absolutely sure that my radiotherapy was delivered very very accurately, and that I stayed the correct amount of time on HT (for me).

Because of the spread to seminal vesicles, and pelvic wall and floor, a cure was never on the cards, but to outlive my pessimistic urologist's prognosis of two or three years gives me great satisfaction I can tell you.

I am 6 months away from 'celebrating' 10 years of the battle, and I hope to be still around when you three reach that marker too!

Stay positive, and be very pro-active,

All the best.

George

B2PCa
User
Posted 23 Sep 2014 at 19:17

Excellent very positive post George, thanks for that.

Regards,

Gerry

 
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