Brachytherapy going forward

User

Posted 17 Aug 2021 at 14:06

Hi Lyn,

Thanks for your comments it is looking good so far even if i cheated at the hospital getting a PSA blood test but we have lost trust with our surgery at the moment not so much over my case but Pat was let down by a locom doctor over a sist on her neck that we ended up going to A&E with to get treatment but it is a long story but a lot better after checkup at hospital.

Pat is a year on from her hip replacement and very lucky to get it done so soon after the covid problems ,She is getting about a lot better and we are hoping to stay away from hospitals for a while as it seems we have had a season ticket at the Lister for the last three years with her Mother and both of us.

As you said our mate Chigwell/Michael would soon be calling in,Well done Michael with your steady results long may it last, so maybe our experiences may help others making a decision to go with Brachytherpy if their numbers are suitable.

Also a big thanks to Dave64, idol 4,Andy62, and Spaniel, for you comments XX

You have all been a great comfort in strange times and very much like an extended family XX

John & Pat.

User

Posted 18 Aug 2021 at 16:23

Hi John ....great result ... so pleased that your PSA is remaining so low

I guess I was one of the few unlucky ones with LDR Brachytherapy!

I have another appointment with the Oncologist next week so will update every one then

Regards Tom and Colette

User

Posted 18 Aug 2021 at 18:16

Hi Tom,

Nice to hear from you again and still fighting on lets hope your next Oncology meeting can give you a better idea and maybe more treatment options to look at, the numbers are telling me i maybe winning but with this problem we all share we are only one blood test away from a change. I will continue to flush my prostate with wine and raise a glass to a positive result at your next meeting,Take care my friend and keep us up with your results.

Good Luck John.

User

Posted 11 Nov 2021 at 13:45

Hi Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am just boosting my Brachytherpy journey and reasonable progress over the last 5 years after speaking to Ian who was looking for advice and was having problems looking it up.

All well so far and hoping life will get better and settle down again.

I believe with all the other problems we had with looking after elderly Mother in law my wife Pats two operations and covid restriction that prevented us from traveling i think looking back i had very little time to worry about my prostate cancer apart from the yearly blood tests.

I still log in every day just in case somebody needs a little help with their journey.

Good Luck John.

User

Posted 15 Nov 2021 at 17:12

Good to hear from you again John and may your journeycontinue to be a long and positive one

I'm currently surviving courtesy of 3 monthly 10.8mg Zoladex implants and 4 Enzalutamide tablets/day

The main side effects are regular Hot Flushes; Fatigue and frequent trips to the loo but trying to lead as normal a life as possible

Next Blood Test and meeting with Onco on Dec 3rd so will post updated details shortly afterwards

Regards Tom

User

Posted 16 Nov 2021 at 07:54

Hi Tom,

Nice to hear from you again and you are getting some further treatment but it does baffle me what these different pills and implants do are the put into the prostate or some where else.

I seem to be getting on ok apart from high blood pressure and i get a lot of night sweats but only get up about twice a night for a wee on average.

Pat and i have had enough of doctors and hospitals over the last few years with operations etc so both keeping our heads down.

Please keep in touch and let us know how you are getting on Tom as there are not many Brachytherapy guys on here at the moment.

Take care John.

User

Posted 30 Aug 2022 at 09:19

Hi Guys & Girls,

I have just got my yearly blood tests results back after a struggle with the surgery and four week wait to get a blood test .But all good results PSA 0.04 down from 0.05 last year so i will be around to annoy you for a little longer as long as the heart results come in ok.

I am having a 72 hour heart monitor fitted on Friday but not over worried as my new young doctor seems to enjoy sending me for tests like Echo cardiology last week.

Keep safe Regards John.

User

Posted 25 Dec 2022 at 06:05

Wishing all my friends on here a Merry Christmas & a Happy New year.

Thanks for all your support over the last 6 years and three months, could not have got through without you all.

Love John & Pat XXXXX

User

Posted 23 Aug 2023 at 13:10

Hi Guys & Girls,

Well it's been an eventful 12 months but not so much on the Brachy side apart from reaching 7 years since operation and because of me not being happy with the receptionists relaying my results last year as just OK but could not give me test numbers i think they have gone over the top with and e-mail this year with half a page ie

<0.10 UG/l (0.0-4.99) complexed psa no longer available total psa result will not be reported below 0.1 UG/I .So i am taking my psa as 0.10 and last year was psa 0.04 so still a little confused has it gone up or down.

Other good news was our Granddaughter gave birth to a little boy at 29 weeks but is out of hospital and doing well.

I still log in every day to keep up with you all and make comments on the Brachy side if it helps as i believe it was the best way for me. good luck.

John & Pat.

