Fear of treatment

Hi Denon 

Least side effects with be active surveillance because you r doing nothing.

Modern day Braccy or Radiotherapy don't produce many problems.

If u have Hormone therapy alongside then that can give a few problems short term.

Steve

Hi

Theres many people on here who have a Gleason score of seven, they can tell you better than me ( Gleason 9/10 ) how they decided what treatment or not to have.

stay positive stay safe.

joe

Hi Denon.

I was a Gleason 3+4, PSA 4.1 and, at age 54, surgery was recommended as the best treatment. That was based primarily on my age and otherwise good general health. I am now 10 days post op and starting my recovery.

Do you mind saying how old you are?

HH

I'm 61 

I was slightly confused as to why my team recommended surgery and never really discussed radiotherapy as an option, but it seems the view is that, in otherwise healthy younger men, if the cancer looks to be confined to the prostate, surgery is seen as the best option to try and ensure a patient stays free of cancer for as long as possible.

I was told that if I went down the radiotherapy route, there is a risk of secondary cancers later in life, and not enough data to inform me as to where I am likely to be in 10, 15, 20 years’ time. I have two friends, both in their 40’s at diagnosis, with similar numbers and they, too, went down the surgical route for the same reasons as me.

Its a horrible choice to have to make, and even my medical team used the word “gamble” when discussing it, but surgery was a no brainer for me. I’m painfully aware of the side effects, but wanted to give myself the best chance of being cancer free. In my case, surgery gave me that best chance.

Wishing you all the best on your journey.

HH

At the moment I'm a little confused as well that's one of the reasons I joined the group, I guess over the coming weeks I'll get the answers I seek

All the best to you too 

I do think I underestimated the surgery. I’m now 11 days on, the staples are out, but I’m still moving around very gingerly! I have another 4 days until the catheter is removed and that cannot happen soon enough - it’s restricting and uncomfortable. A mate who had surgery at a similar time ended up with a nasty urinary infection and says he felt as though he permanently needed to urinate.

But those issues are short term. It’s once the catheter is out that the impact on me in terms of ED and incontinence will become clearer. I’ll keep you updated if it helps your decision but I’m sure you understand we are all different. Another friend of mine had virtually no issues beyond very short term, I might be entirely different.

HH

Hope all goes well for you, yes please keep me posted on how your going on and yes I do know that everyone is different which I think it makes it harder to choice  which road to go down. Again all the best to you 

Happy Hacker,

Sounds painful!

Best of luck.

I'm on 9 of 20 VMAT Radiation this afternoon.  Everyday the fatigue just gets more.

I couldn't have surgery.  Think I am glad now.

Hi Steve when did the fatigue start ?