Hopefully, this will be of some interest to those who may go down the same route. As Roy L said in a different post, it will be useful to swap notes.
Firstly, some background.
Prostate removed in 2012, rising PSA (to 0.6) led to salvage radiotherapy in March 2014.
After RT, PSA stayed at 0.6 and the oncologist/urologist said that he was a bit puzzled by this.
I asked about diagnostics and was told that a PET scan was possible but (a) There was a good chance of nothing showing up or, (b) something showing up which couldn't be dealt with. My response would that I would view an (a) result as a bonus and if a (b), then I would prefer to know, rather than not know.
The result of the choline PET scan revealed that my prostate bed was clear but a lymph node was 'glowing' The onco stated it was too near a main artery so he was reluctant to operate but he would refer me to the local NHS radiotherapy dept to see whether further RT would be a possibility.
I was referred by the local hospital to Mount Vernon with a view to Cyberknife treatment on the lymph node but there were barriers in the way. Firstly a matter of funding. It is VERY expensive and secondly eligibility. As I was given to understand, Cyberknife is only available is there is no other spread. Fortunately, my requirement for treatment coincided with the government releasing more funding for Cyberknife.
In order to proceed, I was required to have a further, more recent PET/MR scan (at UCH) and PSA. Having cleared that hurdle, I needed to have a MRI scan (at MV), all with the aim of indicating there was no further spread, and in the case of the MRI scan, to assist with planning in the event of being allowed to proceed.
To my surprise, the MRI results were returned very quickly (within a couple of hours) and to my relief, got the go-ahead.
I have now completed my treatment and will follow this post up shortly with a description.
Dave
Not "Why Me?" but "Why Not Me"? |
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Dave
That is a really informative post, there must be a lot of men pasting this into their notebooks for future reference.
The procedure sounds very comprehensive and hopefully with very few further SEs to endure.
I will be watching out for your progress report.
Thankyou so much for sharing.
Xx
Mo
User
Hi Dave,
Good to have got all this under your belt - am following with much interest . I am awaiting an opinion from two other hospitals on whether they believe my suspect pelvic node is cancerous and if considered so how they would treat.
Barry |
User
Crescent, that's great news - worth all that persistence x
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard
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User
Hi Dave
Thanks for the update. Here's hoping for a great result for you. I can totally understand your concerns, as once you have a bad experience it stays with you, I am not looking forward to holding the cups of water for that time myself. its good to now that even with an increase in GYs it doesn't seem to have affected you, so I am hoping for the same result, please keep us all updated on your progress as it helps us all.
All the best
Roy
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Hi Dave,
Good to have got all this under your belt - am following with much interest . I am awaiting an opinion from two other hospitals on whether they believe my suspect pelvic node is cancerous and if considered so how they would treat.
Barry |
User
Crescent, that's great news - worth all that persistence x
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard
|
User
After my consultation, things moved swiftly.
Straightaway, I was given a CT scan with a contrast agent and told that once planning had been completed, I would be called forward for treatment.
A couple of days later I was telephoned and given details of my appointment - treatment would consist of three sessions on consecutive days. As I lived quite a distance, I was invited to make use of the accommodation on site that is available for cancer patients. From consultation to start of treatment was about 10 days!
Cyberknife as it's name doesn't suggest, is high precision radiotherapy. (I believe Cyberknife is a trademark and it is more generically known as Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) )
The radioactivity 'shots' are delivered from many angles. Because this and the ability of pin-pointing the target much high doses of radiation can be delivered - my dosage was 33 GYs delivered over the three days.
On arrival for the first day's treatment I was greeted by the unwelcome news that I was to have another CT scan. Normally something I would take in my stride but this time the memory of the previous CT scan was still in my mind. Suffice it to say that it was again undignified and chaotic and totally unrepresentative of the excellent care that I received in the Paul Strickland scanning suite and in the Cyberknife suite.
Prior to the Cyberknife scan I was required to drink two cups of water.
All clothing was removed and I changed into a hospital gown. The patient lies face up on a platform on top of a semi-flexible cradle which help to maintain position.
Some patients have tiny markers called fiducials implanted near the tumour to use as targeting points; I didn't but I understand that the position of my spine was used as a reference.
Once started the flexible arm of the robot moves slowly over and around the body, there is no indication of when it is 'firing'
My treatments lasted approximately 50 mins each. Keeping still for that time wasn't a problem although I did wonder what would happen if I sneezed or got cramp.
There are less side effects. The skin shouldn't be affected as the beams are spread over a large area ( I was shown an image of the hits and it seemed similar to a reverse planetarium with my outer body as the globe with the stars on it but converging on the projector as the target)
I am not required to attend Mount Vernon again but in due course I will have a PSA test locally and hopefully this will gauge the effectiveness of the treatment.
Dave
Edited by member 08 Nov 2015 at 12:21
| Reason: Not specified
Not "Why Me?" but "Why Not Me"? |
User
Dave
That is a really informative post, there must be a lot of men pasting this into their notebooks for future reference.
The procedure sounds very comprehensive and hopefully with very few further SEs to endure.
I will be watching out for your progress report.
Thankyou so much for sharing.
Xx
Mo
User
Hi Dave
Thanks for the update. Here's hoping for a great result for you. I can totally understand your concerns, as once you have a bad experience it stays with you, I am not looking forward to holding the cups of water for that time myself. its good to now that even with an increase in GYs it doesn't seem to have affected you, so I am hoping for the same result, please keep us all updated on your progress as it helps us all.
All the best
Roy