Edited by member 23 Aug 2023 at 13:21 | Reason: Not specified

User

Posted 23 Aug 2023 at 13:44

Good news.

If you want a more accurate PSA reading, you could do one of the GFCT tests by post or local charity. They use TDL who report to 2 decimal places. The range given (0.0-4.99) doesn't apply to you - it's only relevant for a man of your age who hasn't been treated for prostate cancer.

User

Posted 23 Aug 2023 at 15:09

Thanks for the update. I wouldn't worry whether it has gone up or down a fraction. 2.04 is your threshold for biochemical recurrence and you are a long, long way from that.

Dave

User

Posted 24 Aug 2023 at 21:00

Sounds like a good result to me John - I guess it could still be 0.04 anyway if they've stopped reporting below 0.1 so I reckon I'd be having a celebratory drink or two in your shoes! Long may it continue!

User

Posted 25 Aug 2023 at 17:07

Congratulations John on the birth of your great grandson and congratulations on your very steady PSA tracking.

I am always happy to read your inputs and like you I visit the site everyday just on the off chance I could help someone with their decision making.

I am 14.5 years down the line from Diagnosis and never for a moment have I regretted my LDR Brachytherapy choice of treatment. I have been hovering around PSA of 3.5 for the past couple of years and my Consulting Professor, who is currently on strike, don't laugh, says there will be no intervention until and if a PSA of 5 is reached. I have just arrived home from playing Golf which I play 3 times every week and on 8th September will play '100 Holes' in a fund raiser for a local Hospice. I will be celebrating my 4 score years next year and encourage everyone to stay young and beautiful as best they can.

Best wishes, Michael aka Chigwell 2010.

User

Posted 25 Aug 2023 at 17:35

Sounds like your PSA is still very low. Congratulations on the birth of a great grandson and that they are doing well.

Ido4

User

Posted 23 Aug 2024 at 14:56

Hi ladies & Gents,

I have just got my yearly PSA results back with no further action required <0.1 and will not report below these levels, i think it's the same as last year so it's 8 years since low dose brachytherapy and overall not to bad apart from the ED and maybe being 78 this year i will have to accept life as it comes.

I am hoping that my Journey with Brachytherapy will help others with their decisions and what procedures to take.

I log in every day and offer advice if i can but understand the fears and worries of fellow members as it's a hard choice to make while under so much pressure. I had the choice of surgery or brachytherapy and only decided on brachytherapy because i didn't fancy going under the knife and also a close friend had good results and recovery from it.

Regards John.

User

Posted 23 Aug 2024 at 16:53

Great news John.

Dave

User

Posted 23 Aug 2024 at 21:19

Good to hear John.

User

Posted 24 Aug 2024 at 07:06

Great news. I am a little bit behind you. I have my fourth ( 24 months ) blood test next week. So far going in the right direction. I still feel very tired however I’m not sure if that is just my natural laziness. Thank you for your advice and support at the start of my journey. Why don’t you celebrate by having an empire biscuit! 😂
Take care
Dave

Edited by member 24 Aug 2024 at 07:09 | Reason: Not specified

User

Posted 24 Aug 2024 at 09:46

Congratulations both on your new great grandson and your continuing good results John , great to see the good news on here. Its inspiring for us who are at the beginning of our journey to see good outcomes 🤞long may they continue

We have a grand daughter who was also born at 29 weeks, she is 16 now and doing very well. All the best wishes to you all and the little man

Jac & Al

User

Posted 24 Aug 2024 at 09:47

Great result John and thank you for your contributions.👍

User

Posted 25 Sep 2025 at 08:21

Hi Guys & Girls,

Today is my 9th year and after having my recent PSA return as > 0.01 i am well pleased, but where has all the time gone and my life before prostate cancer.

I think i was very lucky that my cancer was picked up early and i try to log in every day to catch up with everybody and make comments. Well life is a little different and coming up to 80 next year is a bit of a shock, yes i am and old man but must accept it.

I hasn't changed my long term expectations and just take one day at a time,We are touring France at the moment and have been to all the WW2 beaches and collected sand and taken photos and found a shop that sell glass jars with the beach names on them to put you sand in.

When you look at the amount of men that lost their lives on the first day it life into a different prospective ,we have reached Brittany after the first three weeks and have till 28th October for our return home.

Keep up the good fight and good luck with your treatments and remember i am happy to answer any questions about Brachytherapy .

Regards John & Pat.

User

Posted 25 Sep 2025 at 08:41

Happy 9th anniversary John! Pleased to hear it's going well on all fronts - long may it continue! 💪

User

Posted 25 Sep 2025 at 08:50

Hi John.

Great post, mate.👍

I shall have a pint to celebrate your 9th anniversary. 🍻

I've always enjoyed reading your posts and they must be particularly useful to those choosing brachytherapy.

