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Posted 27 Oct 2015 at 17:15

Hi Sanders
I'm a relative newbie and you can click my profile if you want . I have had RP and was PSA 43 G9 T4 and Lymph spread and now need HT / RT . It was hard at the time to make a decision between surgery or Oncology . And the decision was taken away and I was forced to have surgery in the end . They didn't think my cancer was quite so aggressive and advanced . BUT , if I knew I had to have HT/RT anyway , then I would not have put myself through surgery . You could potentially have two more years of sexual normality by avoiding surgery , if that is something that is important to you .

User

Posted 27 Oct 2015 at 17:20

Hi Sandy,

No need to be downhearted, I believe what you are being offerred is designated 'curative' rather than 'palliative', which is a nice position to be in.

The side effects of the standard external beam radiation are not too bad if you prepare yourself, check out the merits of exercise and a low fibre diet etc.

Some hospitals are already geared up to provide HDR Brachytherapy instead of external beam radiotherapy, and it is relatively mild so far as side effects are concerned, quite an easy alternative.

In earlier posts you were worried about having a fall back plan, the beauty of recent developments is that if you have external beam radiotherapy, and years later PCa raises its ugly head again, then you can give it a second blast with HDR Brachytherapy.

So even if they don't come back and offer you prostectomy there are still plenty of reasons to be cheerful?

Dave

User

Posted 27 Oct 2015 at 20:30

Hi all

I'm not really downhearted Dave just a little confused that one person tells you that surgery is the best way forward only for another to tell you that this may not be possible, It's true that at least I am in the curative category unlike others out there who must be suffering a lot more than myself.

Will ask about HDR Brachytherapy when I meet up with the ucologist at cancer clinic in a couple of weeks to see if this possible.

Chris I read your timeline and it seems such a long journey for you and your family to take, and I appreciate your comment about surgery and 'if only you knew better at the time'. As it is a certainty that I also would need RT/HT even with the removal, hence I am now going down the route of HR/RT. Didn't really want to go down this route as first option due to the fact of the hormonal side of things but it now seems my best and probably only option. Also the sex life side is very important to me, I know that there are still side effects with RT.

Sex life has taken a bit of a battering in the past couple of months since being diagnosed due to biopsy, blood etc. Need to get back on track with that side of things and hope the side effects of HT/RT don't kill it off completely.

Also thanks to Lyn for making me take a step back and rethink surgery as against HT/RT, it made me reassess the pros and cons.

Like I posted earlier the consultant sent a request to the surgeon to see if surgery was possible. I could've started HT today but decided to wait a few days for confirmation that surgery would not be possible, at least then there would be no option.

Ah decisions decisions.

Sandy

User

Posted 27 Oct 2015 at 21:36

Hi Sandy

We all don't suffer the same from side effects so this is just me. I'm now 11 years post RT - 7 years post HT. On a scale of 1 - (poor) to 10 then sex scores 2; incontinence 10 although that comes with frequency issues; bowel score 9.

Even if surgery was deemed feasible at the time I still would have opted for RT/HT on the basis why have 2 treatments. But then although forewarned I didn't except the long term issues of RT/HT.

Think carefully on what will give the most chance of a cure or longer term control.

Ray

User

Posted 27 Oct 2015 at 22:54

Hi Sandy,

As a sufferer of PCa you are entitled to Viagra and/or Cialis etc, but often GP's need prodding before they will issue a prescription, so if I was you I would get off to your GP and get some soon.

Personally I found them a great help in the first few months on HT, although it has to be said that eventually HT tends to kill off your desire.

However it isn't permanent, I do not know how long your Consultant intends giving you HT, in my case it was 3 years in total, and I think the consensus is that you should stay on HT for at least one year after last session of RT?

If you want to understand the science behind it look up 'adjuvant hormone therapy'.

After I had finished 3 years of HT it took a good 12 months before I regained anything like full sexual vigour, and even then I could never guarantee a quality performance, but hey ho, anything is better than nothing.

I think the problem is we tend to look back on our youth, compare our current performance and blame PCa for the difference, if I am honest my powers had been gradually declining long before I was diagnosed.

Best of luck.

Dave

User

Posted 27 Oct 2015 at 23:17

Cheers Dave

Your right if we are honest with ourselves we are not as virile as e were in our younger days.

The consultant recommended 6 months HT then 7 weeks RT followed by another 2 years HT.

Just not looking forward to moobs, plan to up my exercises at the gym to try and stave off the weight gain etc.

It's good to hear of others out there going through the same, although it would be better if we didnt need to be here.

Really good support and knowledge.

Sandy

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