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Sweetpea32
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Hello,

I've not used a forum before, but I have read your stories recently and I am so moved by the support that's offered here and hope to be welcomed into your community.

I have just found out that my dad has been diagnosed with prostate cancer - PSA 200, Gleason 8, clear bones and lymph nodes, locally advanced (we think, but MDT feedback is still to come). He's started HT and seems well, blood tests to follow next month. I understand that this is a mixed back of good news and challenges to overcome.

I am very frightened and have been in a bit of a tailspin this week. I have been frantically searching for information that will tell me the 'the answer' to the question 'what does the future hold?', even though I know there's no way that I can make sense of the information and it's also not going to tell me anything about our actual circumstances. I am sure that this is something that a lot of people experience, but goodness it is overwhelming.

My dad is my heart and I am completely overwhelmed with my love for him at this time, which is a comfort amongst all of the disbelief, fear and worry. My deepest wish at this time is to be able to support him as he has done for me. We are obviously at the beginning of an entirely new road and my hope is that we can accept that we are here and not spend too much time looking to the path we thought we would be on.

I would greatly appreciate people to talk to and learn how best to negotiate this from your experience.

Much love...

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    Hello Sweetpea32,

    First of all, thank you for your kind words about our forum and I am glad you have been touched by the support that is offered here. I hope we can all support you too at the moment and I just wanted to welcome you with open arms to our lovely community.

    I am so sorry to hear your dad has recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer and I hope that his hormone therapy treatment goes well. We have had many prostate cancer stories on our forum like for example [@woodworm]‍'s who is a prostate cancer survivor whose PSA was also very high and for whom the hormone therapy treatment worked very well.

    You seem to be very caring and I am sure your dad appreciates everything you are doing for him. I hope you will get to chat soon to others here who also have experience of prostate cancer.

    Best wishes,

    Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

     

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    Hi Sweetpea,

    Welcome to this friendly family circle. I am the guy our lovely Lucie mentioned. It is very bewildering and at times frightening when starting travelling a new road. So much to learn and often not much help to understand the differnt information.

    One thing I would just say to you, Please dont do what I did when first diagnosed. I went hunting on the internet to find as much info as poss.  There are sites  I found which were several years out of date and others which were at best missleading. If you need more info, Please restrict your search to Cancer Research, MacMillan or Prostate Cancer Uk. These sites keep their info up to date and is not biased like some american sites. Most of us need more information than we are given as it helps us to understand things.

    My psa was 70 and my gleeson was 3+3=6 (which mens the cancer was the same on both sides of the prostate).I had two years o hormone therapy and 37 radiotherapy treatments and my psa tumbled down to 0.01, the lowest they can measure. I never felt or looked ill and had a few side effects from the hormone therapy. As I am a positive sort, I made jokes about these with my wife. The one that happened most was The Hot Flushes. I thought they would keep me warm in winter but I could just be sitting still and suddenly with out any warning, the sweat would be running off me.If I had a pound coin for every time my dear wife said, "Now you know what us women have to go through", I would be a rich man.

    If you have any questions, I will be pleased to try and answer them. I wish you and your dad all the very best and I agree with Licie, you sound a very caring daughter, Brian

    Please keep in touch and let us know how your dads getting on.

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