Treatment

Hello Safeways and a warm welcome to the prostate family. In a sense your fall was fortuitous in that it found the cancer whilst it is still potentially curable but it sounds as if you have been left to your own devices in trying to get information so I hope that we can help answer your questions. T3A  means that the cancer has spread out of the capsule but not into the seminal vesicles. It is good that you have no lymph node or metastatic spread. It is usual to start with the hormone therapy which will remove the cancers food and allow it to shrink making a smaller target for the radiotherapy which we can walk you through nearer the time but it has proved to be an effective treatment and is no where near as scary as it sounds as the machines and expertise nowadays mean that it is a lot safer now than it used to be. In preparation for the radiotherapy it may be an idea to start pelvic floor exercises. There is an NHS app called the SQUEEZY APP which will tell you how to do them properly and at what interval.

Triptorelin is usually a 3 or 6 monthly injection but I would expect that you will have a blood test in 3 months to check how your body is coping with it as well as a PSA test along with a check that the testosterone levels have reached a castrate state. Make a note in your diary to chase things up before the 3 months is up and maybe your GP can tell you who is going to do the blood tests and give you the next injection/implant. You can also ask your GP for FULL ACCESS to your medical records which might mean that you get your results quicker.

Unfortunately the hormone therapy can come with side effects but there is usually help for them so just ask and we will try and help you. Keeping as fit as possible will help with some of the side effects as fatigue with muscle loss is common, so maybe add in some resistance exercises as well. One side effect of the hormone therapy can be bone thinning so ask your doctor whether you should have calcium and vitamin D supplements.

If you want some additional reading then there is a very good book which you can download for free using this link.

https://www.jyotishah.com/fighting-prostate-cancer-a-survival-guide/

Please feel free to join in any of the conversations and, of course, come back with any questions.

Good morning, Safeways and welcome! I’m sorry to hear of your diagnosis which is exactly at the same staging as my husband was and at the same age 2 years ago! Always Hope has given you lots of information so I won’t repeat it! However , .

Waiting for radiotherapy was accompanied with mixed feelings - sheer fear and yet just wanting to get it over and done with! When it came to it, the fears were unfounded but we did get very tired with the travelling for 4 weeks to the hospital! We had fantastic care in oncology and this has continued ( urology care was appalling). My husband followed all the instructions completely and was encouraged to tell them of the slightest niggle! 

2 years on, he finished the hormone therapy in May, his latest PSA was 0.03 and he has been busy and active all summer! There remains the lingering fear that the treatment might not have been successful and there will be a recurrence but I think this is something all people oth all types of cancer might experience? 

The hormone therapy side effects were harder to tolerate. There was a degree of fatigue but he tried very hard to ‘push through it’ as instructed. I think, for me, the hardest thing was the shock at the diagnosis and the emotional turmoil. My husband and I reacted very differently. He withdrew within himself and refused.  to talk to anyone, even his medical team, about his diagnosis or treatment. I was angry, frightened, grieving for what I saw as a lost future. I needed to talk! That’s how I came to this forum!

my one bit of advice is to be sure to tell your male close relatives of your diagnosis. Prostate cancer has a familial tendency and now you have been diagnosed, they will be deemed as at extra risk.

I hope everything goes smoothly and successfully for you and I’m sure you will get lots of info and support on this forum!!

Hello Safeways 

Another warm welcome to the Macmillan Online Prostate Community from me. I am so sorry to find you here.

I can't really add to the fantastic posts from Alwayshope and Worriedwife apart from a little bit of personal experience.

I like you am a T3aNoMo - so same diagnosis, I did have a high Gleason Score and PSA at the start of my journey. I am 33 months into a 36 month HT/RT journey on a curative pathway. I had a couple of additional issues on my journey and have had nearly all the side effects HT can throw at me but those magic words "Curative Pathway" were uttered by the oncologist, so happy days. You can read my journey diary by clicking on my avatar or name - would I do it again for a cure - oh yes I would!!

I wish you well with your Radiotherapy - it's just like being on a sunbed for a short period each day - the hard bit is getting to and from the hospital!! The HT is hard but fight the fatigue and take on the other side effects head on - you will win!

Here's a link to our guide to Radiotherapy to the Prostate-

https://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancer-information-and-support/treatments-and-drugs/radiotherapy-for-prostate-cancer

If you are unhappy with your NHS Trust and wish to change hospitals - here's a link to your rights as a cancer patient-

https://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancer-information-and-support/get-help/raising-your-voice-toolkit/understanding-patient-rights

I do hope the above is of help. If I can do anything else for you please don't hesitate to come back to me.

Best wishes - Brian.

Hi Safeways , sorry to hear you are having trouble with the NHS but I wasn’t sure what timescale this all happened.  If you are able to update your profile with a chronological story it helps us understand just where you are (you can read mine by pressing on the photo of St Brelades Bay or my name).  The others have given you some good advice already, so I won’t repeat, but have you been given a telephone number for a Cancer Nurse Specialist?  My experience is that they are brilliant and it pays to be pro active sometimes in order to understand where you are in the system.  Hope this helps, good luck, David