'My 33 Days with Cancer'- radiotherapy following removal of prostate in 2017

Sorry, I think my reply went to the wrong place.

Edited by member 16 Nov 2021 at 06:35  | Reason: Wrong place

Get a urine bottle, Pete (Amazon). It'll help enormously with the tiredness if you don't have to get out of bed to pee. You get back to sleep much more quickly. I speak from personal experience!

Cheers,

Chris

Edited by member 16 Nov 2021 at 20:45  | Reason: Not specified

Hi Keith,

Thanks to pestering my oncology nurse I've just discovered that my first dose of SRT is due to be administered in Truro this coming Monday! See the end of my "Leo Robot" thread for further details.

Can I repeat my request to Pete? Please fill out your profile with more detail about your own history up to this point. That way you will attract much more informed commentary on your personal situation.

Which leads me to pose a question to both you and Pete. The powers that be here in Cornwall sprung "hormone therapy" on me at the last moment following a change of consultant. Have you had that discussion, and if so what was the conclusion?

My best wishes to you and Pete for the next stage of your own PCa journeys,

Jim

I never had a conversation about what treatment to have due to speed and urgency at diagnosis. Had mri, next day urgent phone call to come in following day for radiotherapy to my spine. While there for that I was started on Degarelix straight away. Couple of weeks later after biopsy and bone scan oncologist phoned me to say he was putting me on Abiraterone and Prednisolone alongside the Degarelix. Also said I would have the course of radiotherapy towards year end.

Cheers Keith

That may well be true Chris, but my previous consultant didn't seem keen on HT given my stats. See above for a brief overview.

The new one didn't either until very last minute!

Jim

OK - Thanks Lyn,

I guess that information must have been revealed somewhere other than Keith's profile?

Jim

Good morning Lyn,
 
I am willing and able to reveal that I've had 2 MRIs, as mentioned in my profile, which was the point I was endeavouring to make.

Duly completed profiles save time and obviate the need for idiots like me to ask dumb questions!

Which has the added benefit of not requiring folks in the midst of physically and/or mentally exhausting treatments to answer them.

Jim

🤣

There are no daft questions here, Jim 

Hopefully you are ok peter looking forward to the resumption off your story and hope Shaun the sheep is ok too 🤔

My 33 Days with Cancer

Day 9

Ok day 9 and I can honestly say its feeling like Groundhog Day and becoming very monotonous. Problem is now that I am on this train there is no getting off although I would dearly love to.

I have had a bad, and seriously emotional morning this morning. Waiting in ‘the line’ I started talking to a young woman sat by herself looking at her phone. “Waiting for someone to come out” I asked. No, she said, “I’m in next” What!! I really didn’t expect that coming from such a beautiful, young woman when the majority of people I come across ‘in the line’ are elderly. Curiosity got the better of me, why? “I have cervical cancer” she replied. She is 34 and her name is Jenny.

Her mother joined us with her coffee. Now Jenny like nearly everyone else I meet around here is more than willing to discuss why they are having treatment. She has had her cervix removed but the cancer has spread into other parts of her young body. She is a lovely outgoing person and I instantly liked her she tells me that she has a 4-year-old child at home oh and not forgetting her new recently born twins. Jenny has 2 weeks left of an extensive course of treatment. The main problem for her is the fatigue. She is finding that basically all she can do is sit on the settee all day she has it that bad. As Jenny shares her story you can tell looking into her eyes that she is frightened, frightened of what the future might hold.

This affected me if I am honest as I cannot imagine what she must be going through mentally as well as physically at such a young age with such young children. I admit to ‘having a moment’ when I got back to the car.

A clear message here to all women putting off having a test, thinking you will be ok because it always happens to someone else doesn’t it?..... Go get tested!

