I go for my assessment for my T3 in 2 weeks , I have had 6wks of Goserelin so far. Does anyone have experience of when I will start my radiotherapy and how many sessions I can expect to have?
You are unlikely to start your RT before you have been on hormone treatment for several months. I started RT after only 4 months but many don't get started for six months or longer. They need to give the HT time to shrink the prostate and bring the PSA down. I started HT in October 2018 with a PSA of 15 and by December it had dropped to 0.4 so they were able to start my RT in February. You will also have to have gold seeds implanted a month before your RT starts and then a planning scan two weeks later once the prostate has settled down again. You should only take gentle exercise after the gold seeds have been implanted until your RT is finished as the seeds must not move.
I was T3A so still contained in the prostate capsule and I had 20 sessions. Two others having treatment at the same time as me were both T3B and were having 37 sessions each. I also know of others who had 33 sessions, but 20 seems to be most common. I think everyone gets the same overall dose of RT.
The waiting is the worst part!
Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift.
All the info you are asking for should have been given to you by one of the team who are treating you. The problem is that everyone is different as you will probably find out in the replies you get!!!
I started RT just 8 weeks after my first hormone injection. I was T3b so spread into the seminal vesicles and for my trouble, I had 37 zaps of RT. As Seamus47 says, many have 20. Factors such as your age, Gleason score, location of the cancer and so on will make a difference to how you are treated.
These are not questions we can answer accurately so I'd advise ringing the urology department at the hospital and speaking to a specialist nurse.
