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User
Posted 23 Jan 2018 at 10:54
After an abortive TRUS in December- I wouldn’t lie still for it- got transferred, biopsied (TP) and resulted within one week
The NHS is brilliant..

Here are my results, to the best of my numb recollection:

17 of 24 cores were found positive for cancer
Gleason score 3+4.

Had a verbal consult with the,er, consultant who proposed either Robotic Prostatectomy or Radiotherapy.

Was surprised, as with a lower Gleason, I thought a less radical approach might be recommended.However, it occurs that Gleason is qualitative, but the core positivity adds a quantitative factor.

This was a chat, and have no T ratings, though a recent private MRI found no spread outside the capsule.

Am now trying to weigh the pros and cons of either surgery or RT, and of course ,having no experience of this, would welcome any input.Certainly every case is different, but with so much info available, I most value any contribution based on personal experience.

I have to meet the teams in the next two weeks, and am a mixture of numb and overwhelmed.

Thanks in advance....
User
Posted 24 Jan 2018 at 07:24

Hi
If you click peoples pictures you can read their profiles. As everyone says , get all the publications on radio and surgery and hormones etc. It has to be your decision. All I would say is that there seems to be NO easy way to treat this disease without potentially life changing side effects. All I would add in your case is that incintinence probs can be long lasting with surgery ( although they seem to be getting better these days ) whereas with RT they are mainly short lived. Just thinking of you traveling and being an actor !! Also I see you are single. Surgery makes you impotent for a very long time , whether they save the nerves or not , and it’s a long old haul getting recovery back. With RT true impotency May never happen until years ahead. HT May cause impotency however. In terms of success at curing the cancer I’m not sure.
I’m wishing you all the best and keep in touch

User
Posted 23 Jan 2018 at 18:29

Hi Antony,


I had a Gleason of 3=4=7 with 5 of 12 cores positive and was offered radical robotic prostate or low dose Brachytherapy and took the Brachytherapy route as i felt in was less invasive and maybe less side affects (click on my Avatar for my progress so far).


I did have a friend that had the same treatment with good results after two years so maybe this helped me make my decision but not before reading as much about it on this site and the internet.


Only you can decided the treatment you need going forward and i am sure other members will be here to help you with advise too.


 


Good luck John.

User
Posted 24 Jan 2018 at 01:51

Hi Antony,

There was a similar post here about options and people's experiences. Link below if you haven't already seen the post:

http://community.prostatecanceruk.org/posts/t14514-Robotic-Surgery-or-Radio-therapy#post175533

I was lucky the urologist told me RT+HT 6 months, was my best option.

Best of luck, G

User
Posted 25 Jan 2018 at 23:13

Hi

I was diagnosed last April after having no specific symptoms of any prostrate trouble. I just kept getting an occasional pain when I passed urine. I went to the doctor who sent me for blood tests and they came back with a raised PSA of 4.3

Following this I had a biopsy and then went in the body scanner and discovered I had the early stages of PC on both sides of the prostrate Gleason 4 and 3.

After discussions with the Surgeon and Radiotherapist and being only 55 years of age I was recommended for robotic surgery. You can have surgery and if that's not successful you can follow with radiotherapy, but if you have radiotherapy first you cannot have surgery after.

The surgery was ok no real bad pain, after an overnight stay I was sent home with a blood drain, catheter in place and blood thinning injections and pain killers.

I had to keep measuring the amount of blood coming from the drain (sounds worse than it was) and then when it had slowed down I went back to the hospital for the drain to be removed.

Don't worry about the thought of injecting yourself its very easy and doesn't hurt.

I had a complication as I had a leak in my bladder and needed 4 cystogram's so the catheter stayed in for 9 weeks, It was a bit uncomfortable but the majority of cases the catheter usually only stays in for 10 days max.

I was dry after 3 weeks.

I'm so glad I made the decision to have the operation and be rid of this terrible disease, today I got the good news, my PSA is less than 0.01 for the third time.

Hope my experiences help you make the right decision for you and I wish you all the best with whatever you decide.

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User
Posted 23 Jan 2018 at 18:29

Hi Antony,


I had a Gleason of 3=4=7 with 5 of 12 cores positive and was offered radical robotic prostate or low dose Brachytherapy and took the Brachytherapy route as i felt in was less invasive and maybe less side affects (click on my Avatar for my progress so far).


I did have a friend that had the same treatment with good results after two years so maybe this helped me make my decision but not before reading as much about it on this site and the internet.


Only you can decided the treatment you need going forward and i am sure other members will be here to help you with advise too.


 


Good luck John.

User
Posted 24 Jan 2018 at 01:51

Hi Antony,

There was a similar post here about options and people's experiences. Link below if you haven't already seen the post:

http://community.prostatecanceruk.org/posts/t14514-Robotic-Surgery-or-Radio-therapy#post175533

I was lucky the urologist told me RT+HT 6 months, was my best option.

Best of luck, G

User
Posted 24 Jan 2018 at 07:24

Hi
If you click peoples pictures you can read their profiles. As everyone says , get all the publications on radio and surgery and hormones etc. It has to be your decision. All I would say is that there seems to be NO easy way to treat this disease without potentially life changing side effects. All I would add in your case is that incintinence probs can be long lasting with surgery ( although they seem to be getting better these days ) whereas with RT they are mainly short lived. Just thinking of you traveling and being an actor !! Also I see you are single. Surgery makes you impotent for a very long time , whether they save the nerves or not , and it’s a long old haul getting recovery back. With RT true impotency May never happen until years ahead. HT May cause impotency however. In terms of success at curing the cancer I’m not sure.
I’m wishing you all the best and keep in touch

User
Posted 25 Jan 2018 at 23:13

Hi

I was diagnosed last April after having no specific symptoms of any prostrate trouble. I just kept getting an occasional pain when I passed urine. I went to the doctor who sent me for blood tests and they came back with a raised PSA of 4.3

Following this I had a biopsy and then went in the body scanner and discovered I had the early stages of PC on both sides of the prostrate Gleason 4 and 3.

After discussions with the Surgeon and Radiotherapist and being only 55 years of age I was recommended for robotic surgery. You can have surgery and if that's not successful you can follow with radiotherapy, but if you have radiotherapy first you cannot have surgery after.

The surgery was ok no real bad pain, after an overnight stay I was sent home with a blood drain, catheter in place and blood thinning injections and pain killers.

I had to keep measuring the amount of blood coming from the drain (sounds worse than it was) and then when it had slowed down I went back to the hospital for the drain to be removed.

Don't worry about the thought of injecting yourself its very easy and doesn't hurt.

I had a complication as I had a leak in my bladder and needed 4 cystogram's so the catheter stayed in for 9 weeks, It was a bit uncomfortable but the majority of cases the catheter usually only stays in for 10 days max.

I was dry after 3 weeks.

I'm so glad I made the decision to have the operation and be rid of this terrible disease, today I got the good news, my PSA is less than 0.01 for the third time.

Hope my experiences help you make the right decision for you and I wish you all the best with whatever you decide.

 
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