I think for anyone contracting Cancer the problem is (generally speaking) there is no quick fix you can be living with it for months maybe years before you know whether the treatment you have undergone has been successful. As I mentioned previously, I won’t know until 11th January so it’s vital that you keep your head right otherwise, I can imagine the whole process could become a nightmare for you especially if you let your mind run wild in imagining what might happen. Personally, I have trained myself not to think about it as there is no point worrying about what ‘may or may not happen’ I can imagine it would only serve to drive you mad although I admit it’s not easy, I have had my moments.

However, it is ‘pretty fkn difficult’ not to think about it when you’re having to get up to go to the toilet literally 6 times in a night every night over the last three nights for a pee. Anyone with Prostate cancer will tell you that it really messes with your ‘Willy function’ and over the last three days this has got worse, much worse!

“Your drinking enough aren’t ya” asked nurse Rachet. They advise you to drink loads but at first, they didn’t explain why, it’s to help stop infection when your immune system is struggling to keep up with the damage done by the Radiotherapy and they don’t want stale urine sitting in your bladder, so you need to constantly flush it out. So, you drink a lot and then pee even more…a vicious circle. Needless to say, I can never make it home now without a stop at one of my pee stops, and guess what? more bad news, my mate Shaun’s gone missing. However suppose I can finish with some good news, at least I am not a sheep!

How am I feeling?

Ok well having to increase to 1.5 / 10 today because of the toilet problems I am having otherwise much the same apart from a dull continuous ache in my lower left groin area.

NB: I have changed the names of all the people I meet in my blogs.

#prostatecancer

My 33 days with cancer

Day 10

I can honestly say that my Willy has never been’ tugged’ so much in its life, which would under normal circumstance be a good thing. It’s in constant use now overlooking the abyss of the toilet. He must be wondering what the hell is going on, on Monday he looked up at me with his sad eye as if to say wtf’s going on here then. I understood the look instantly, we’ve always been close.

As a rule, men don’t really like to talk about their Prostate’s it’s a bit of a taboo subject within the male population but if you ask a man what’s involved in having his prostate checked believe me he knows.

That’ll be a ‘finger up the bum’ then.

Now if your doctor is a ‘little bit chubby’ with ‘BIG FAT FINGERS’ then you dropped unlucky! Because this will naturally become a little bit more of a concern for you especially if like me you are or were a virgin in that area.

Let me take you back to 2016 when all this began. I was visiting my doctor for something totally unrelated when towards the end of the appointment he asked, totally out of the blue “Do you want me to check your Prostate while you are here Peter” I immediately replied “No, I’m ok thank you”

Now I remember thinking for a minute and saying to myself, Pete if you don’t do this now you won’t be coming back for it. “Can you do it right now I asked?” “Yes, get up on the bed”

I have to say at this point that some, not all doctors will give you a choice of standing or lying down but a bit of advice for any ‘first timer’s’ here standing is ok but don’t let him go in from the front as squatting down in front of you when you have your pants down can feel a little awkward especially when he has his face in close proximity to your Willy.

I’ve seen a few different doctors in my time, and I remember one time having been escalated to see a consultant, him asking if ‘HE’ could check my Prostate I reluctantly agreed.

He was from the bend forward over the bed school, I reluctantly complied (having said that I have never heard of any man willingly complying) I closed my eyes, whilst he ‘applied gentle pressure’ from behind. Marilyn my wife was with me on this visit. When he had finished, I pulled my pants back up and sat back down with Marilyn at his desk whilst he washed his hands at the sink. “He didn’t use his finger” she whispered and laughed like a demented idiot.

I am making myself laugh now as I recount this.

“Yes, it appears to be enlarged Peter” he said, not something you want to hear. “ok we need to do a biopsy”. We all know what that means, “we will need to take six samples from your prostate via local anaesthetic”, “Can you do it now” I asked because I am certainly not coming back for that one either. “Yes, we can do it now” That news didn’t make me feel any better. Subsequently I entered a room for the said procedure and believe me I can still see it as clear as day. I was met by two very nice gentlemen, “on the bed” is a common cry you hear when you have problems with your Prostate it seems everyone wants to have a look, “lie on your side away from me and raise your legs to your chest”. I gingerly lifted my gown.

