Decisions, decisions...

FormerMember
FormerMember
  • 6 replies
  • 176 subscribers
  • 1100 views

Hello everyone and hope you are as well as can be.

Diagnosed last month +3/+3 on the borderline with active surveillance but they are recommending because of my age, now would be a good time to have treatment rather than delay and have problems later.

Offered the usual, HT/RT or the surgery, neither of which sound brilliant.

Anyone else struggle with deciding best option.  I'm finding it difficult.

Thanks all.

  • I was diagnosed with Gleason 7(4+3) in June 2018,had 6months hormone treatment and 24 sessions radiotherapy in the january2019...that I regret....erectile dysfunction has got progressively  worse since then apart from a couple of other problems like change of bowel and urinary habits...on the other side of things I haven't became incontinent which I was scared of if I had had the operation...saying all that I do believe you should get treatment sooner rather than later,it may be slow growing but it's still cancer in your body at the end of the day

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember in reply to Palmy5

    Thanks Palmy5, most helpful to hear your experience and these are the dilemmas we have to face I guess. It's a huge decision I'm finding.  Hoping you remain healthy and cancer free.  

  • Hi Altoj

    I found the NHS Predict Prostate tool useful to reinforce my decision.

    You enter your starts and it will give you 10 and 15 year survival rates for conservative (AS) and radical (RP/RT) treatments. It will also tell you the likelihood of side effects.

    https://prostate.predict.nhs.uk/

    Best wishes

    David

  • Anyone else struggle with deciding best option.  I'm finding it difficult.

    Few find it easy. While neither sound brilliant, both are pretty effective, and for me, the decision was made looking at the side effects - both long term and short term. I reckoned that radiotherapy would be my best option, and I've never regretted it.

    But you're not me: Both treatments can have major effects on your life, and you need to think about which effects you can most easily live with.

    Take a look at the 'toolkit' for general advice.

    - - -

    Heinous

    If I can't beat this, I'm going for the draw.

    Meanwhile, my priority is to live while I have the option.

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember in reply to David193

    Thanks David, went through this with oncologist but not surgeon so will have a go.

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember in reply to Heinous

    Cheers Heinous, that's very reassuring to know you chose a good option.  Thanks for the toolkit.