Recent Prostate cancer diagnosis

Hi

The thing with PC is that everything takes time - too much some would say. I , too, had a second scan (CT?) after the MRI for similar reasons to you. I'm happy to be corrected, but my understanding is that the CT scan is more accurate. Potentially there may be a third - a bone scan. From diagnosis at the end of August 2019 my treatment didn't really start until December - although HT started a little earlier.

Let us have your stats so far and I'm sure we can help more.

Hope this helps

Stuart

Hi Robert, being told you’ve got PC is a shock and all you want is to know is has it spread outside the prostate, what is the best treatment and when can you start. It’s easy to feel you’re on your own - apart from family support.

I had to wait longer than normal cos of Covid and I became very stressed feeling “ I’m on my own” and does anyone care about me.
When I started my radiotherapy treatment I found I was in a large area at the hospital with about 15 other men and I actually knew 2 of them. Just talking to them and others makes you realise there are so many men with PC  and , in a strange kind of way, you belong to a new club.

The only advice I can offer for the next 2- 3 weeks is to try and keep occupied as much as possible and try to relax- I find listening to relaxing music on my I-pad helps.

Best wishes 

2-3 weeks is a long time to wait and I completely sympathise with how slow these appointments can be and seem. My partner has just finished all his tests and had his diagnosis, all the way through we have been proactive in ; research of what he is dealing with what his options could be and treatment as that has filled the spare moments as well as preparing us and knowing what questions to ask. Half the things we have looked at do not apply but we feel it helped us with the wait. The other thing that we did was to phone up each department and say that my partner will take any cancellation or gap in the day if it comes up and gave them a time frame of how long it would take him to be at the hospital by. He basically dropped everything and got in the car when that phone call came. All his appointments were brought forwards because of this, ask for them to put you on that list if they have one. Wishing you the best for your outcome.

L

Like Barry W, I need to know all the facts so that I feel I have some control in such scary circumstances. We also said we would take cancellation appointments at short notice. The mri scan was August and the appointment to get the results was December. By taking cancellation appointments my husband had a biopsy and bone scan, got the full diagnosis and started hormone therapy 6 weeks ago. He saw the oncologist this last week - so, all done well before schedule - on the NHS. The worst thing out is not knowing and fearing the worst! It felt like we were getting dollops of bad news thrown at us in quick succession but it felt better to be starting some form of treatment. We knew we were ‘getting somewhere’ …..just not quite sure where!  We were really worried about the oncology appointment but it was the most productive consultation we have had all the way along - and the most reassuring! I hope you have a similar experience!