Unfortunately, as you will all have gathered by now, I have rather an inquisitive nature and made the mistake like an idiot of ‘looking around’ to see him holding the longest needle I have ever seen in my life, this was a real wtf moment. “Now I want you to relax Peter” what a stupid thing to say as liquid spurted out the top of the needle…sound’s funny now wasn’t at the time. He applied the local anaesthetic up INSIDE my bum 4/5 times. “Got to make sure it feels numb” I feel fkn numb I thought.

The next stage he inserted ‘something else’ I don’t know what because by this time I’m definitely not taking a look. He proceeds to snip off 6 samples from the prostate, I know because I could hear the distinct ‘CLICK’ every time he snipped off a piece, ‘thank God that’s over’ I thought fully expecting him to tell me to pull my pants back up but to my consternation he carried on…as you can see there have been one or two wtf moments during this process and this was yet another one. Obviously, I questioned this, “the doctor told me 6” I said, now feeling desperate “No sorry 12” he said, ffs I wasn’t prepared for that as the jaws clasped together again to take yet another chunk of flesh. But it was far from over after 9 the anaesthetic had worn off and now, I felt every one and I let him know, “I don’t want to disturb you but that fkn hurts” (I didn’t swear) He told me he could inject more anaesthetic into my prostate if I wanted him to… “carry on I said”

When finished I had to go to reception to arrange my next appointment to get the results. By this time having been first in that morning I walked out to quite a ‘number of men’ still waiting to be seen by the consultant. It’s strange but I noticed all of them were accompanied by their wives. All of them turned to look at me.

I was going to pretend to fall on the floor in agony, but the receptionist said, “I am glad you didn’t do that otherwise they would all be jumping out of the windows.” Just like in the film Porky’s I thought.

Ok I’ll carry on this story later but right now I need to stare into the abyss with my mate again.

How am I feeling today?

Bit of a dull ache again in my lower groin area, seems to be more prevalent straight after treatment has been applied and then tends to fade off as the day wears on.

Still at 1.5

We could compare notes Dave bet I would win LOL

My 33 Days with Cancer

Day 12

Saved a life this morning. A Pheasant ran straight across the road a little distance away in front of my car, now from experience I know that where there is one there is normally another, so I eased off and sure enough here he comes straight out of the bushes like an Exocet missile didn’t look left or right, neck erect, head up, eyes front staring at the prize.  

See how dangerous it is chasing about after women I thought.

He should have concentrated as I do when I have to put an Enema in every morning.

I am happy to report I think I’ve finally cracked it but took me a while. Lying on the bed is definitely the way to go, the key is to RELAX totally because if you tense up even a little bit it’s very difficult to apply. They can work very quickly and as I found out on the way to the hospital this morning they can also work twice. I knew I was in a bit of trouble sat at the lights at ‘Lidl’ I wasn’t looking left or right either as I was begging the lights to change.

Just made it to the hospital toilet to be greeted by a sea of urine all over the toilet seat, what is wrong with people I hate this because I cannot leave without cleaning it up in case someone sees me coming out and thinks it's me. How do these people live at home? No respect for other people or themselves.

I have explained how we must have emptied our bowels ready for the treatment and after 12 enemas since we started plus a couple of practice ones your stomach does start to feel odd, I have been 5 times today, so I hope it settles down soon. Sat on the toilet having to expel as much wind that you can is very difficult especially when people are sat right outside the toilet door. I can hear them so they can sure as hell hear me. I had to let it all out though as no way do I want to be sent off the table for having too much wind in my body as I’ll be there then another 30 / 45 min possibly.

Head up, chin up, eyes front. Not looking left or right “morning” I said in my in a loud clear voice as I quickly emerged from the door and sat and joined them thinking I should take the bull by the horns. They’ll get over it!

