RT trial on the news ...

I haven't a clue what you're talking about as it's not the sort of thing I have ever searched for. I would expect that genuine counselling would be offered by qualified counsellors, or therapists.  As for 'sex workers, in the true sense of their job title, they don't have any formal qualifications and as long as they're paid for their time they won't care about their 'client. I have watched a couple of soap opera's with characters who paid for prostitutes/sex workers to just spend time with them, listening to them, but they didn't find them via a google search. 

Anyway I think this conversation has now run it's course, so good luck to you with your treatment, which is the most important thing right now.

I think the 5 fraction treatment is only suitable for medium risk patients so its not suitable for everyone. I'm high risk T2cN0M0 Gleason 8 so I don't believe this would be suitable for me.

So the breakthrough will certainly benefit some patients but not everyone.

Rob

GR1 said:

I haven't a clue what you're talking about as it's not the sort of thing I have ever searched for.

I'm not sure why you would find what I was saying so difficult to understand but as you say, it doesn't matter if you don't. ;-)

However, there may well be other people (well, most likely men <g>) who aren't in a relationship and who still want to 'live' after PC surgery who may be interested to learn that such services appear to be available to them and provided in a very caring and supportive manor.

I'm still going to try to speak to the trial RT team (I rang my care team mobile a couple of times yesterday and the second call got me a 8-4, M-F message) and just see if that form of RT is open to me and if so how soon. If it isn't then I can stay on the surgery escalator, if it is ...

Hi Rob,

Thanks for that, it's the sort of thing I'm looking for. So with my T3aN0Mo Gleeson 8 then I'm likely to be in the same (or worse) boat.

In the report they said that they will be doing another study for those with higher risk cancers, so hopefully this will help future patients. 

Hi Able,

I was diagnosed in 2011, Gleason 3+4 adenocarcinoma with 3/10 cores.I was in my 50s when I received the news.

In 2011 I had heard of Cyberknife as a treatment being used in the US, it's a company based in California. At the time it was available at Mount Vernon and Royal Marsden here in the UK. RMH was running the PACE trial which I believe is the one mentioned in this article.

I was referred by my GP to RMH and randomised on the trial to receive CyberKnife treatment, which was completed November 2012.

CyberKnife uses an approach called stereotactic body radiation therapy (SRS SBRT). My understanding is it's been around for almost 30 years.

I had five treatments of approximately 35 minutes each over the course of two weeks, which ran Mon/Wed/Fri then the following week Tues/Thurs. That was it. As a participant in the PACE trial, I continue to be tracked up to this day.

One of the aspects I appreciated the most was there was no need for hormone therapy prior to receiving the treatment, which I was told would probably have been the case with conventional radiotherapy. If memory serves, the trial was done to determine the success, costs and side effects of conventional radiotherapy in comparison to Cyberknife. 

I hope this helps. I'm not endorsing Cyberknife or the treatment. I will say that Royal Marsden Hospital has been excellent.

Full disclosure, I had a microscopic recurrence which was removed at RMH by robotic excision in 2019 (Gleason 4+4) and another recurrence just recently, in May of this year, a pelvic skeletal metastasis. However I don't regret my original decision.

So, unfortunately I'm now on androgen blockade (hormones), but I did manage to avoid them for 11 years.

Cyberknife is more widely available now. In Birmingham, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB),  offers it for NHS and private patients.

All my choices were personal ones. I wish you the best of success with your decisions. 

Hello Roger

Great post - honest, to the point. and informative. I wish you well on the Hormone Treatment - I have been on them for 21 months - an interesting journey.

Best wishes - Brian.

Hi Roger and thank you very much for your full and informative reply.

Roger P said:

I was in my 50s when I received the news.

Wow, that seems quite young?

I have volunteered to go on a metastasis cause trial (C-ProMeta-1) with the Queen Mary University of London where they took an additional blood sample on my pre-med and I believe will take another at my 3 month CT scan.

I think I have heard of 'Cyberknife', probably when it first came out.

I took a call from a very good friend earlier who had previously fallen and broken his femur. Whilst having it pinned and X-rayed they noticed a shadow on his bones and a CT scan has now revealed the presence of cancer in his kidneys. Ironically he doesn't seem to have PC.