Just an update on my husband’s diagnosis, we had a meeting with the consultant today. All the results are back. Still T3b , Gleason 9, not so good, but 4+5, not the other way around, which is a small win. The good news (at the moment) is that the CT and bone scans didn’t find any sign of metastatic spread. A big positive. Started on three weeks of Bicalutamide today, and has an appointment at the GP’s next Monday for the first Prostap injection. Consultant said radio therapy in three months time, and he’s contacted oncology to arrange an appointment to discuss. Also arranging an appointment to discuss ED and penile health with a nurse who specialises in that area. He did say he could operate, but agreed with us that the possibility of not being able to remove all of the cancer was real, and ADT and RT may still be required. My husband preferred to avoid surgery in those circumstances.
As many of you said, it feels better knowing what we are facing. We hope there is a possibility of a cure, but glad we have a fighting chance and the future isn’t looking as bleak as we had feared. The waiting for the results is the worse.
Any tips for handling the ADT appreciated, I’ve told him exercise is important. Thankfully he’s a fit and active 63 year old with no other health issues so that should work in his favour.
Thanks for the support in the past few months!
You now have a firm plan you can deal with, so that's progress.
In my experience with ADT it's important to start by maintaining a healthy diet, watch weight (easy to get a spare tyre round the waist) and exercise. It sounds like this is already likely to be easy to maintain.
All the best for a successful course of reatment towards a cure.
Derek.
Macmillan Support Line - 0808 808 00 00, 7 days a week between 8am-8pm
Hello Porthleven
Thank you for the update.
Well now you know just where you stand you can move on to "the new normal". T3b should be a "curative pathway", in theory the Hormone Therapy robs the cancer of it's food (testosterone) and it stops growing and spreading and a few months later the radiotherapy kill off the cancer cells for good.
Hormone Therapy weakens your bone structure - so a prescription for calcium/vitamin D tablets is a good idea. I would think he's going to be on HT for 3 years - so if he's worried about growing a pair of moobs (I have a cracking pair of 38DD's 
) he needs to ask for medication to stop the growth as you can't reverse it later.
As Derek said above exercise and diet are important. As for the other side effects - well you don't get all of them but tackle them when (if) they start to show.
Best wishes - Brian.
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