Derek was in this morning a very jolly, pleasant rather large man. “Couldn’t have Hormone treatment cos am tu fat,” said Derek. “Makes you put on weight apparently, and I don’t need any more of that do I Ho Ho Ho Ho” ….Now wait, was that a question or a statement I thought?  What do you say to that? I didn’t know if I should agree or not so just let out an “oh” in acknowledgement to show I was listening?

You get a choice whether to take on Hormone treatment or not. I struggled with this decision greatly and to be honest it was amongst my top list of concerns, mainly because when the doctor first discussed it with me my immediate thoughts turned to growing a pair of tits.

“You don’t look too sure about this” the doctor asked. “Won’t grow breast’s, will I?” as I laughed nervously trying to disguise the fact that I was ignorant as to whether I would or not. I lamented my lack of education.

So, they offer you Hormone treatment to run alongside your Radiotherapy, but I didn’t know this at the time. Hormone treatment suppresses the testosterone inside your body which helps cancer grow and clinical trials in America have shown that Hormone treatment if given alongside Radiotherapy offers a 20% more chance of success. We weighed this all up carefully and finally decided as I can only have one go at this, we had better throw the kitchen sink at it.

I have six months of Hormone treatment and I had to have one injection about three weeks before treatment began, and I must have another very soon applied by your GP in my bum. No tablets. Some people are on Hormone treatment for the rest of their lives if the cancer escapes into their bodies as it helps to suppress cancer growth.

I arrived at the GP to find that he was fully expecting me as he had the box already sat in front of him with yet another needle inside, “Where do you want it then” he said, “Want what?” “Which cheek do you want it in?’ “The right one” I said, so he sticks it in the left. Couldn’t write it could you.

Never used to like injections was always fearful of them but since my stroke I’ve had more pricks than a dartboard, so I take them in my stride now.

Oh, didn’t I mention that? I might enlighten you with some of my stroke stories if you like that had some interesting moments.

How am I feeling?

Still good ’touch wood’ hesitate to say that but nothing hurts or can’t handle at present let’s hope it stays that way but still feels like a long way to go. 1.5.

Pete

#prostatecancer

All the best,

Chris

My 33 days with Cancer

Day 15

Over the past two weeks I have known a man named David conversing as we drank our water waiting our respective turns in the corridor. David is 76 and he had his last treatment today he had 20 in total. His eyes were smiling over his mask as he was quick to tell me that it was his last day, I was delighted for him. Suddenly looking at David 76 didn’t seem so old. I liked him and reflected on how strange it is how people come and go in your life for only snapshots in time, some you know for years others for fleeting moments then they are gone this was one of them.

I mentioned yesterday that I would log and report back on how many times I visited the toilet in one 24-hour period, and it was Twenty, twenty times in 24 hours, 6 during the night and 14 during the day my Willy has never been so exposed to so much fresh air.

Bladder issues are without doubt the most difficult and common problem that most men must deal with, and most complaints I hear seem to stem from this area, however men are affected by it differently and to varying degrees. Get unlucky and it is a very unpleasant and upsetting side effect.

When this journey first started, I was like everyone else ‘in the beginning’ very reluctant to drop my pants and expose my ‘ample member’ but after what I’ve been through anyone who asks can have a look it doesn’t matter anymore embarrassment goes out of the window trust me you get used to it.

20th December 2016, ….I remember it like it was yesterday it was a clear crisp sunny winters morning as Marilyn, and I walked gingerly towards the Urology department at the park Hospital. Today was the day we received my results from the scan and the ‘mapping’ biopsy, and I remember very well saying to my wife as we were walking that this could be a day that changes our lives.

We waited quietly, anxiously in reception both clearly nervous about the outcome time seemed to stand still you could hear a pin drop although there were other people in the room.

We were eventually called into the consultants office…..and I knew the result instantly we both did he gave the game away because he couldn’t look me in the eye, he was quietly reserved whereas on every other occasion he had always greeted us enthusiastically making eye contact with a smile and offering his hand. This time it was different very different, we sat down in front of him, he didn’t mess around, “Unfortunately Peter the results of the biopsy have confirmed the presence of underlying prostate cancer” Although I already knew this in my heart, I was still clinging on to some hope that the results could be negative that is until he actually spoke those words then all felt immediately lost.

