Hard to make up my mind

Hi Angus

Well it's good that stats are low, Def helps.

SBRT , have read good things, just not sure about long term stats.

Brachy ok but have u considered Radiotherapy, I had it in 2017 and hasn't caused me any issues, a very simple treatment.

If me I would probably go for SBRT or Radiotherapy but possibly would consider NHS as they have so much experience, not that I'm saying private SBRT is an issue.

See what others say

Best wishes

Steve 

Hi Angus JG - your option 2 is what I had.  It’s known as brachytherapy boost. I’m busy in the Alps at the moment, but just got time to steer you to take a look at my bio. The bio gives a few extra references to more detail.  AW

Thanks yes I have read your profile many times and it’s fantastic informative info. 
Mine would be HD I think yours LD? I guess not much difference in terms of outcome.

what are the potential curative options should it come back say locally?  I think salvage brachy can be done?  Possibly salvage SBRT mri linac? I just want to ensure I don’t burn all my matches at one go as I’m 60 and don’t want to rely on ADT to keep me ticking .

Thanks Steve

For me it would be brachytherapy boost which gives 3 weeks radiotherapy after the internal blast of HD.

if I go nhs I can get a new car but will I burn my matches and go private I spend a dollop of pension which I can’t take with me and potentially cut down on having too much radiation too young ?

Hi Angus JG I don’t know enough about the success rates on both options but if they are similar then I would say RT isn’t as damaging as it used to be and SBRT/SABR is very targeted.  I had 37 x 2Gy followed by 3 x 13Gy (SABR) 6 years later.  My second point is about private vs NHS, I started my journey in private and it wasn’t straight forward to get back on the NHS path.  My private consultant suggested going NHS with the comment ‘they have the best equipment’.  I don’t know if that was just my area (Southampton) or across the country.  

Thanks David

i take your point about getting back to nhs after private. I’m Leeds based. Just don’t want to over treat but at same time I want best chance of non reoccurrence but still have options if it does

Hi David 2017,

I have to agree wholeheartedly with your private consultant.........

I had my RT at Southampton General last Oct/Nov - very impressed with the staff and the equipment. (No tattoos, no enemas) They have 6 Linacs, all with Surface Guided RT, which is much more accurate than conventional RT. I have been trying to find out how many treatment centres have this equipment, I have identified about 15 - out of 64 treatment centres. Not one person on this site has responded to me when I asked if anyone else had SGRT as their treatment. After my treatment I felt that I would have been hard pushed to find a better treatment centre than Southampton - and on the NHS !!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-68688198

(The article mentions 7 Linacs - there is one in Basingstoke too !)

Linac machines use  IGRT and IMRT for more precise targeting and I think are now widely used although obviously not everywhere 

Steve 

Hi Angus JG - my good friend JPMJIG had HDR brachytherapy boost - and is doing well.  You are correct in your assumption that successful outcomes are similar.  Salvage SBRT would be my best guess to deal with recurrence : however, this is unlikely to be required in the area treated by brachytherapy boost.  AW

Hi Angus JG,

Whilst I can see that you have had several replies from members to your question, I would like to pick up on the other point you mention, namely using money in your pension on the basis that you can't take it with you.

This might well be a reasonable option if you have a very large pension pot, but in my opinion it's extremely important that you fully research doing so to ensure that you will have sufficient income from your pensions to provide the lifestyle you would wish for yourself for an extended period.  It's true none of us know what the future holds or how long we may have left, but then again, living a long life but struggling to get by would not be much fun either.

If option 1 is your preferred choice, have you looked into whether you can have this at another NHS hospital - if so then it's a win win situation for you?

Best Wishes

Brian