Diagnosed and don’t know what to do !

This thread ended up talking about a lot of the treatment options.

https://community.prostatecanceruk.org/posts/t26986-Can-t-understand-why-anyone-would-choose-surgery-over-Brachytherapy--I-must-be-missing-something

If they are offering you a choice of treatments it means they think they are all just as likely to cure your cancer. You then need to consider your personal circumstances, as that will be more important to your treatment choice. 

Once you have read up all the treatments options, and considered what's important to your life style, start asking more questions on here. For example if one of the treatments involves two years of hormone therapy you may want to ask several people on here how bearable it is, or if continence is important, you might want to find out how many people have remained continent and if not how easy do they find it to cope.

Hi John.

Sorry that you've had to join 'The Club' but welcome mate.

If you are considering surgery this link is worth watching.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fyYTLZpxnB9HaR7O4xQ5Ff58Pj4Cn6ZB/view

Diagnosis is the most difficult time. Cancer is new to you at this time, the word alone is frightening and despite it being very common, you can sometimes feel very isolated. Once you get a treatment plan, you can focus on that and getting better. 

You'll get loads of support here and I've also found Prostate Matters a very helpful and informative site.

https://prostatematters.co.uk/

Good luck mate and please keep us updated.👍

Edited by member 16 Jun 2025 at 09:11  | Reason: Add link

But there are a few things to be said. Firstly, that the "average" patient in those studies might not be the same as you, do ask your doctors about your specific clinical situation and whether that might change their likelihoods of success. Second, by definition any study measuring ten year outcomes is doing so for surgery or radiotherapy done more than ten years ago; in that time both surgery and radiotherapy have advanced, with the biggest improvements probably coming in radiotherapy as the latest generation of machines have been introduced. And third, although success rates might be similar the side effects may not be, and as others say above it depends on what is acceptable to you.

Broadly, the advice doctors tend to give is that the younger and fitter you are the better chance you have of good recovery from surgery. But even so a percentage of patients suffer ongoing continence and/or erectile dysfunction. At the same time, the big side effect from radiotherapy is the risk of cancer in a neighbouring tissue (bladder or colon) down the line, making it more risky for those whose age means they may become vulnerable 20+ years later. But as pointed out above, the hormone therapy (androgen deprivation therapy) that routinely accompanies radiotherapy can significantly impact your quality of life for several years. In the end it is always a bit of a gamble.

Do spend some time reading through some of the older threads on this forum, you will get first hand reports of what the various treatments are like (including some variants not always offered at first, like brachytherapy alongside radiotherapy).

Good luck. It is hard at this point, but once you have come to a decision it is easier going through with whichever treatment you decided to favour.

Mick, I suspect the reason some patients faced with this dilemma feel there is "little support" is simply because there isn't a "best" answer for the doctors to recommend. Both surgery and HT/RT have been found to have similar success rates.

However they do have different side effect profiles, which John needs to consider. And other factors (age, fitness, other health issues) might swing his preference. But ultimately if other things are equal, they rely on him to tell them which he is happiest with. Big decision.

Edited by member 04 Jul 2025 at 21:11  | Reason: Not specified