He continued speaking but from that moment I couldn’t hear a word he was saying his lips were moving but nothing was coming out it all became a haze although I was aware of him speaking over Marilyn’s tears, it was a very emotional moment. I had to stop him “You’re going to have to leave this with me” I said. “of course, take all the time you need” we made another appointment to discuss things further and left.

So that dear reader is what it’s like to be informed that you have Cancer.

Tomorrow I will explain how they evaluate the severity of the cancer that you have.

How am I feeling?

Ok I’m still at 1.5 and I am pleased to say that the fatigue that I was warned about has not yet reared its ugly head although been tired on occasion, but I put that down to not sleeping properly. I was worried about fatigue so far so good then. I class tiredness and fatigue as totally different things as I class fatigue based on how you feel if you get Covid now that’s fatigue!

On the bed at 09.12 in the morning…Tomorrow will be a good day.

Pete

#prostatecancer

My 33 days with cancer

Day 16

“Sorry I’ve forgotten your name?” “Tom” he replied, “I’ve forgotten yourn?” he said as he sat in the queue ahead of me clutching his plastic cup of water. Although we had met before we had only said hello in passing as our appointments had always crossed. “Av yo ad yourn out?’ he asked me “yes” “I avnt” he said.

Again, Tom is ‘a little bit chubby’ which is significant point in the story I am about to tell you. The next question was something I couldn’t suppress “How did you find out you had it, Tom?” “I dint no I ad it” he said……

AGHHHHHHHH!! Guys is this not resonating with you. Many men I have spoken to like me had no idea that they had prostate cancer I / we have heard this time and time again over the past two weeks can’t you see it’s a familiar pattern I really think it’s important that I get this message across to anyone reading this and wondering if its time they went and insisted on being checked out. Note: I don’t say asking for a prostate check, I say insisting on one, there is a big difference. Remember ‘the wheel that squeaks ALWAYS gets the oil’

“I ad DVT in mi leg” “you ad what” I said “DVT, Deep vein thrombosis” now at this stage I am so into knowing what happened next that I am praying that they don’t call him in.

“yeah mi leg swelled up like a balloon and they sent mi for blood tests, mi doctor for whatever reason don’t no why also asked them to include a PSA blood test at the same time, (normal range levels for a man of his age 60-65 are between 0 and 4.5 ng/ml) mi reading came back as 12ng/ml and 3 months later I went up to 22ng/ml although it dropped down a bit after that. I ad tu go for a mapping biopsy but they couldn’t do it with general anaesthetic cos I was tu fat” (my mind is now blown!!) “How did they do it then?” I asked

“Spinal tap” he said “which numbed me from the waist down” I think he is taking about an Epidural. “yeah I was awake the whole time as he put fifty individual needles in and out mi crutch couldn’t walk for rest ot day” (I was trying to write couldn’t in a Nottingham accent but had to give up) Now I don’t know any more detail here other than what he told me but it’s certainly a case for keeping the weight off, now he’s 15 days into a 20 day course of treatment.

“I also suffer from depression” he said. I’m not surprised after all that I thought. Doors swung open “Tom” they called him to the bed.

In 1966 Donald Gleason invented a method of measuring the severity of the cancer that you have by grading it after studying biopsies from 3,000 patients. This ‘Gleason score’ is now commonly used to tell a doctor how the cancer might behave in the future and to assess what treatment you may need.

Ok so as I understand it. There are 5 ‘grade groups’ 1-5 and your Gleason score determines which Grade group you fall into 1 being the least aggressive growing cancer 5 the most aggressive.

