Hi Dan.
Sorry you find yourself in this situation. It can really mess with one’s head until one adjusts to the reality of it. I’m the Jonathan that Jane2000 described in her reply to your post. I’ve now been living with prostate cancer for one and a half years having endured a full year of intensive treatment initially. Our initial PSA scores were identical at 38 but I have the very good fortune that no spread of my cancer was detected beyond the prostate. Mine was such an aggressive form of the cancer however that it was felt that some undetectable spread of the cancer was likely to have taken place and my treatment plan reflected that. I was deemed to be young enough and fit enough for my oncologist to throw literally everything at my disease: hormone therapy, chemotherapy, brachytherapy, then radiotherapy. I would imagine that your own treatment plan will feature two or more of these treatments, as the other well-known treatment of prostate removal is generally not the course of action followed if there is any suspected or identified spread of the disease. Please don’t despair at your diagnosis. There are a wide range of treatment options for the management of prostate cancer even if absolute elimination of the disease is not necessarily an available option at the moment (prostate cancer treatment is a rapidly evolving art and new treatment options are constantly in development). The immediate availability of hormone therapy upon diagnosis is a real blessing, as it generally halts any disease progression during the phase when one is awaiting the formulation of a detailed treatment plan tailored to your particular cancer, personality, physical characteristics and treatment preferences. You are likely to be offered a degree of choice in terms of your treatment plan although it is equally likely that your oncologist will make recommendations. For some it would appear that making these choices is a particularly stressful experience. For me personally it wasn’t. I had great trust in my oncologist and felt happy to follow his recommendations having been presented with all the relevant statistics relating to the outcome probabilities of each treatment. I am neither cured nor in remission at the moment, as I have at least 18 more months of treatment ahead of me. I am however entirely happy with the course of my treatment thus far, and as far as coronavirus restrictions will allow me to, I am getting on with my life, and living it to the full. Please get back to me should you feel that there’s anything that I can help you with in terms of my own cancer experience in relation to yours. Where you are at present is a very uncomfortable place to be. Once you have decided on a course of action and embarked upon it however you should begin to feel a little better.
Very best wishes,
Jonathan.