Brachytherapy

Hi and a very warm welcome to the online community

Thanks very much for offering to share your experience of prostate cancer with the other members of this group. The community is all about peer to peer support as there's nothing quite like talking to someone else who understands what you're going through.

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As a member of the group feel free to look through the recent discussions and reply to any where you feel you could share your experience.

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Hi, I was diagnosed in October, PSA was 28 and the Gleason score was the same as yours 3+4 =7. Brachytherapy was the option I was going to choose until I spoke with the surgeon who convinced me to have surgery instead. I have a telephone appointment with a doctor from the radiotherapy team on the 4th of Jan’, and a pre-op assessment with a nurse on the 12th. You are the first person I have heard from who has had brachytherapy and I’m glad things are OK with you, I am just trying to get all the information I can before I make my finally decide which treatment to choose.

                                                          All the best,

                                                                              Clive.

Hi Clive

I had very little idea of prostate cancer when i was first diagnosed but i did have a friend that had Brachytherapy  and had done well and was in remission within two years.I also found a site Prostate cancer uk that has a good forum and members on it gave me a lot of help and support at the time and i still visit it every day to give input where i can.

I was offered Robotic removal and he thought his operation was the the way to go but i asked to speak to the Brachytherapy specialist that was at the hospital the same day and asked him if he thought i was suitable for Brachytherapy and he thought i was suitable for it, so after looking at the possible side affects decided to go for Brachytherapy .There are no guarantees with either operations so you take your chances.If you sign into Prostate cancer uk you can see my progress over the last four years by clicking onto my Avatar johntheprint and you can ask more questions from the members a very friendly lot.If you need any more information please ask.

Good Luck John.

Thanks John for that, it is nice that there is a choice of treatments but also quite a lot to take in. I will feel happier once I have decided which one to go for.

                                       All the best, Clive.

After i was diagnosed last year with a psa of 8.4 and a gleason score of 3

+4 = 7 i also spent ages deliberating over different treatments and i found you have to be 100% happy within yourself with your decision . I also chose Brachytherapy after speaking to a specialist at our local cancer care unit and found that this suited my care and family needs the best , i had treatment in october last year and have just had the fantastic news that my psa is now 0.94 with hardly any side effects .. I was also lucky enough to have the organ spacers as a trial and have found this excellent .. But this has to be your choice as everybody is different  and every treatment effects others differently .

Hi, I had brachytherapy on Nov 23rd 2020 after having two weeks of radiotherapy and 3 months of hormone pills.  I initially looked at surgery but when I spoke to the surgeon he said that my weight/height would make it a bigger risk because of how the operation is done.  As I understand it they have to compress your internal organs with air in order to reach the prostate. The brachytherapy doctor and nurses were great although I needed an overnight stay as I couldn’t pee

Poetryman. You say your surgeon "convinced" you to have the surgery option. On what basis? And then you say you are still to make the final decision. So what did you choose? I would be interested to hear your answer to both questions.

Delboy1968. I don't think that I could be 100% happy with my decision, as I don't have  crystal ball and things may not turn out as planned with my choice of treatment, My local cancer care unit wouldn't help me in reviewing my option, only offering me counselling for the situation. I am having second thoughts about surgery because of the incontinence issues, which can be greater with surgery than radiotherapy. What a dilemma!

Hi Snowbirds

1. I had brachytherapy in July 2019 and the good news is my psa has dropped to 0.5 from 4 but I have been experiencing  very painful urination that is not abating .I contacted my urologist who is arranging tests and a cystocopy as he believes my bladder neck may have been damaged by the radiation  seeds going astray and also my latest urine test came back with microscopic blood.Have you had any similar side effects after your brachytherapy treatment. 

Hi first of all it sounds like your PSA numbers are doing good but as to seeds going astray i looked it up in my earlier days when you are not sure about anything and i was told mine had not gone astray and also they are put in on strings but you may have to double check that.As to your painful urination maybe it could be just a normal bladder infection.As to Psa numbers my numbers dropped very slowly and at four years on i am a 0.08 but i have no problems with that .I think at your low Psa count you have nothing to worry about and you doctor can sort the infection soon.

Regards John