Your actual ‘Gleason score’ can be between 6 and 10 so for example if your Gleason score comes back as a total of 6 after they have analysed your biopsy sample then they will put you in Grade group 1 which determines that the cancer is likely to grow only very slowly on the other end of the scale if the Gleason score comes back as a 9 or 10 then this says that your cells look very abnormal and that the cancer is likely to grow very quickly.

Hence, they can determine from this what course of treatment options are suitable for you and these options can be various.

It gets quite complicated from here as the pathologist grades different cells from the same prostate sample biopsy and grades those to assess the overall Gleason score so in simple terms he or she might grade one cell with a Gleason score of 3 based on its less aggressive nature and another from the same sample a 4 thus they depict this as a 3+4 = 7 Gleason score total therefor is 7.

However, they might also find that they grade the samples 4+3=7 the difference is that a 3+4=7 means that the cancer is slower growing than they class a 4+3=7 which is likely to grow much faster, so this all depends on what the sample tells them. A Gleason score of say 5+4=9 therefore by definition is not good news as the cancer will grow more quickly. My score was 4+3=7 Toms was 3+4=7 his being slower growing.

All can get a bit confusing so I asked my consultant to explain it in plain English so he said “ok you’ve got 3 cars a 3 wheeler, a Ford focus and a Ferrari the 3 wheeler will never get there the Ford Focus will definitely eventually get there at some point and well the Ferrari your basically fkd! (My translation not his) I was in the Ford focus.

How do I feel?

Not the best day, a nagging ache in my groin all day and tired had a nap after nights sleep disrupted again. But I’ll stick at 1.5. On bed at 8.42am tomorrow then weekend break I am really looking forward to.

Pete

#prostatecancer

You're over halfway through 👍.

Hello Carlos,

Then you seem to be in exactly the same position as me. My Gleason score was 4 plus 3 so it looks like you will be advised to go down the same road. Its not that bad mate to date and I only have two sessions left and I am posting here after having written these blogs initially on Facebook. I am not saying its a walk in the park and its a right bind having to go to the hospital every day but if you are worried and want to talk about it let me know and I' can talk you through it.

Pete

Hello Chris,

Yes got one thanks and had to use it in one emergency. I was only about half mile from home and couldnt hold it anymore...close call.

Thanks Chris

Pete

In my case prostatectomy in 2016, PSA went rignt down ... but routine checks showed it going from undetectable to in the recorded range and after 5 years definitely over the critical number of 0.2. Not rising fast (so good) but no sign of letting off (so needs action).

Anyway oncologist appointment week before last, on bicalutamide since then with an LHRH agonist on the menu for next week. Radiotherapy to follow somewhere around March, plus various investigations along the way. No doubt a tattoo (or several)! Meanwhile Covid Omicron means there may not be much chance to make the most of the calm before the storm.

Good luck Peter.

My 33 days with Cancer

Day 21

Looking back its strange because there is so much to take in during this time, I am talking about the actual operation in having the prostate removed. You forget some of what you are told, you don’t listen sometimes, you don’t read the leaflets that they give you properly and maybe they forget to tell you stuff. Something else I didn’t read properly, or I simply cast out of my mind is that that you wake up with a catheter in place, looking at the picture from day 19 having not long woken up from the operation I don’t think that I was yet aware that I had one fitted.

If you ask any man, this must be his worst nightmare “Oh and yes and one last thing we are going to stick a pipe up your willy Peter” I had heard of this but never imagined it would ever happen to me.

I remember visited my father in hospital some years ago and there was an old boy in the bed next to him. “Nurse, Nurse I want toilet” “Nurse I need toilet” They ignored him, He’s shouting now “Nurse I need toilet I’m going to pee” The nurse finally arrived as I looked over to his bed shell shocked at the amount of time it had taken for a nurse to saunter over to him. “What’s up Derek, stop shouting” “I need toilet” he shouts “need toilet” “ok just a minute Derek” as I mentioned Derek is an old boy and doesn’t look very well, he’s certainly not about to jump out of bed anytime soon. Eventually a doctor arrives and pulls the curtain around the bed, like we can’t hear anything now. “I need toilet” he shouts again. FFS someone take the poor sod to the toilet.

