Bicalutamide and one off ADT injection (goserelin ?)

In your previous post you mentioned other health conditions (comorbidities is the Dr way of saying that) so I think they are trying to give you fairly minimal ADT rather than several years of total ADT.

The bical will have kept the cancer at bay and weakened it a little. During the RT the Dr wants the cancer as weak as possible so an injection of goserilin would shut down all testosterone. You would probably then come off the bical as it would not be adding anything.

I can't predict the side effects, the fact they have been ok on bical, implies they will be ok on goserilin. But I guess if the doc wants you on a more effective ADT then it may have more severe side effects.

I was on goserilin for two years, it wasn't too bad.

Hi Nomi's, thanks for getting back. Yes, looks like we do have some similarities - post polio does have similarities to M.E. What happened post HIFU. I'm concerned about the injection too (though unsure which drug it will be - should know more after an appointment on Friday). I have done more research and had a chat with radiologist at Hospital and one of the Prostate Cancer UK nurses. Think side effects of all the drugs are different as each individual - bit like natural menopause in women - some (like my wife) sail through with barely any effect and others suffer a lot. At this point, I'm thinking I just have to get on with it and look to the end goal. I'll keep posting on this thread and we can compare experiences.  Wishing you well :) 

Thanks Nomi's - I'll keep in touch and update you on what was said at the appointment 

I don't have IBS, also I only had 15 doses of EBRT as the bulk of the radiation was delivered HDR brachy.

However at the Christie, the advise was empty bowel (not to the extent of needing an enema) empty bladder. The empty bladder is now possible because the latest generation of RT machines is more accurate in where it delivers the dose, whether that applies to bowel as well as bladder I don't know?

Their are two options for lining your prostate up on the RT machine. External tattoos (three dots) or gold seeds in prostate.

With external tattoos if your prostate moves in relation to your skin, full/empty bowel/bladder then it won't be as well lined up, though an image before scan I think can compensate for this (I think this is what they did at Christie's). With gold seeds these show up clearly on pre treatment image so the beam is lined up on these rather than the external tattoos, which is much more reliable.

I have never heard of a real human having gold seeds, I think they are a myth in the prostate cancer community, but surely they would be the most appropriate thing for you. Try mentioning the idea before the planning scan.

Did he mention a space OAR ? This is a gel that is inserted between the prostate and rectum and pushes some space between them thus providing extra protection from radiation to the bowel. I cannot always be done but I thought modem standard practice as it reduces the risks to the bowel quite a lot.

It a short maybe 20 min procedure under short light anaesthetic done prior to the radiation therapy. The gel dissipates over time afterwards.

this is something they will try with me but might not work but that’s because of my polio affected anatomy but that shouldn’t apply to you.

Just to say that I had my ADT injection on Tuesday (leuprorelin) and following day (yesterday) which was first day of RT treatment, had awful diarrhoea - not sure if it's side effect of injection, something I ate which didn't agree with me or my stress related IBS.  Anyone else had similar ? 

* I also just posted new message re. difficulty RT Team are having in matching up location for RT between my CT scan image and what they see when I lay on RT machine table - abandoned twice and they're trying to find a way round it - more to do with how my bowel is and IBS problems - tricky 

They don't want me to use the micro enema because my bowel is so sensitive already so it's all a bit trial and error. I'm not the first person to experience this I'm sure - team are great and said they will find a way.

Thanks for your good wishes

I am only 2 weeks into Zoladex after 11 weeks of bicalutimide so will be interesting to see how the fatigue (which seems now the most noticeable side effect) progresses.

Where are you having your radiotherapy?

Have you had your prep CT scan for the RT yet ? I had to have two because they said my IBS was causing probs for them. Second go they said all OK. Was supposed to start RT on Weds - got on table and they couldn't match the CT scan image with what they could see so abandoned - tried again on Thursday - so probably going to have to have another CT scan. Just wondering with your own pre-existing conditions and ability to get onto CT Scan and/or RT table whether you've also had probs. They keep telling me to lie flat (even tried pulling my bum cheeks apart on Thursday! - to no avail) and I am - and still but no good. RT Supervisor showed me CT image and RT image and I see exactly what they mean - like trying to make a multi colour print but the registration is wrong so each colour is slightly out of sync 😕