I don't think anyone on this forum will be able to suggest you take a specific course of action.
At every stage of your treatment - whatever you decide - you will be sealing your own fate, hopefully with some meaningful advice from your specialists. There is no going back once the deed is done so perhaps ask your specialist what they would do in your position.
My husband 64 had his radical prostatectomy in August 2017. He is doing well (touch wood) always an anxious time when undergoing the annual psa blood test.
Please can you tell me STC do you put yourself in the vulnerable/at risk group as a cancer survivor during this covid-19 outbreak?
I am asking in here first as don't wish to block urgent calls getting through to our gp.
SL may I wish you the very best of luck whatever path you choose to take. My hubby was never in any doubt about having the radical surgery and to date in seems to have been the right choice. Any questions I can help you with (I am not an expert) I am willing to help if I can.
Ten years ago, my PSA was 5.6, Gleason 3+4, stage T2 (can't remember the final letter), age 56.
My RP was postponed three times over a period of about six months due to runaway blood pressure. In the end I was taking a massive cocktail of drugs to keep it under control, so much that my head swam every time I stood up.
I asked my GP whether or not this would affect my outcome, and she reassured me that it could be delayed for a year, or maybe more, without any undue risk.
Delay is regrettable, but probably you're at greater risk if you have the surgery and then go down with covid-19. Even coming to the hospital will put you at greater risk of going down with covid. That would be the same if you go private.
I didn't have hormone therapy so I don't know much about it.
Private hospital consultants are the same consultants who also work for the NHS. Their nurses could well be supplied by an agency. There's no reason to assume that you're at any less risk. Futhermore, many private hospitals are actually less well-equipped than the nearby NHS hospital.
I have a friend who is a retired GP and he's awaiting heart surgery. He refused the offer to have his op in a private hospital (funded by the NHS) because he was aware how badly provisioned that private hospital is in the event of something going wrong.
I can't tell you what to do, and I well understand the stress of awaiting cancer surgery for a long period (it nearly drove me up the wall, and my wife had to calm me down more than once), but if you go private I urge you to ask a lot of searching questions before agreeing to go under the robot. And if they don't have a robot, you don't want to go there.
I do not consider that I am at increased risk as a result of having PC in the past. Certainly my GP has not suggested I need to take any extra precautions.
However, for me, at age 72, I am clearly in the 'at risk' category.
Fortunately I am currently not having any treatment (so I think that lessens the risk) but that may change because the PC is back and I am in the watch and wait time pending some further treatment.
I found the time leading up to the psa test was always very worrying when my psa was undetectable, now it's on the increase I can predict what the reading will be, having plotted previous ones using Excel.
I wish you and your husband all the best and hope that he remains in the cured category.
