Hi Zinzan, I had an identical staging as you namely T3B with some ingress into the seminal glands . The cancer is deemed " curable" in this case using surgery , then hormone treatment . The initial tablets are taken orally and start to shrink the tumour THROUGHOUT the body including tiny ones that cannot be seen on the scan . The next batch of hormone treatment will be injected as a 3 month long treatment in both our cases for 3 years . Hot flushes seem the norm but they will reduce as time goes by , I used a cooling fan to improve matters . Some soreness of the nipples and perhaps weight increase may occur . Tiredness is a problem but I found working through this eg brisk walking has almost elminated this and I can feel my strength returning . Some residual cancer cells may need to be eliminated hence regular psa checks are needed . My psa dropped from 32 down to 1.7 very quickly , radiotherapy takes a long time to reduce this number further and it can sometimes go up and down . The objective is to reduce testosterone which is what prostate cancer feeds on , you have had a prostectomy which massively will reduce the production of testosterone plus hormone treatment plus radiotherapy which is pretty good . The cancers still in your system may start to regrow but I need to know what your psa was and Gleason score to be more accurate . I think that you have an EXCELLENT CHANCE to live a long time cancer free and like me were very lucky to catch it before it became metastatic. Good Luck Tonybear

Tony, 

Thanks for the info and positive feedback. My psa has always been quite low which suprised me given the T3B. My first test was 7.6 then 6.4 2 weeks later. Consultant said might be harder to get my psa lower because it was never high. My Gleaston was 3 +4 although surgeon said before op that in his experience he felt it would come back higher after further analysis of prostate.

Many thanks 

Hi there 

my husband aged 78 yrs  has/had an aggressive prostate cancer Gleaston 4+4

He was prescribed  hormone therapy treatment for 3years plus a 4 week daily session of radiotherapy.

There was an immediate reaction to the hormones which has left him,after completing 3 months treatment, extremely fatigued to the point of having to use a walking stick and not being able to walk without bending in half almost from the effort.He also cannot raise his arms above his head or even carry his dinner plate. 

honestly do not want to deter anybody from having the treatment but believe that everyone is entitled to know this  extremely rare reaction can occur. Problem is that even after stopping the hormone treatment it will take a long time to get any better if indeed it ever gets happens.

hormone treatment now  halted for 6 months to see how things progress. 

Fingers crossed everyone. 

Lets get this man who up until 7 months ago was refereeing football matches twice weekly,  back to being even a tiny bit more mobile .

Ps oncologist is amazing 

Hi Max , probably everyone has micro-metastic cancer cells floating about which is why cancers often seem to return . That is why your prostate reading is important after treatment . The scans are not powerful enough to see these little cells . The hormone injenctions are a very powerful anti cancer treatemt nand will shrink/eliminate any cancer growth however small during treatment everywhere in the body . The raditherapy is quite a short one meaning that the cancer is not well adavanced and is very good news . Also you will have PSA checks now for many years to keep the problems under control .

Keep drinking lots of water to maintain a full bladder whilst having radiotherapy its very very important . Good Luck Tonybear 

Hi

I had my surgery last Wednesday and at this stage I am feeling pretty ok.

I have had a clear bag since Saturday and my bowel has returned to normal and as  I don’t have any pain and a good appetite I am happy with the results so far 

the only real discomfort I had was the gas cramps for a couple of days after the surgery which really knocked me for six and the best way I found to relieve these was to move around for five minutes every hour or so.

so I am back early next week to have the catheter removed and hopefully get the all clear in a few weeks 

I'd forgotten about gas.  They inflate your insides with CO2 gas during surgery. For a day or two afterwards, I could have joined the All England farting team! 

Hi there.

My husband is due to have surgery on 20th August - he is very positive & aiming to be both physically & mentally well before his surgery. Have all your consultants recommended that the post op catheter stays in for a minimum of 2 weeks? We also have a holiday booked which involves a long haul flight 11 weeks after his surgery - I realise everyone I’d different in how they recover from surgery - can anyone advise on how well or unwell they felt 11 weeks after robotic surgery?

Hi

I am exactly 11 weeks since my Robotic Surgery. I am pretty much the same as I was Pre Surgery apart from incontinence / leaking that improves daily and the ED which is ongoing and I expect may take 1 - 2 years. I had nerve sparing on one side. Mentally this is more of a problem. I had my catheter out after 7 days. I have never felt unwell. I had my surgery results after 8 weeks and hapilly these were the same as the Biopsy. Gleason 7 (3+4) all contained inside the gland. That together with an "Undetectable PSA reading" makes me one of the lucky ones re PCa. As a sexually active man aged 61 and with mental age of 16 the ED is the current worry.

My suggestions would be to take the 1st few weeks one day at a time and set small goals, the 1st being looking towards catheter removal. Then moving towards the end after 28 days of the wretched self administered injections. Increase walking after the catheter is out. Be sure not to become constipated in the 1st week. Each week is easier. There may be some dark days early on. It was quite uncomfortable to sit for the 1st month.

The 6 holes in my belly have healed really well and I had more bruising from the injections than from the surgery. I do my pelvic floor exercises 5x daily to help the bladder control before the OP and will continue forever I expect.

Re Holiday: The Prostate Cancer Website has info re Holiday & especially Insurance. Essential reading for you both. Wish you all the best

Hi showbiz. Welcome to the forum.

I had a robotic radical prostatectomy in December 2010 when I was 56.  My catheter stayed in 2 weeks, and most of that time I just slept.  Once the catheter came out, the first night was pretty awful because I couldn't recognise all the conflicting signals I was getting from my bladder.  But it got better.

For the first three months I had to wear full size pads night and day, and it got pretty old. It didn't stop me getting out and about, and driving to places, but I wasn't able to work.  I went back to work at around 12 weeks.  I was still wearing pads, but I'd been able to reduce from the full size pads to Always Ultra.  

I was able to work, but it was near the end of the academic year (I was a lecturer) so after Easter things were naturally quieter. 

After 6 months I decided to stop wearing the pads, and apart from a minor accident I had no issues.  At 8 months I was confident to go on a couple of a day trips from Bristol to London without any pads (just carrying a few spares with me in case of accidents - which never happened). 

I carried on working for a couple more years, but when I reached 60 I decided to retire rather than keep on working.