Where next?

I have locally advanced prostate cancer, 4 and 3, T3a/b.I have recently completed radiotherapy and wondered what next. I have contacted Macmillan nurses twice, once when Cancer diagnosis given and secondly after radiation treatment. On both occasions I felt as though I was wasting their time as was told, they had thousands of patients and left feeling I was using up their time. My question was before meeting for an appointment with my Consultant in May, would I need a PSA test. Was told no, so how do they know if the treatment was successful or not? Daren't even mention the side effects I am experiencing. 

  • Hi there and thanks for the post

    I am sorry to hear about your recent treatment for prostate cancer and some side effects you are experiencing.

    Whilst it is fair to say all specialist nurses are very busy with lots of patients to deal with every day, they shouldn't make you feel like you are a burden contacting them. Sorry if they have left you feeling this way but please do contact them if you need to.

    Follow up will vary slightly between patients and hospitals but generally patients will have 3-6 monthly PSA to measure how well treatment has worked and if there are any signs of the cancer re-growing. There is more information on our follow up pages. As radiotherapy continues to work for a time after treatment finishes they sometimes will leave it a few months before checking the PSA levels.

    Hopefully the consultant will go through everything with you at the appointment in May so you can get a better understanding of what will happen for you moving forward.

    If you have more questions about any side effects do get back in touch and we will try and advise you further.

    All the best

    Naomi