My husband has been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer, tumour grade 4 to 5, and told he can't be cured but can be treated, and he can expect to live for 3-5 years. It has taken about 8 weeks from first diagnosis to get to see a consultant a couple of days ago, who told him this, those awful facts, He has been on hormone injections and was given both diazepam for anxiety and Fluoxetine for depression when we went to see the GP after the appointment..The injections cause mood swings. Tomorrow we meet the oncologist. Since the appointment with the consultant, which I felt was lacking in support, humanity and empathy, he has been profoundly depressed and overcome by a sense of hopelessness. I am really worried about him. He phoned the Samaritans, who told him that if he had managed to phone them and was eating and getting dressed, he would eventually be OK. He didn;t find this helpful. He is on a waiting list to see a Clinical Psychologist. He has phoned the Macmillan Helpline before, but hasn;t been able to get one to one emotional support/ counselling due to high demand. When we see the oncologist tomorrow, he says he wants to tell her that he must be sectioned if she can't help him or give him some hope. We are desperate and I am very very worried. I don't want to take him to A and E because the waiting time where we live is 6 hours +, and mental health services are non-existent, Is his a common reaction to diagnosis? What can I tell him and what can I do?
Hi
I'm so sorry to hear what both you and your husband are going through at the moment. I don't have any wise words to offer I'm afraid but I wondered if you meant to post this in the carers only group which I can see you've posted in before. To get back to the group just click on the link I've created and, to save you typing this out again, just copy and paste it into a new post there.
Sending a virtual (((hug)))
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
