Bewildered and stunned 'Newbie'

Hi Jay962  welcome to our club.  Others will be along shortly.   I’ve had 9 months on hormone therapy (decapeptyl) without tamoxifen and I haven’t grown any moobs.

check out my story Alpine Wanderer .  You have been caught SUPER early.  Don’t worry - I’m sure you’ll be fine.  It does seem like your consultant is going in heavy for your early PC prognosis.  The bicalutamide is normal procedure to prepare the way for the main hormone therapy jab - and if he meant keeping your pecker up, then I would have thought he would prescribe tadalafil (worth asking your consultant- see my thread).

AW

Also, try reading the side effects on any pack of paracetamol over the counter medication. They cover ALL possibilities, and they always seem awful. Except they usually aren’t.    AW

Hello Jay962 

Another warm welcome to the Macmillan Online Community - so sorry to find you here but we are a great bunch (I would say that!!).

As Alpine Wanderer said - you've been caught early and your treatment will be with a curative intent. The choice between surgery and HT/RT is very personal and I would do your research from trusted sources - this Community (who have been there - done that), Macmillan and Prostate Cancer UK (leave Dr Google alone). Make a list of the pros and cons for each treatment as they affect you - and make your choice. (there's even Brachytherapy see Alpine Wander's story).

To help you along you will find many of us have our personal journey on our profile - you can read mine by clicking on my name or avatar - yes I am 30 months into a 36 month HT/RT journey and am a T3aN0M0 Gleason 9 with a couple of other issues so don't worry. The fact for me is I have had most of the side effects and I live life with them - I don't have any ongoing issues (I have a pair of moobs - but it's better than the alternative !!).

Feel free to ask any questions, no matter how trivial - we are all here to help.

Best wishes - Brian.

 Hi Thank you for taking the time to reply, there has been no mention of injections, my journey is the Bicalutamide 150 a day tuntil December, then Radiotherapy over four weeks and another 6 months on the Bicalutamide. It is becoming clear there are a lot of personalised treatment plans which is great. I will check in your story later, This forum is a great help already. I think I am overreacting a bit ( a lot) 

Hi Jay962, 

welcome to this very supportive club . My husband has PC and I’ve been heavily supported by this wonderful group of people. Lots of wife’s on this just like me asking lots of questions . Take care and keep in touch 

Liz 

Hi Jay962 , welcome to the club.  Do you have a meeting with an oncologist booked.  You have been caught so early so all should be well.  The early stage of a PCa diagnosis is hard and we have all been through it, so please ask any questions you want.  Best wishes, David

Hello Jay962  it is both good and sad to see you here.

You will get great advice and many wise words from the people you will talk to here, and their stories will inspire and comfort you.

I may be a couple of weeks ahead of you in this journey. I too was prescribed bicalutamide and I had my first Zoladex injection on 21/06 - 1 month only, I think they start small to see if you grow an extra head. I have my next 3 month injection on 19/07, still Zoladex.

There have been no noticeable side effects so far, except for a possible extra tetchiness from time to time. There is some small level of tiredness, but I suspect that this is more due to the fact that my body has elected as its principle worry period 4:30 in the morning.

I suspect that noticeable side effects may start after the next injection, but I am not sure.

There are lots of side effects to the tablets and the injections, and then the radiotherapy (when you read the side effects and see "heart attack" as one of the rare ones it makes you take a mental step back).

It seems to me that some people get alot of side effects from hormone therapy, radio therapy, and surgery. Some people sail through it all, unnoticing.  Most of us will be somewhere between the two. I have a friend who has just had the surgery, and he tells me he is considering moving into his bathroom. Things are gradually moving forward, but it sounds every bit as problematic as radiotherapy.

I have looked at a lot of people's history on these pages, and it strikes me that I just need to move forward step by step.

Except at 4:30 in the morning, when I toss and turn and mumble rude things. This morning I was concerned that I could not get my bladder the right level of full for the radiotherapy. It's at least five months away!

Hopefully we can soldier on together, and perhaps do thing like cross stuff off your wife's to do list while she's not looking.....

 Hi Mstev,2

I prevaricated for the weekend to wait to see if Prosc8 will reply positively to my case, we will see. But getting into the 'acceptance' stage so took my meds this morning. 

I will raise my head, get on with it and hope somewhere in my body there is a Jude Bellingham... football eh,,, great game, Thanks for your reply we will get through it together.

Hello Jay962 

I can't resist posting as yes I watched the game too - we were lucky, roll on Saturday butt I  have followed Oldham Athletic for more than 50  years so I an used to games like that!!

God help me if I have to wait for them to rescue me from my diagnosis that long into extra time!! 

We are all on a journey here - we all want to arrive at the same destination, we all take a different route - but " flippin heck" you are right though with the right support and a positive attitude we will get there!!

Stick with us we are a "Team" here and want to remain unbeaten!!

Best wishes - Brian.

Hello Jay962 .

Another warm welcome from me. Most of the hormone therapies come with similar warnings but the side effects are usually reversible once you stop taking it. The advantage of Bicalutamide 150mg monotherapy is that it is associated with improved sexual function whilst taking it compared to all the other drugs. You may still experience loss of libido but manual stimulation can help maintain blood supply and improve time to recovery once you stop taking it. A disadvantage with Bicalutamide is that it is associated with the development of 'moobs' and breast pain which should be ameliorated by the Tamoxifen. Now that you have started on the hormone therapy it gives you time to assess your options, including surgery as well as different types of radiotherapy. Make a list of the things which are important to you and then evaluate each treatment for possible short and long term effects. 

From the attached link you will see that the success of surgery and its side effects depend on the technique used so this would be a major question to ask the surgeon. Another question would be to ask for what experience the surgeon has in the technique as outcomes can often be improved with the more experienced specialists.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8996922/

All techniques are improving with time, both surgery and radiotherapy but in the end it will be a personal decision after you have done all your research.