Now I want you to picture the scene because its visiting time I’m sat visiting my dad in the next bed and there must have been at least six patients in that small ward, every patient apart from Derek had a visitor or two. Derek’s problem now takes centre stage “ok Derek” said the Doctor, “what we are going to do (he’s shouting now because Derek is deaf) is insert a tube up your penis which will allow you to Pee alright” again was that a question or a statement? Only a slight acknowledgement of the situation seemed to come from Derek.

I can tell you at this point the whole room fell silent time stood still, men you had never met in your life before looked at each other with twisted faces. “Ok Derek now try to relax I’m going to put some lubrication in to help it on its way” “AGHHEEEEEEE Derek began to scream there was a collective FFS throughout the room seriously it seemed to go on for ages, my thinking at the time was why the hell don’t you wheel him out and do it we don’t need to witness this. To a man we all felt sorry for Derek and complete silence was maintained until the screaming subsided. I cannot imagine ever going through that I thought, you wouldn’t be able to do that to me.

And here I am tube inserted in my Willy (I was surprised they had my size ‘Large’ in stock) The only good thing about this is that I was asleep when they put it in straight after the operation, so I was thankful for that.

The reason you must have a catheter fitted is to allow the new join made between your bladder and urethra to heal it’s in for about two weeks.

The surgeon actually cuts a length off of your urethra about the length of your prostate because the urethra actually goes through the prostate so you lose that bit, makes your willy smaller as its pulled back into the body because your urethra is obviously now that much shorter, he then re attaches your urethra back onto your bladder having removed the prostate. Educational this isn’t it?

Once it had dawned on me that I had one fitted I had the same fears as pregnant women must have in that ‘it’s got to come out!!!

Two weeks on we are at the hospital. Marilyn and I are in a side room waiting on the arrival of the nurse to remove it I am laying on the bed Marilyn sat beside me this is one time I needed moral support. This I was not looking forward to, I don’t know who was whiter me or the sheets.

In she walked a no-nonsense nurse from the old school you can just tell. Ok Peter what we are going to do this morning is take this out and then I want you to drink a litre of water SLOWLY as we need to make sure that you can empty your bladder properly before we discharge you so that you don’t then get any infection’s any questions?

“Yes” I said, “what happens if I can’t empty my bladder properly after drinking the water?” “Then it’ll have to go back in” she said. Panic enveloped my very soul. I was frightened to death. I’d be a screamer just like Derek.

Ok she said, “pants down” As I mentioned by this time, I was used to dropping my trousers for anybody, so this wasn’t a problem although your Willy with a catheter inserted is a sorry sight, he looked a very miserable specimen. “Right Peter I’m going to count three and on Three I want you to cough loudly, give it a good cough, ok!” “ok” I said happy to agree to anything that was going to make this easier.

I remember what was in my head at that time, it was that it had been stuck up there for two weeks so it must have stuck to the side wall of my urethra, and everything must be very dry I’m terrified this is going to hurt “one “ I’m ready “two she literally on two yanked it straight out AHHHH was my immediate reaction but here’s the thing guys it didn’t hurt I was amazed, relieved and very thankful and I am very pleased to be able to pass information this on.

Don’t know if you are aware but they ‘blow up’ a balloon at the end of the catheter once its’ been inserted into your bladder so it can’t fall out then they deflate it to remove it, clever eh.

How am I feeling?

Ok two weeks and one day to go so hoping that it goes without further incident.

At 1.5

Peter

#prostatecancer

Well Peter, you made me laugh about your antics with things up your delicate bits. It may be my last laugh as by this time next week I will be looking  down thinking whats that tube doing there. Can I just ask when they say they will examine you with a telescope, is that a 6 inch one, and is that the length or the width?

Here's me thinking TURPS was something to clean the paint brushes with.

Next year I will look forward to Radiotherapy and I will remember your blog.

Steve.