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What to expect after brachytherapy - brachytherapy,side effects

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User
Posted 18 Aug 2017 at 10:42

Hi everyone.

I would just like to reach out and find out as much as i can about brachytherapy and what to expect in the years to come.

My dad has recently been diagnosed with Prostate Cancer and he is on Hormone treatment as well as the one mentioned above.

Because we don't live together , i rarely get to see his side effects and wanted to ask anyone who has been through the same course of treatment to please enlighten me on what you went through and what i should expect.

When he was diagnosed, they told him he had 3 years. After going to his oncologist, they advised him that the treatment will help etc.

My biggest fear is that me staying to positive will do more harm then good.

I make sure to be positive when i am around him but deep down i feel like i am dying inside.

Ill just summarize what it is exactly i would like assistance with:

- What should i expect from here on out?

- Any advice for me as to how i should and can cope with this.

- anything you might think is relevant :) 


i appreciate everyone reading this.

 

Regards

Patricia.M

User
Posted 18 Aug 2017 at 13:21

Hi Patricia,

First of all you have not given us an idea of his diagnosis ie Psa,Gleason score etc, if you click on my avatar it will show you mine and the treatment so far.

If you are suitable for Brachytherapy the specialist will explain it to you depending on your scores.

I had mine in September 2016 with PSA 2.19, Gleason 3+4=7 and nothing outside the prostate, the operation was at Mount Veron over three days ie in on the Sunday Operation on Monday and sent home on Tuesday as long as i could pass water, it worked out well with me with a little discomfort walking and sitting but with a couple of pain killers it went well with some urgency to pass water that got better over the next few weeks.

I am now 11 months on and doing well with PSA dropping well,hopfully other members on here will come along soon to give you their views too.

 

regards John.

User
Posted 18 Aug 2017 at 13:48

I think there has been a misunderstanding somewhere. Either your dad misunderstood what the doctors said, or perhaps it wasn't passed on to you quite correctly.

Brachytherapy is a curative treatment, suitable only for men that are diagnosed in the early stages of the disease. It would not be given to a man who only has 3 years to live.

Has he actually had the brachytherapy yet?

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User
Posted 18 Aug 2017 at 14:23

There are two types of Brachytherapy, low dose with radioactive seeds that are left in the Prostate or high dose where radioactive needles are placed in the Prostate and are then withdrawn. Either of these can be supplemented by some fractions of External Beam RT. It would be helpful to know just what treatment has been administered.

There are a lot of imponderables such as the type of PCa Dad has, (there are at least 27 different types), how far and where the cancer and how extensive/advanced it is and how resistant to radiation.

HT generally can continue anything up to 3 years or until the cancer finds a way round it which can be for months or years. Where the cancer is advanced it is likely that a man will remain on it for as long as it works. There are then other possible treatments which in some cases are tried earlier.

Chances are that Dad will be more affected by the side effects of HT. Some of these can include premature fatigue, loss of muscle power and aching limbs, swollen breasts and nipples, loss of libido and erectile dysfunction,and mood swings. Not all men experience these or to the same intensity.

I would not wish to give false hope but we have many men on this form who have lived well past the predictions of their oncologists and new down the line treatments are being introduced or soon will be.

I hope you feel Dad is in good hands.

Barry
User
Posted 18 Aug 2017 at 20:28

I also found it difficult to understand why a man with a 3 year prognosis was bing offered Brachytherapy but noted that Patricia seems to be in South Africa and possibly her Dad is also, if not near her. If this is the case, I wondered if it might be that they have a different criteria for administering Brachytherapy there, though not what would have in the UK.

One other explanation which seems more likely and follows Lyn's reasoning, could be that Dad was being given HT for 3 years, not that that was a guestimate of his remaing years.. Should this be the case, it puts a quite different and more positive slant on his situation.

Barry
 
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