I have had very little pain from the prostate - if any at all. I did have a TURP op in about 2004 to shave the prostate as it was affecting my peeing - that alleviated the problem and no cancer was found in the tissues from the TURP then. After that I had somel post op pain but not much - after about 36 hours with the painkillers I was OK. My main pain is from injury to my back and neck from my work - I was for 29 years a parachute jumping instructor and also did parachuting trials - these I think are what did the most damage as had to parachute carrying lots of kit - about 120lbs and also high altitude stuff which gives you the same decompression as diving which attacks joints. Having said that enjoyed every minute of my career.
Absolutely all the treatment done for my prostate cancer was necessary and it was absolutely right to do it. Doing as extrensive research as I could and with due diligence I managed to find the type of treatment that was right for me and it meant I had a really good outcome with minimal side effects - read my profile for more info. I am very pleased with everything done just wished someone had had their eye on the ball and they could have done it sooner - but I too am guilty of that as I should have pushed for more frequent PSA tests once my PSA started going higher and even paid to have them done privately once my GP refused to do them.
PS to the above. Had xrays on my knee last Thursday and it looks 95% certain that I just need a partial knee replacement. Having a MRI Scan sometime soon to see if there is any signs of arthritis at all in the rest of the knee joint as if there is then a full knee replacement will be done. Going away sometime next week so hope they can fit the MRI scan in before that - said they would ring either Monday or Tuesday to give me a day for the scan. Then it will be time to meet the surgeon again and discuss the results and get in and have it done soon after that. Looking forward to it now but it does mean sleeping downstairs for a while after the op - lucky we do have a bedroom downstairs. Will have to sort it out though!
I was signed off from the cancer centre last January 2 years after my treatment finished. My PSA is still undetectable so if it keeps this way then, as suggested by urologist at the start it is a cure for me. So, lets just hope that is so. Having MRI scan on my knee on Sunday afternoon then about a week later will have meeting with consultant surgeon to see whether it is a whole knee replacement or partial knee. At the moment with all the x rays done last week he believes it will be a partial knee as no signs of arthritis in the inside of the joint and at my age now - probably won't be enough to cause problems. So 95% sure it will be a partial but having the MRI will give him a clearer picture and he will be pretty much 100% sure that only a partial knee will be needed. So here's hoping the MRI doesn't show anything more.
Hi Des. I had a knee replacement about 14 years ago and it has worked really well. My job involved climbing up to 500 plus stairs a day but all good. I had a general anaesthetic and an epidural. After the op I was offered pain relief but turned it down. The macho bit I guess. Then the epidural effect gradually wore off and I was in a lot of pain. You will probably have self administered pain relief available. The physiotherapy afterwards was tricky, mostly bending the leg over 90 degrees. I hope this is encouraging.
As far as the PC is concerned, rt finished on 1 February, the follow up appt 6 weeks later was ok and brief, so now the wait for the PSA test in 3 months or so from then. I'm told that it can take up to 18 months to reach the lower level and the first one may not be too much different? The last one was last July, at 7.4 and they were not bothered by that. I'm 73. Also the 5 year survival rate looks good and 10 as well, but something else might see me off before that! He mentioned 80% once but I don't know what that was about. Too much to take in and he wanted his lunch as he was running an hour late. He did say I would be fine though, so here's hoping.
