Got results and part of treatment plan today now feeling very low.

Jonny five,

welcome to the club you didn’t want to join.  We sound similar diagnoses.

I was diagnosed Gleason 9.  Spread in pelvis. PSA 74 and put on bicalutamide for about 6 weeks and Zoladex 3 monthly overlapped, which I am still on.

Chemo, Radiotherapy 6 years ago. Had a good quality of life for 5 years.  It’s a bit of a roller coaster journey but I’m still here!  
It’s probably all hit you in a short space of time and every emotion kicks in.  For me it settled slowly into a new ‘normal’ and life is good.  We are all different but in this club lots of people have lots of t shirts.  Feel free to ask anything at any time.

Best wishes. David

Hi David,Thank you for the reply,hopefully I will see some light at the end of the dark tunnel soon.keep on keeping on.very best wishes and hope you and your good lady have a good Christmas.

Hello Jonny five  A warm welcome to the Prostate cancer forum from a fellow member of the Gleason "9" club.

I am so sorry to read of your diagnosis - "it's not curable but can be managed" - is not the end of the world. The first steps are Hormone therapy and radiotherapy which will be a big step to stop any further growth and spread and then a further review to see how well that's gone and the next course of action.

There are some great advances in treatments for Advanced Prostate Cancer at the moment - stick with us and we will help you along this journey. As you have just received the news from the oncologist today - I can understand you feeling low - that's normal - i't a a shock and it's not something you want to hear. Don't be afraid to give the help line a call - it's free on 0808 808 00 00 (8am - 8pm 7 days a week) if you feel you need that little bit of extra support - they are very understanding people there.

Stick with us and ask anything you want - we as a Community are with you on this journey.

Best wishes - Brian.

Hello Jonny I am sorry to hear that you’ve joined us all on this journey. As I have repeatedly said, this is a couples illness and us wives are on the journey too!  The diagnostics and getting the results were, for us, the worst part. I remember the specialist nurse saying to my husband, ‘the moment you take that first tablet the cancer gets stopped in its tracks’.  I’m not sure whether it is that instant but hearing those words brought a great sense of relief for both of us!

I think we are all victims of our age group. When we were younger cancer was something that was whispered about and a death sentence. We grew up very fearful of it. What we mostly have not fully grasped is that years ago 1 in 4 people received a cancer diagnosis and now it is 1 in2. We have not fully realised that there have been incredible developments in the care and treatment of many cancers ( prostate cancer being one of them). Nowadays, cancer has slipped from being a disease diagnosed late in the day and a death sentence to being classed a ‘long term condition’ (NHS term)which, if not curable, is certainly manageable.  There is an armoury of treatments out there for prostate cancer these days!

As David says, life ( and all the emotions) do settle and a new life begins after diagnosis. And … that new life is good! We have learned a lot of lessons along the way and now approach things differently but, dare I say it, with much joy and a greater appreciation of our lives together and family and everything around us. I’ve always hated this time of the year but this year the hatred of the cold and the dark is tempered by the fact that that we are still both here to moan about it!

I do hope that replies you get here will help lift the despair and anxiety you are feeling right now. Keep reading the posts and you will see that you are not the only one who is shaken to the core with the diagnosis (we were!) but that life. - and a good life- does go on and there is so much happiness waiting out there for us all - yourself included!

Good luck

Hi Brian.Thank you for your reply,the more I get to chat with you guys it does get a little easier and thank you for the above contact nos. Best wishes.

Hi W.W.Thank you so much for taking the time to reply.I guess you are right that life with pc will become the new normal,Yesterday after leaving the hospital I just felt numb and as the day moved on I just felt a black cloud of despair came over my wife and i as the oncologist blurted out all the results but what a difference a day makes and reading your post for that I thank you again.Best of luck for you both and hope you have a great Christmas  

Jonny five,

It sounds like the replies have helped a little.  You are no doubt in shock still (we all went through it) but any problems or worries you have going forward, the forum members will give you their honest personal experiences.

best of luck. David

Hi Jonny Five and welcome from a fellow treatable with similar stats, I have locally advanced prostate cancer adenocarcinoma with cribriform variant metastasized to iliac nodes/pelvis and beyond T3b/4 N2 M1 Gleason 4+4 8 and a PSA 8.2, Jonny i have been through the bicalutamide HT injections "prostap" and  20 sessions of RT. Jonny i am 18 months ahead of you and my PSA is now 0.08. I feel better than i have felt since before diagnosis, all side effects are pretty much a thing of the past. Life is good both physically and emotionally bar the occasional blip and i am hopefully looking forward to a few more years yet. I see my oncologist in 4 months to see where we go next. We all remember how awful it felt waiting for results and treatment to start, but things will get better once treatment begins and you find a way to live with cancer, A lot of the guys on here write a profile of their cancer journey and they really help with finding the best advice and support, if you click on peoples usernames it should help you with yours. Jonny as you probably know the HT/RT treatment can cause side effects, not everyone gets them but many do and there is no way of preventing them, but one, fatigue you can lessen it's impact by exercising which not only improves your physical wellbeing but as exercise increases dopamine and seratonin levels it improves mood, reduces anxiety and makes you feel happier. Jonny i do not know how many years i have left, i have other "treatable" conditions too, but like most of the guys on here we are going to make the most of them and one day i'm sure you will. I wish you well on your cancer journey. take care, Eddie

Hi eddiel.Thank you for the the reply,The pc community on here that have reached out have been invaluable and I thank you all,I know every one’s pc journey will be different but with everyone’s experiences shared it makes my journey a little less scary.I wish you all the very best on your journey and hope all goes well.  Have good Christmas 

Hi Jonny you are welcome, everyone needs support when they get a cancer diagnosis even if like me they have done 15 years in healthcare, 5 of which were in end of life care, which was 95& cancer, and the forum does it so incredibly well. Looking at your photo seems we may have more in common, under 60, bald and love dogs. thank you for your kind words and happy Christmas to you and your family, take care, Eddie