Hi,
My name is Clive and I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in October. I initially asked my GP for a PSA test due to my family history, my Dad died of prostate cancer 26yrs ago when he was 71, I will be 70 in June. Even so I was a little shocked when the GP phoned me and told me my PSA reading was 28, I didn’t have any symptoms apart from the water works not being quite as good as when I was a young man. After the diagnosis I was provided with information regarding the treatments offered, the cancer is confined to the prostate and hasn’t spread anywhere else. After reading through the booklet “Understanding Localised prostate Cancer” brachytherapy seemed to me to be my preferred option, however after meeting and talking to the surgeon he talked me out of this treatment and I agreed to have surgery. The main reasons were that a) he said that the MRI scan can miss up to 20% of the cancer, so brachytherapy may not get rid of it all because it may miss some on the edge of the prostate, and b) once radiotherapy has been used surgery is no longer an option if it returns. I have found very little evidence from anyone who has had brachytherapy to ask their experiences of it, so if there is anyone out there I would grateful hear from them. I have telephone appointment with a doctor from the radiotherapy team on the 4th of January.
Thanks,
Clive.
Hi Clive and a very warm welcome to the online community
I can imagine your shock when you discovered that you had prostate cancer as I too wasn't expecting a cancer diagnosis when I went to see a dermatologist.
Having to decide what sort of treatment to have can be tricky so talking to others here who have had brachytherapy is a great idea.
The community is divided up into support groups so I'm going to recommend that you join the prostate cancer group where you can ask questions, share experiences and get support.
To join just click on the link I've created and then choose 'click to join' or 'join' (depending on the device you're using) on the page that opens. You can then introduce yourself and post questions in the same way as you posted here and join in with existing conversations by clicking on 'reply'.
When you have a minute, it would be really useful if you could pop something about your journey so far into your profile as it really helps others when answering or looking for someone with a similar diagnosis. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
If you need any help finding your way around the community just reply to this post.
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