Hello All! I haven't posted anything for a while. My last post was about getting the NHS to pay for a Choline PET scan which eventually they did. Time and PCa move on. Presently I have been taking part in a MOOC on Prostate Cancer run by Sheffield Hallam Uni' and PCUK which I have found most useful.
Back to my journey. I was diagnosed almost six years ago and chose low dose Brachytherapy which was carried out at the Institute of Oncology St James Hospital Leeds. My last visit was on Friday to see the same oncologist who has treated me over these years and I have now got to know quite well. Coincidentally he was on one of the MOOC webinars as his specialism is radiotherapy. What is of interest is that Apart from the initial diagnosis I have had not seen a urologist.
The news on Friday was not good. The PET in March confirmed an earlier template biopsy which showed that the cancer was back and my PSA has continued to rise. Consequently I have been prescribed Bicalutamide and will have high dose rate implant Brachytherapy to start in the new year.
I realise that this is a somewhat unusual journey and also I feel that I have been lucky in being treated in a specialist setting. I seem to have avoided some unpleasant side effects though not completely so. I also feel lucky in that I did not pursue a radical surgical treatment.
The reason I am writing this here is that I feel I have benefitted from expertise and up to date diagnostic and treatment technology which may not be available to all.
I was 58 years when diagnosed with an aggressive PCa and was invited to take part in an Institute of Cancer Research study with which my son has cooperated. This is looking at the genetics of PCa and it turns out that an uncle who survived WW2 also had PCa. Obviuosly this is long term work which I am told is having some success so the study is to be enlarged.
The impact this latest situation is having on Diana my wife and family is there as I write and the uncertainty of "will it work" will be with us for sometime and having been through it all before is no help because last time the treatment did not cure me. In the years since I was initially treated the treatment regime has changed and moved but there is always a nagging doubt.
More later......