Hi there, before I ask a few questions, I'll tell you a little bit of why I joined.
I've joined this forum as my 56 year old brother was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in November last year. To say it was a shock, is an understatement! He'd suffered a bad back for a good part of last year, and went back countless times to the doctor, who kept dismissing it as muscular! He was off work for months at a time due to his back, he is a delivery driver who does a lot of heavy lifting! The final straw for him was the not being able to sleep. He'd be walking round at night, unable to sit or lay down to sleep because of the pain. On Halloween last year, he went to A & E, he'd had enough of the pain, you know yourself when it's not muscular! They did some tests, no scans, and said it's probably "muscular" (???) or worst case scenario, cancer! He gave my brother a letter to give to his doctor to ask him to refer him for a CT scan. My brother gave his doctor the letter, and was met with a disgruntled face and a sigh, and under his breath, the doctor said "It's muscular!". When my brother told me, I immediately got in touch with an ex colleague at our doctors surgery and asked her if she could get my brother in with a different doctor, and she did! This doctor phoned the hospital to change the CT referal to urgent ( the other doctor had only routinely referred my brother - a 10 week wait ). Within two days, my brother had a CT scan, and bloods, and within another 2 days, the doctor phoned with the news. There were cancer spots on his spine, ribs, pelvis, femur and a dark area near the prostate. His PSA levels were sky high, I can't remember the readings it was such a blur. He then went in for a biopsy on his prostate, an MRI, and a gastroscopy. They started him on Zoladex for his enlarged prostate straightaway, and he started chemotherapy in January this year. He's on chemo number 5 now, and tolerating it really well, thank goodness, he's had no sickness just hair loss. He gets hot flushes and is a bit snappy at times, because of the hormone therapy, but we just laugh it off as we're just so happy he's ok. He has regular 3 weekly blood tests (just before chemo) and his PSA levels have gone down remarkably! We won't know the effects that the chemo has had, until he has a scan, I'm not sure when that will be.
All I can say is, my brother never had any symptoms of prostate cancer, never had a PSA test before, and if it wasn't for that absolutely disgraceful doctor at our surgery, he could've been diagnosed ealier!
I love my brother so much, and it has broken my Mum & Dad (78 & 80). My brother actually lives with them after splitting with his partner, so I think they are happier that he is there. He's so positive and carries on with daily life, he sees his mates and still gets out and about!
Edited by member 08 Apr 2022 at 12:29
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