Ford55 has just taken that route:

https://community.prostatecanceruk.org/posts/t32005-Post-Brachytherapy-LDR-op

User

Posted 30 Dec 2025 at 18:09

Wishing you all a brighter 2026

Just wanted to say that I had Brachytherapy early December. Managed to go home same day.

It is early days for me & so far trying to cope with having more trips to the loo.

Kind regards

Nick

User

Posted 31 Dec 2025 at 10:26

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

Wishing you all a brighter 2026

Just wanted to say that I had Brachytherapy early December. Managed to go home same day.

It is early days for me & so far trying to cope with having more trips to the loo.

Kind regards

Nick

Congratulations on the treatment Nick - very normal to have increased urgency and frequency in the first few months at least. It definitely helps to make sure you're taking the Tamsulosin/Alfuzosin as prescribed.

Good luck with the journey and if you're so inclined, it's always useful to have people document it in the Treatment section (however brief any regular updates may be). Often, people get treated successfully and then disappear and newcomers to the forum are left wondering what happened....did it work? Did it not? What happened after?

It's invaluable to hear about as many experiences as possible, good and bad (although mostly, people only repost if there's a problem because understandably, there's a desire to 'put it behind you and get on with life' if/when it all works out - the problem with that is it leaves people who find their way here and are newly diagnosed/deciding on treatment with a less than full picture.

Happy New Year, here's to 2026 being a belter! 🤞

User

Posted 31 Dec 2025 at 10:28

Hi Nick,

Great news it sounds like it all went ok as did mine. You will have some discomfort for a while but it's early days and you will find it will feel a lot easier as the weeks and months go by.we are getting a few members taking the Brachytherapy route and i think the overall procedure will have improved since my operation in 2016.If you have any questions going forward that i can help with please just ask. Good luck with your recovery and have a great 2026.

John

User

Posted 31 Dec 2025 at 12:02

Thank you guys

I will update on my progress. I sincerely appreciate the kind words & hope that I can now do the same for those thinking of taking the same treatment.

I saw recently on the BBC news that Aquablation therapy will be available to remove excess prostate tissue, using heat free, high pressure water jet. This sounds exciting & much less evasive treatment & potentially much less side effects for those that have enlarged prostates / BPH

Happy New Year ALL

User

Posted 01 Jan 2026 at 12:20

Morning Nick and Happy New Year,

I had my Brachytherapy in Sept 2025 and have posted a couple of updates since.

Slowly but surely I'm feeling like my former self. Less trips to the toilet, fatigue a lot less and yesterday ran for 40 minutes.

I wish you and yours well on this journey, all the best.

User

Posted 28 Sep 2026 at 11:40

Hi Guy's and Girls,

On the 25th of this month i was 10 years since my Brachytherapy but i have been unable to get my latest PSA blood test.It seems my surgery have referred me back to the specialists at my local hospital trust and i am still awaiting a appointment from them the moment.

I received a letter last January telling me that i was being referred back to the hospital and should ring them in march to get up dates.As the dates got nearer to my annual blood test i started ringing ever month and was told they are running behind with appointments but would call me soon. I was signed off by the specialist in 2021 and told that my local surgery would take over the annual test in future.

Has any one on here had similar problems with blood tests or unhelpful hospital trusts.Apart from that i am pretty good health wise,Just the getting older and slowing down that comes with my 80 years.

Regards John.

User

Posted 28 Sep 2026 at 15:51

Hi, John.

It's disgraceful, mate, that there are these stupid disputes as to who is and who is not responsible for your PSA tests. I suffered the same myself. In my case, it was all put down to budgeting constraints. I nearly handcuffed myself to to railings on the ramp to my GP's surgery just to show how ridiculously frustrating it is for the patient.

I hope that when you get it sorted, the results remain very favourable. 👍

Edited by member 28 Sep 2026 at 16:04 | Reason: Typo

User

Posted 28 Sep 2026 at 16:06

Hi John,

Hope you get sorted soon.

Not good for you and not a good look for the medical staff involved.

Cheers, Ford

User

Posted 28 Sep 2026 at 16:50

Thanks Adrian and Ford it does seem a crazy situation since covid my surgery only seems to contact via sims messages and when i had my annual blood pressure check they only ask for one reading as against a week of blood pressure readings twice a day before and then a text message saying all good see you next year.

I will start ringing the hospital every week till i get it sorted.I am more annoyed than worried about it as my numbers have been zero for the last few years but if they start doing it to guy's on here that start to panic if they can't get psa tests and send them back to the specialist in the hospital.

John.

User

Posted 28 Sep 2026 at 21:19

Did the GP say why you had been referred back?

