Radiotherapy

Hello worried wife 78 

Just looking at your husbands profile being a T3a and even with a low Gleason Score I would have thought to be sure 6 months Hormone Therapy with Radiotherapy in the middle.

My thoughts on this are put the cancer to sleep, zap it with Radiotherapy to kill the cells and keep the HT just to make sure!

We have a few Community Members who have had the Space Oar put in place. It is NICE approved but the cost is between £5 and £6K if it's done private. Let's hope he can get it free on a trial or his NHS hospital use it.

My wait for radiotherapy was 5 weeks and Christmas and New Year were in that period - although I had been waiting for a TURP operation which delayed my Radiotherapy.

I hope the above helps - Good luck tomorrow, do let us know how you get on.

Best wishes - Brian.

Hi worried wife 78 , I don’t fully understand why he hasn’t been put on HT but with G6 I don’t think there is any rush.  Ignore the PIRADS 4 going to 5 as it generally means a clearer scan (not about the tumour size), but you already know he has PCa.

Try and get a plan out of your next meeting.  I think he will be put on oral HT then monthly or 3 monthly injections and given RT in 3 months time.  This time next year it will all be fading into the distant past.

Hello WW78

my husband was T3a N0 M0 Gleason 4+3. That put him at a higher grade because they could not be sure whether the tumour was making the capsule bulge or because it had broken through.

he had 3 months of HT before starting RT. In all, he had 18 months of HT. later we heard that in our area ( Leicestershire) the wait for RT after starting HT was increased to 6 months - such was the demand and waiting list for RT. Men with prostate cancer were not such a high priority as those with really aggressive cancers and were considered ‘safe’ once they were taking HT. this was almost 2 years ago. I’m not sure what the wait is now - longer or shorter?

There are two things I wish they had told us beforehand - the need to take calcium and vitamin D supplements to protect his bones from osteoporosis and the risk of long lasting ED because the RT can ( to quote one doctor) ‘frazzle the nerves’. 

re the Space Oar that has been suggested by others. I wanted my husband to pay privately for it but he did not want it. I accepted his wishes on that one but worried myself silly while he was having the RT. He had no bowel issues whatsoever but did not like the daily enema. Urine -wise he had some urgency  for a few weeks but everything soon settled.

We both got very tired during the RT because he struggled with brain fog throughout the time he was on ht and I did all the driving. We live quite a way from the hospital, needed to get right through the city and then parking was a nightmare. He was quite tired for quite a long while after, too. The brain fog and low energy persisted until well after he had finished the ht. but - he’s fine now and seems to have a new lease of life - always doing something! Hopefully the cancer is cured but, if not, hopefully the treatment has given him extra years.

HTH

Thank you.  I am holding on to all of this fading into the past.  Yes, after a bit of back and fore.  That’s exactly the plan, months if ADT and EBRT in the middle x

Thank you, as always.  It’s such a comfort to know we’re not alone.  After a bit of a debate, he is now on ADT for 6 months and EBRT in the middle.  I am going to ask about calcium and vit D x

Hello Worried wife 78,

I had 9 months HT in total along with the 20 fractions of RT.  When I asked my consultant about calcium & vitamin D tablets, as the HT was for such a short time her opinion was that they wouldn't be needed.  All the better to double check in your husbands case though.

One thing I thought funny was that after my bone scan (all clear) I was told that my bones were in good condition, but then they ruined it by saying ''for a man of my age''.  How rude