Hi Welshy

I was diagnosed about nime years ago aged 66 with prostate cancer My gleeson score was 6 (3=3) and with a psa of 70. Mine was caught early and I was given two years on hormone therapy and 37 radiotherapy treatments. Within about the first six months my psa came right down to 3.18 and then about twelve weeks after the radio therapy finnished, it dropped right down to 0.01, the lowest they can measure. Prostate cancer treatment is improving all the time. 

I am wondering why they have not recomended hormone thereapy It proved very effective for me. It is given by injection and can be done by the nurse at the doctors surgery. I would certainly get your father to ask about it.

The other thought is that sometime they do a watch and wait. If this is the case it susually because the cancer is condidered low risk.

Sending best wishes to you and your father, Brian 

Hi Welshy99. Welcome to the forum. 

I was diagnosed with a Gleason 7 (3+4) cancer back in July 2010 when I was aged 56. The MRI scan looked completely normal; my PSA was 5.6. I was offered surgery within 4 weeks, but that's when things went downhill.  My blood pressure was high at my first pre-op assessment and they told me to go back to my GP and get an increased dosage of blood pressure medication.  I rolled up for the second date a month later, but my blood pressure was still too high, so they sent me home again.  My GP signed me off work, put me on a massive cocktail of drugs and told me to relax.  I was due to go back in again a month later, but unfortunately the Da Vinci robot has suffered a mishap and couldn't be used until it had been thoroughly cleaned and sterilised. 

So, I didn't actually get my surgery until December 2010.  At some point I asked my GP whether these delays were putting me at risk, and she reassured me that with my particular diagnosis, the wait wasn't going to do any harm.  That was 8 years ago. My latest PSA test last month came back at < 0.1, which is extremely good.  

Now, I don't know why the medics want to delay your father's treatment, and so it's difficult pass comment. However, when it comes to prostate cancer rushing to treatment isn't necessarily the best option.  

I can't say whether or not you're being too extreme. Without more information about your father's diagnosis, it's impossible to know. When a cancer diagnosis occurs, the patient and family are often too shocked to take on board what the consultant is saying, and then may pass on a garbled version to the rest of the family.

I think the next step before you do anything would be for you and your father to discuss his situation with his GP.  And if your father hasn't done so already, he should ask the hospital to sent him a copy of all the letters they send to his GP.  These can be very informative and your GP will help you understand the significance of what's been written.