User

Posted 28 Sep 2026 at 21:56

Hi franci

The reason in the letter only says the PSA blood test is not covered by the surgery so i am referred back to specialist at my local Hospital trust for a PSA, a lot of work for a blood test that was taken at the same time as my annual tests since 2021.I have become very unhappy with my surgery that i have been with for over 25 years.

John.

User

Posted 29 Sep 2026 at 03:03

I have an arrangement whereby my treating hospital say how often I should have a regular PSA blood test and I arrange this with my GP to have this a week or so prior to my telephone check up with hospital and if I am to have a check up MRI in London. So it's down to me to book the blood tests. The results are then posted in 'My care' under notification and I can mention to my treating hospital when they check up on me by phone or I attend for MRI.

Barry

User

Posted 01 Oct 2026 at 13:32

I just had the LDR variety 3 months ago. Just wondering, did you experience any sort of pain during urination? It seems that my issue occurs during the night. I need to go at least 2 times during the night. It actually hurts, a sort of burning pain during the 1st few seconds. The pain decreases after a bit, but this is getting worse I feel. During the day, I am going fairly pain-free. Did you have anything like this after your procedure?

User

Posted 01 Oct 2026 at 22:54

how long did you take it for?

User

Posted 01 Oct 2026 at 23:20

Hi Ric,

I had some discomfort and urgency for a good few months after LDR BT but I wouldn't have described it as painful, more just annoying.

It may sound obvious but are you keeping fully hydrated before going ro bed? My dad who also had LDR BT was his own worst enemy and thought if he didn't drink as much before bed, he wouldn't have to get up as much - after about 10 years he realised that wasnt true 🙄

Are you taking Tamsulosin? Have you tried taking a couple of ibuprofen before bed?

I'm 100% non medically qualified but for me, if you're doing all of those sorts of things and still have more than 'average' discomfort, I would reach out to your GP - they'll probably want to rule out uti/bladder infection etc and probably give antibiotics as a matter of course. After that, there's other drugs that may help.

Also be aware that you're probably in or at the start of peak symptoms from the radiation. That could last another 12 months but will hopefully subside with time. Despite that though, dont suffer in the hope it will improve, seek proper qualified advice if you have any doubts.

User

Posted 02 Oct 2026 at 09:42

Hi, Ric

i had not real pain maybe a little discomfort but the only pills a took was Tamulosun for the first 7 months but

didn't need any of the pain killers they supplied.I was getting up four times a night and still get up once or twice a night but with no urgency it's just become habit or it could be the wine.I think i have had a good run over the past 10 years with no problems i can relate to the Brachytherapy apart from the ED of course but that could be age related etc, and bowls have never been better.I think you are early days yet but it may pay to mention the pain to the specialist when you see them next.If you need any other question asked no problem and good luck it does get easier.

John.

User

Posted 02 Oct 2026 at 10:29

So I had my procedure on June 9th, funny how that date just lingers in my memory. My Gleason score was a 3 + 4, and actually I could have rolled the dice and waited to see if things would get worse, but the problem was that if things did get worse, I would have had to take more extreme actions to remove the cancer. I am taking the Tamulosin twice a day. Did you take the two pills as well? I read the other comment about making sure to drink more fluids before bed. I think that I will try that because, as his father said, he didn't want to add any more liquid than necessary in order to keep the bathroom visits down. At the present moment, it's only during the night that I feel the burning sensation, but not so much during the day.

User

Posted 02 Oct 2026 at 11:48

Hi I think you done the right thing I was PSA 2.19 and Gleason 3+4 and was offered robotic surgery or brachytherapy at the time and i was given Tamulosen and pain killers only.I think a lot of things have advanced in the last 10 years and they present the results in a different way. I have seen a few reports on here about people being offered active surveillance on 3+4 and it going wrong so i am very happy not waiting and getting it sorted.

John.

User

Posted 02 Oct 2026 at 12:03

I did a lot of research on the different types of procedures, and in the end, brachytherapy was always the best choice for lower-grade prostate cancers. I might add that this procedure also had the fewest side effects. It was kind of funny when my oncologists suggested that I have a prostatectomy. I said, without hesitation, that would not be happening, and that I was headed for brachytherapy. He was quite shocked that I even knew the word.

User

Posted 02 Oct 2026 at 12:16

Hi Much the same happened with me the Robotic specialist went through the procedure with me at my local hospital and seemed surprised when i asked about brachytherapy and said i could see the brachytherapy specialist that was at the hospital at the same time and then go back to see him after.

The Brachytherapy specialist took a look at my notes and said he could not see any reason why Brachytherapy would not be a good option but i would have to travel to his hospital the Mount Vernon near London and the rest is history.

John.

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