radiotherapy vs surgery

Hello Daniel (Daniel ) 

A warm welcome to the group although I am so sorry to find you joining us.

Treatment choices are very personal and you need to do a list of the side effects of each treatment available to you and how they would affect you and your partner. Use trusted sources for your research. Take a look at my post in this thread and have a read of the links I have provided.

 Active Surveillance or treatment? 

As it's a very personal choice please do come back and ask any questions. You will find that by clicking on a Community member's name or avatar they may well have documented their personal journey and this can also help your choice of treatment.

Best wishes - Brian.

Hi Daniel 

Do u have any stats to help with advice.

So, last few PSA if u have more than one 

Gleeson score, not sure what factor 7 is.

Tumour size, presumably contained in the gland

Best wishes 

Steve 

Hi Daniel, 

the problem with both Surgery and RT/HT is that you can opt for the exact same treatment as someone who has 100% the same diagnosing figures, same age, same BMI, same shoe size, etc, etc as you, and then you will get entirely different side effects to them.

Personally.....I was not looking forward to the enemas for the RT, the RT itself followed by several years of Hot Flashes from the HT. When it actually happened - I had no enemas for the type of RT that I had, absolutely no side effects from the RT itself and no hot flashes. Much of that was pure luck !!

I think it is impossible for one person to say that one course of action is better than another - except in a very few specific cases. My only very faint "recommendations" would be: see if Surface Guided Radiotherapy is available in your area - I had this and I believe that this type of RT offers less chance of side effects because of its accuracy. Secondly, I feel that perhaps age is something that should seriously taken into account. I was 78 when diagnosed, I was offered surgery or RT - I didn't feel that I was pressured to take one path or the other. I took RT and still feel very happy with my choice. Had I been younger, I feel that my choice would have been more difficult.

Best wishes with your choice..............