Morning.
My husband is due to have his next HT jab in October, which will take him through to January, thereby completing a year of injections plus the 20 sessions of radiotherapy earlier this year. When we had our follow-up appointment with his oncologist a couple of moths or so ago, the oncologist said he would be open to my husband just doing one year of the injections rather than the two originally prescribed and see how it goes re PSA levels. My husband is really hoping that he can just have the October injection and then stop. He is really struggling with the side-effects. The brain fog is very pronounced as is his anxiety, which often prevents him from sleeping. The fatigue is hard for him to deal with as he has always been fit and active, doing work in the garden and going walking. He has never looked his age. The hot flushes have increased in frequency although they don't last long. He has lost strength and muscle. He lost weight before his diagnosis and now it is stable BUT he has a roll of fat around his midriff and thinks this is the reason for his breathlessness: it is pressing on his lungs and diaphragm and restricting his breathing. He is currently working out an exercise plan to try to combat this. (There are no PureGyms near us and I don't know if they still offer free sessions for cancer patients).
The breathlessness really worries him (thereby increasing anxiety levels), the back pain is hard to tolerate. He has had scans/MRi etc. and nothing untoward was found. Just age-related 'wear and tear'. He also has Dupuytrens, though has been told he has to wait till his fingers are at a 45° angle before any treatment will be offered. The restricted 'efficiency ' of his fingers and hands is very tedious and frustrating for him. With all this going on, he is at quite a low point generally. To be honest, the cancer nurse we were allocated originally was not always very helpful as she had her own health issues. Her stand-ins were responsive though. When we saw the oncologist, he said a cancer nurse would contact my husband to do a telephone review, which I think may be next month but we don't know whether we currently have access to a cancer nurse. I have suggested contacting the cancer unit at the hospital to find out.
Apologies for the long post but my husband IS struggling somewhat at present and I wondered if anyone else has had similar issues, with the breathlessness in particular.
