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It's all new to me

sonofjoe
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Hi all, 

I had a 'well man' test earlier this year (July) Whoops what's PSA? Oh.. prostate cancer then! Biopsy, bone scan MRI. 
Upshot cancer had spread out of the prostate and due to me having suffered from crohn's disease, no radiotherapy. So it's 6 sessions of chemo over 18 weeks. Starting tomorrow (looks at the time..TODAY) :| Scared: No! Apprehensive: A little! Attitude: Positive! Main concern: Apart from my wife worrying about me; a negative reaction to the chemo :/ But time will tell eh :) 
What has surprised me the most, is the speed it has taken from being first diagnosed to treatment. If I remember correctly it took about 18 moths for my crohn's disease to be fully diagnosed and in the end the treatment was only tablets. But that was in the early 1980's. Fortunately for me, my crohn's has not hindered me as much as it does other people. From the first flair-up to the next took 20 years!
So there you go.. just a little about me... Hopefully when I have finished the treatment, I will also be able to put new patients mind at rest with my experiences of treatment, as reading some of the posts here have eased my mind. 
I wish you ALL good luck with your conditions and a speedy recovery

  • Offline in reply to sonofjoe

    At the appointment on Thursday with my Oncologist, and due to the episode I suffered, the other week, she has ‘reduced’ my chemo to 80% and I will have to have a 300 microgram of Filgrastim injected into my stomach every day, starting Monday. I have no problem with this as I have been used to giving injections to animals during my 9 years of animal care. The pain will only last a second or two.
    I asked the nurse who administered my chemo, ‘What is reduced by 80%, is it the chemical in the chemo or the amount of liquid?’ I got into trouble as she said, ‘we don’t use the word ‘reduced’ we use the word ‘adjust it!’
    Onwards and upwards.
     

  • Offline in reply to sonofjoe

    On a high at the moment, 1 had my last chemo on Monday. 2, found out my PAS which was 19 when I was first diagnosed, went down to 6.8 and on Monday it was/is 0.67
    I know this is not a real indicator but even though it has cheered my up a lot. CT scan in a few weeks and an appointment with the oncologist, which will give us all a better idea on what’s going on.
    Onwards and upwards

  • Offline in reply to sonofjoe

    Had my CT scan and went to see my oncologist today only to be told via a phone call that the oncologists no longer work there! Very sad as she was a wonderful woman, listened and answered every question. Upshot is they havent had time to reorganise appointments yet BUT, the Dr who rang (forgot his name...understandable) told me he has seen my scan and the cancer has shrunk in my lymph node and prostrate but is very conserned about something on my left lung and left kidney. They are having a meeting next week and will be discussing my case and what to do next...MRI biopsy.
    However I have my own theory...In January I had a (very nasty) oncoligists words, chest infection that didn't get treated for over a week and a half and in February, a water infection that lasted three weeks, as they gave me the wrong anti-biotics twice! 
    So I'll wait...which is all one can do...and see what its all about. 

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