Hi, I’ve just registered on the forum and thought I might tell my story . My experience of prostate cancer was fairly limited . My 81 yr old father in law was diagnosed by chance 6 years ago and had the radical prostatectomy which he dealt with pretty well . Sadly it has shown up in four lymph nodes, so he is having further treatment .
I lost a dear friend to PC just over a year ago, he had been diagnosed 8 yrs earlier, had the same surgery, although he had a tough time afterwards . Cancer reappeared after surgery and eventually took his life .
I ran a marathon last May in his memory , raised some money for Maggie’s charity who had looked after him towards the end . I considered myself to be pretty fit, I ran ultra marathon events and regular trained to maintain a decent level of fitness. I’m not overweight, I eat well and am not a big drinker .
I have an older brother who had a random psa test a month before my May marathon . He had a borderline elevated result of 4.2, and six weeks later another 4.15 . He was referred for an mri . At this point I thought I should get checked because of the potential enhanced sibling risk . The GP was happy to organise this and was reassuring that all should be well as I was totally asymptomatic. He was sadly wrong . I had 4.6 and 4.85 results and after a digital examination which showed nothing obvious , I was referred for an MRI.
On results day, the urologist examined me, couldn’t feel anything hugely significant but then gave me the news that I had a PIRADS score of 5 . We looked at the mri scan together on his screen , he couldn’t see anything amiss but deferred to the radiologist expertise and better resolution kit . I was told a biopsy would be next with a four week wait, and then another four week wait for the results but could be longer as there was a junior doctor strike looming .
I’m not a medical professional, although I am the son of a Doctor and a Nurse and don’t make a great patient, I’m a worrier with a little bit of knowledge.
I had the mri results on a Monday , by Thursday I was in bits and whilst researching/ doom scrolling I found the prostatecancer.org website. I phoned to speak to anyone that could help and give advise . I was lucky enough to speak with a nurse who was simply incredible. First she clarified the PIRAD. score and what it actually meant . It hadn’t been very well explained before and I wrongly assumed it related to the severity of the cancer rather than the degree of certainty of there being a cancer of clinical significance! Half an hour later i had run out of questions and felt so much calmer for the conversation.
I’m not super wealthy and don’t carry health insurance but I felt that I couldn’t wait 8-10 weeks to find out if I had a problem and how bad it was . I booked a biopsy over the telephone an hour after my conversation with the nurse . The biopsy took place a week later .
I was given the results shortly after by the same urologist that I saw on the nhs .when he opened his consultation room door I asked if it was ok for my wife to come in . His response was “yes that would be a good idea “ , we both immediately knew from this “plot spoiler “ reply that I was in trouble . I was told immediately, the bad news is you have cancer, the good news is that it is early and should be curatively treatable .
I think I mostly focused on the first bit. I have cancer . I was in a it of shock . Within a couple of minutes I was being given treatment options , radical prostatectomy, external beamed radiotherapy with hormone suppressant treatment or brachytherapy. I chose brachytherapy.
I had the treatment on 14 Nov 2025 . I don’t know if it has worked or not, but I’ve been encouraged by speaking with others who have had the treatment and years later appear to be fine .
So far side effects have essentially been related to urinary function, frequency, flow etc . Tamsulosin appears to make a significant difference . I guess I was waking up and going to the toilet as many as 5-6 times a night feeling that I really needed to go only to find it was barely worth the effort . That has begun to ease over the last two weeks where I have managed between 5-6 hours of unbroken sleep .
I’ve started running short distances up to 5-6 miles although I had to find a tree 5 times on the first outing . It might be a bit over optimistic but I’ve registered to do a half marathon on the same course as last May to raise money for prostate cancer.org .
As someone who was diagnosed quite by chance as a result of my brother’s psa results ( he is fine thankfully with no cancer) I find it amazing and disappointing that a decision has been taken not to implement a national screening programme. I had zero symptoms, not one . If I had gone in to see my gp in the absence of the reason of my brother’s results, in all likelihood I would have been refused or at least deterred from having a psa test .
Friends locally to me have tried to have a test and have been refused, as they have no symptoms. I have been told by a medical professional that if you ask for a psa test but find your gp is reluctant to agree to one, you should ask that they record on your file that you have asked for a test but have been refused . With any luck that should persuade your gp to organise a test .
Anyway, that is my story so far . It is very much early days for me, I’m doing my best to stay positive and try to get back to normal life . If anyone can advise on their experience of brachytherapy I’d be really grateful to hear about it, if nothing else just to be able to compare notes / tips on how to deal with the aftermath.