Surgery

Hi Simon,

As soon as I was offered surgery or HT / RT I knew that the former would be my last choice as the thought of surgery (major or otherwise) & a stay in hospital were the last things I wanted to do.  I'm not afraid to admit that put it down to the wimp in me.

Hope it's all going well for you.

Best Wishes

Brian

All good thanks.  Hope your well too.   Cheers 

Feeling absolutely fine thank you.  Just need my brain to recognise the fact that at 70 my body can't quite manage the things it did when I was in my twenties lol.

Hahah  

Hi Simon

Like you I opted for the surgical route so wasn't put off by the thought of it.  I think I was more put off the RT alternative by the thought of years of suffering the potential side effects of hormone therapy.  Of course I was very nervous in the lead up to it and had a few moments of panic but the hospital send me a lot of information which meant I had a clear idea of what was going to happen (which may not suit everyone but I it found reassuring). My family and this forum were also a great support. On the day I think I was more concerned with having a general anaesthetic for the first time in my life than the actual surgery.  Fortunately I had a very kind and understanding anaesthetist who was able to reassure me. I too was absolutely amazed to wake up feeling like no time had passed at all to be told it was all over.

Cheers

Dave

I think I would avoid surgery if there was a significant risk it wouldn't remove all the cancer and I would be faced with salvage radiotherapy as a second treatment pathway. You then have the side effects of both primary treatment pathways to contend with.

This was the logic my MDT used to recommend radiotherapy and hormone therapy. They said there was a significant chance I would need salvage radiotherapy if I chose surgery so I opted to go for the pathway with the best chance of getting all the cancer first time.

Rob (Sandberg)

My hubby was not offered surgery as it was felt that with a PSA of 57 and Gleason 9 with cribriform and peri neural invasion it was the best treatment plan for him. I think he was secretly relieved about that as he had never had surgery and was scared of the thought. However it turned out that he had to have his hernia repaired before they could do RT and then had to have a TURP to deal with his urinary retention so ended up with two surgeries anyway .....

As someone who had the surgery in 2024 and I am now possibly facing salvage radiotherapy, I do not regret having the operation.  All options have their downsides and in the end I gave the operation a go and got two years out of it before I have to face the other treatments.  Those two years have been magical and I will believe that SR gives me even longer.