Welcome to this supportive forum although I am sorry to hear your news. You face a difficult decision. When I was diagnosed six years ago, I was given any alternatives; two years on hormone therapy with the offer of radiotherapy which I took. I was very sucessful, my psa came down from 70 to 0.01. The hormone therapy has caused side effect like hot flushes and erectile dysfunction, not made any better by also being diagnosed with diabetes at the time, As I am 72, it is not to big a problem for for someone of your age it could make for a difficult relashionship. But as I understand it, the operation also carries the same risk and I have read recently, where men who have had the prostate removed but have still gone on the have cancer return.
I have adopted the attitude that my side effects are a price worth paying for I am convinced, the treatments have saved my life. All I can suggest to you is to do as much research as you can. But I would add a word of warning, I found a load of sites that had out of date or missleading information so please stick to well known sites like Cancer Research, Macmillan Prostate Cancer Uk.
Wishing you all the very best and please let us know how you get on, Brian.
ask about brachytherapy. terrific results here in Canada, i did it a few months ago, am 73 with psa at about 9+ . key is the biopsy. will tell alot about type of cell, if slow or fast growing, how many of say 12 samples are cancerous and if they use gleason score there they may not do anything if a 6 or under, only 7 will they do something. all this I learned from my experience.
its a few months since i did the brachy and i only go back in feb to see what my psa is.
again for what it is worth, everyone connected to me said, i should make it to 90, unless something else strikes me like heart attack or bus.
again time will tell, but I am feeling as well as i did before i knew I had the disease.
side effects yes for me, i have to take a pill to allow urine stream to flow well, it levaes the body in 2 days so i take everyday and i urinate like a teenager now.
everyone usually reacts differently because we are all individuals, but it is curable today if contained, not spread and looked after .
I bet you feel a little better now you have made the decision; not an easy choice. You will probably be on hormone therapy for a few months before starting the radiotherapy. During this time my psa tumbled down from 70 to 3.18. Just shows how effective it was for me.
How many radiotherapy treatments have they got planned for you? I had 37 but I know they have been experimenting with just 20 treatments but at a higher dose. Short term trials seem to indicate the sucess rate was the same but with some people reporting slightly less side effects.
Please let us know how your getting on and if you have any questions, please ask. Best wishes to you, Brian.
Pleased you are feeling better. I sympathise with the side effects of zoladex but I think we have to just looks at the benifits. I turned the hot flushes into a competition with my wife. At one stage I was well in front ha ha. If I had a pound for every time I heard her say, "Now you know what us women have to go through", I would be a rich man.
Hi Goldie .I have had PC and have had my big operation almost ten years ago .I have a pouch and a bag but get on well with both I would say to you go for the operation then the cancer has gone regards george
If you've been offered surgery then that's a good indication that your cancer is curable. I went through this mill just over 5 years ago, when I was diagnosed at age 56. Because I had a pre-exsiting bowel problem the recommendation was for surgery. I was lucky to live near Bristol and my op was done with a Da Vinci robot by one the country's top surgeons. Unfortunately, I couldn't have full nerve sparing and I still have ED some 5 years later, but I'm completely continent and my latest PSA test was <0.1. Despite the ED, I would make the same decision again.
There is no "best" option. Just options. If you can have Da Vinci surgery by an experienced surgeon who's doing 2 or more every week, and if the surgeon thinks nerve sparing is possible, then I suggest you give it full consideration.
Whatever you choose, I suggest you mentally commit to that choice 100%. What you don't want is to be torturing yourself afterwards with what-ifs.
